“Your voices matter, your dreams matter, your lives matter.”
— Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give was Vermont Humanities’ pick for Vermont Reads 2020. Through our statewide one-book reading program, communities welcome the challenges presented in great literature. In the book, a neighborhood and a family of caring adults with different perspectives encourage Starr, the main character, to think bravely about unbearable injustice and to develop her strong voice.
Throughout 2020, we challenged ourselves to learn from and amplify the strong voices of people across Vermont whose ways of questioning, considering, and celebrating what it means to be human have been under-represented in our work. We can build a more equitable exploration of the humanities by examining the nooks and crannies of our assumptions.
The uncertainties and turmoil of the pandemic have required us to reimagine how we live, how we communicate, and who we are. I hope you are as encouraged as I am by the inventiveness and the resilience of Vermont’s cultural sector. In addition to attending Vermont Humanities programs virtually or in-person, I hope you will get to know our partners and grantees at these cultural organizations. They bring new questions and new opportunities to this moment in our shared lives and in our history.
I also hope you will get in touch and tell us about your interests. I look forward hearing your thoughts about the tending and building of culture, its purpose and play, struggle and joy, contemplation and exuberance. Your voice matters as we re-imagine what the humanities can be.
Yours,
Judy Chalmer
Chair of the Board of Trustees
