Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI)

The Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures (IHGC) at the University of Virginia is an active member of the international Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI).

Established in 1988, the CHCI serves as an arena for the discussion of issues germane to crossdisciplinary activity in the humanities, and as a network for the circulation of information and best practices related to the organizational and management dimensions of humanities centers and institutes. CHCI currently has a membership of over 170 organizations and affiliates in 23 countries and 46 US states. Our membership is extremely diverse from the point of view of scale: members run the gamut from small, university based humanities centers to major Institutes for Advanced Study, and from large independent organizations to research libraries. Our members are engaged in a wide range of programs, including research support, community-based programs and public humanities, internal and external fellowship programs, activism and advocacy on issues of cultural and educational policy, digital humanities programs, and the development and maintenance of research collections. Many CHCI members are highly visible, powerful agents of growth, change, and advocacy on their campuses and within their communities.

CHCI produces a major Annual Meeting of its membership, maintains a content-rich website, produces an annual printed membership directory, and serves as a re-circulator for information about its members via listservs and its website. We are now also developing distinctive programs and special projects intended to benefit our membership.

CHCI operations are based at the Center for the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which serves as the fiscal agent for the organization and provides important operating and staff support.

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities connects people and ideas to explore the human experience and inspire cultural engagement. The humanities use language, reason, and imagination to interpret the world around us. We experience the humanities through narrative, musical, artistic, and religious traditions that are embedded in all cultures and reflected in history, law, language and literature, philosophy, religion, the arts, and studies of culture.

Since its founding in 1974, VFH has produced more than 40,000 humanities programs serving communities large and small throughout Virginia, the nation and the world. In addition to Foundation-directed programs including festivals, publications, digital initiatives, conferences, teacher institutes, and public radio programs, VFH has contributed to more than 3,000 grant projects and 300 individual and collaborative fellowships.

VFH encourages discovery and connection through the humanities by supporting and producing cultural, civic, local, and global educational programs for broad public audiences. We work with individuals and communities to explore the past, confront current issues, and discover a promising future. We focus our efforts on Community Programs, Scholarship and Digital Initiatives.