Case Statement

The Humanitarium: Center for Culture & Diversity

Celebrating Diversity • Rejecting Intolerance • Affirming Our Common Humanity

Introduction

America in the twenty-first century will be more racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse than ever before. This increasing diversity offers us the opportunity to rise to the best of our democratic tradition, to honor our core values of individual dignity, social justice, and civil rights for all Americans. It reminds us that the United States is a place where diverse peoples have found values that unify us as a nation and, at the same time, respect our many differences.

It also reminds us of the darker chapters of our history, when intolerance and bigotry have placed our democracy at risk. This growing diversity challenges us to find new ways to build mutual understanding, to explore the vast range of human cultural achievement, and to strengthen the foundations of democracy.

The Humanitarium: Center for Culture & Diversity is an enthusiastic and imaginative response to these challenges and opportunities. The Center will be a "Center without walls," taking new learning possibilities to places where they are needed within the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. The Center will be dedicated to understanding and celebrating human diversity, rejecting prejudice and affirming our common humanity through education and the arts. We hope to offer central Kentuckians an exploration of emotionally charged and controversial issues to encourage new understandings, new ways of seeing and a sense of hope and optimism for the future.

Historical Perspective

The idea for the Humanitarium began with a group of volunteers interested in issues of tolerance and diversity who first came together in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1995. The group has expanded to include a wide range of university educators, regional business leaders, community activists, political officeholders, public advocates, volunteers, and others. The group is racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse. The center has a solid organizational structure, including a committed board of directors, advisory board, and a range of working committees. The center is incorporated as a nonprofit organization in Kentucky with 501(c)(3) status.

Why Kentucky?

In recent decades, Kentucky and the upper South have undergone rapid cultural, economic, and demographic changes. In the 1980s, Toyota and related industries built major facilities near Lexington, creating a vibrant intersection of Japanese and southern American cultures in the central Kentucky region. In addition, Kentucky has a changing agricultural economy, bringing increasing numbers of Hispanic immigrants to the area.

Too often this diversity is met with exclusion and prejudice. Fear and misunderstanding needlessly divide us. Building bridges across lines of race and religion is an increasingly vital and pressing need. Socioeconomic differences continue to create sharp divisions and inequalities in the region. While some of the state's residents enjoy high levels of economic prosperity, the income and educational levels for many Kentucky families are among the lowest in the nation. A number of Kentucky counties are among America's most impoverished.

Kentucky is the site of important artistic, political, and cultural work. Gay and lesbian activities are working to create an atmosphere of respect around issues of sexual orientation. A fresh generation of scholars is widening our understanding of the diverse peoples and forces that have shaped the region's history. From Native Americans, to the western frontier, to the slave economy, and the transformation of the landscape by coal mining — the story of Kentucky is compelling. On the eve of the twenty-first century, cultural institutions have an important responsibility — and an important opportunity — to bring to light these new understandings that reflect our society and history in truthful and respectful ways.

Conclusion

As traditional spaces for community gathering have disappeared, cultural facilities have become the "community's living room." Public centers such as the Humanitarium provide a space for learning, telling stories, and exploration, a space where the work of culture is honored and carried on. The Humanitarium will provide a rare and crucial site in the upper South for this cultural work. In such facilities, we learn how we can live and work together, without separatism and divisiveness, and be enriched and enlivened by one another.

The Humanitarium is an important opportunity to take a leadership role in shaping awareness of and attitudes toward the nation's increasing cultural diversity. To be perceived as welcoming to diverse peoples and cultures is increasingly essential in our rapidly globalizing economy. Fresh understandings of national and regional identity have never been more important than now to the history of our democracy.

Organizations such as the Humanitarium store memories, cultures, dreams, and hopes. They have the capacity to move us, provide us with a fresh outlook, induce in us a sense of revelation. The Humanitarium will provide stimulation and empowerment — not as an end but as a starting point. The process of thinking, understanding and engagement will continue long after the educational or artistic experience has ceased. If we are to meet the demands of democracy in twenty-first century America, we must be willing to make bold investments in our deepest and truest resources — the diverse peoples and places that are the real nation.

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