Wyoming – May 20, 2025 – In response to the sudden and unprecedented freeze of all funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) on April 2, 2025, Wyoming Humanities is undergoing a transformation that will shape its role as a cultural leader in Wyoming.

With heavy hearts, the Wyoming Humanities Board made the excruciating decision to end the employment of two-thirds of the operations staff, effective May 31, 2025. These are not just professional colleagues. They are passionate, dedicated citizens of Wyoming who have upheld the mission of this organization with integrity and vision.

“It has been a highlight of my career to have led Wyoming Humanities and our incredible team for the last five years of its fifty-plus years,” said executive director Shawn Reese. “There is nothing more powerful than finding connections and inspiration through the stories that shape Wyoming. The next chapter of Wyoming Humanities is in the hands of a caring and dedicated board, and I look forward to seeing it unfold.”

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the staff members whose work has shaped this organization into what it is today. Their legacy will continue to inspire our future. We also thank the State of Wyoming, our donors, grantees, and partners across the state and the nation for standing with us. Your support will be vital as we reimagine the future of Wyoming Humanities together.

Despite dramatic change, Wyoming Humanities is not going away. The volunteer Board of Directors will continue to lead the organization and ensure that Wyoming Humanities remains a space for civic learning, cultural reflection, and public dialogue. While operations will be reduced in the short term, our commitment to our mission is unwavering. We will continue offering grants and programming to the best of our ability and fulfill our obligations to donors, partners, and communities.

“The work of Wyoming Humanities is more important than ever,” said Stacy Stebner, Interim Chair of the Wyoming Humanities Board. “In times of uncertainty, we need more, not less, connection. More dialogue. More stories. More understanding of where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

This moment of disruption is also a moment of opportunity. Wyoming Humanities is launching a transformation of the organization that will help build a more sustainable, collaborative, and resilient cultural network across the state. We are engaging our donors, partners, and the broader public to imagine what a thriving humanities ecosystem could look like for Wyoming’s future, one rooted in our shared values and guided by local voices.

Amid this transition, continuity matters. Two familiar and trusted team members will remain at the heart of Wyoming Humanities, helping to carry forward the values and relationships that define our work. Retaining these team members will ensure continuity and integrity in our day-to-day functions. They will work alongside the Board of Directors to sustain the essential work of Wyoming Humanities; continue our obligations to donors, grantees, and partners; and explore new possibilities for collaboration and support across Wyoming’s cultural landscape.

Chloé Flagg has been appointed Interim Executive Director. With a deep commitment to the mission of Wyoming Humanities and a clear vision for its future, Chloé brings the insight, experience, and steady leadership needed to steer the organization through this transitional period.

Michele Carter will remain as Director of Operations, ensuring continuity and integrity in our day-to-day functions. With years of exceptional service to the organization, Michele brings unmatched knowledge of our systems, partnerships, and programming infrastructure.

These familiar faces will bridge what has come before and what is still possible. We are confident that with their guidance and the strength of our Board, communities, and partners, Wyoming Humanities will emerge from this transition with renewed purpose and greater resilience.

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For media inquiries or more information, please contact:

Chloé Flagg

Interim Director

307-851-5937

Chloe@thinkwy.org

Nine non-profit organizations across the state recently received significant grants from Wyoming Humanities.

Wyoming Crossroads Grants are part of an initiative to apply humanities perspectives locally, helping to realize growth through change.  Since the program’s inception, Wyoming Humanities has awarded hundreds of thousands in Wyoming Crossroads grants.

This cycle of grants is designed to support public humanities projects related to either digital media or preservation.

The organizations who received these grants—as well as the amount and the project title—are:

• American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming – $10,000: Voices of Pride, an oral history project
• Casper Pride – $7,400: Save Casper’s Queer History, a digital archive to help document diversity
• Jackson Hole Public Art – $4,000: Never Forget Our Language, a Shoshone language short video made for mobile devices
• Laramie Public Art Coalition – $10,000: High Iron, collecting and travelling stories of ancestors who built the Transcontinental Railroad
• Sinks Canyon State Park – $5,700: Recreating Respectfully, helping to tell all stories of the Canyon, especially the overlooked Native American stories
• Wyoming PBS Foundation – $10,000: A Life Outside: The Legacy of American Mountaineering, a documentary commemorating Wyoming mountaineering heritage
• Wyoming State Archives – $9,976: Archival photo nitrate negative work, helping to allow unlimited access to previously unavailable photos to preserve the images for the long-term
• Wyoming Symphony Orchestra – $10,000: 75 Years of Harmony, a documentary exploring the stories and histories of the organization
• Wyoming Wilderness Association – $10,000: Home for All, an interactive mural project that weaves artwork, tribal stories, and western science resources

In this competitive grant cycle, applications were reviewed by a panel of humanities experts, including members of the organization’s board of directors.

For more information about these and other grant programs available from Wyoming Humanities, visit thinkwy.org/grants.

It’s an annual tradition: each summer, the Wyoming Arts Council releases its annual road trip playlist. Now that June is here, the talents across the Cowboy State provide the perfect soundtrack for any adventure across Wyoming’s beautiful landscape.

And it’s not just music. For the first time in this project’s history, podcast episodes were included in the playlist. As with the musical artists, all of the podcasters are in Wyoming, and all of the episodes chosen are based on stories around the state.

Emy diGrappa, executive producer for Wyoming Humanities, served as the judge of the podcast episodes submitted, ultimately choosing four to add to the mix.

“The ones that were selected are ones we think people will keep people listening,” she said. “They’re entertaining, offer some different perspectives, and really do featuring some engaging Wyoming-centric topics.”

The podcast episodes selected for this year’s playlist are:

• The Library Built on a Cemetery and What Got Left Behind (That Doesn’t Happen Every Day)
• The Lost Owl Creek Colony (Pioneers of Outlaw Country)
• On the Trail to Porcupine Falls (Wyoming Pathway to Adventure)
• Sasquatch in Wyoming (Strange Nature)

The Summer Road Trip Playlist is an annual release hosted on Spotify and promoted at high tourism areas across the state, such as at state parks, historic sites and trails, Wyoming visitor centers, museums and festivals. You can find the Road Trip Playlist on Spotify by searching ‘2024 Wyoming Road Trip Playlist’ or by going to https://spoti.fi/456GTdF.

Additionally, Wyoming Humanities also offers two currently running podcast series, both produced by diGrappa: What’s Your Why? and Winds of Change. Details and episodes can be found here.

Lester Hunt, the late Wyoming governor and senator, was an important figure in the state and nationally, and he’s even responsible for the state’s iconic license plate featuring the cowboy and bucking bronc. However, his story is also a chilling reminder of a time when fear and blackmail led to one of the most tragic incidents at the United States Senate.

The Lander Pioneer Museum recently presented an event featuring author Rodger McDaniel (“Dying for Joe McCarthy’s Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt”) and State Senator Cale Case who each spoke about Hunt’s life and legacy.

That live-streamed program is now available for public viewing on Wyoming Humanities’ YouTube channel.

Jazmine Wildcat is our new Native Narrative Student Research Intern, working to create a public database of Native American scholars and experts in Indigenous storytelling, history, civics, language, literature, arts and crafts, and other humanities disciplines.
 
She is an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho tribe from the Wind River Reservation, currently in her last year at the University of Wyoming where she is triple majoring in Psychology, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Political Science. She is passionate about the mental health of Indigenous youth and wants to make change through policy.
 
Excited about her role, she had this to say about the internship: “I believe my work building an Indigenous database that works towards preserving our culture and traditions is critical. We need to make sure the knowledge and expertise that our elders and community members hold continues on for future generations to use and thrive with. This internship is an opportunity for a database to be built by an Indigenous person, for Indigenous people.”