the Western & Wildlife Art Show Ft Robinson State Park Veterinary Hospital
HumANITIES nEBRASka 2026 FEATURED PERFORMErs
dan holtz - nebraska through song and story
Dan Holtz is a recently retired professor of English at Peru State College, where he taught from 1987 to 2016. He is the recipient of the 2000 Nebraska State College System Teaching Excellence Award and the 2015 Addison E. Sheldon Award for the preservation and interpretation of Nebraska history. He is also a past president of the Board
Dan Holtz is a recently retired professor of English at Peru State College, where he taught from 1987 to 2016. He is the recipient of the 2000 Nebraska State College System Teaching Excellence Award and the 2015 Addison E. Sheldon Award for the preservation and interpretation of Nebraska history. He is also a past president of the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Historical Society and currently serves as a member of the Nebraska 150 Foundation, a statewide committee involved in planning Nebraska’s Sesquicentennial celebration/commemoration. He has performed and presented programs for civic, historical, and literary organizations across Nebraska as well as at the Nebraska State Capitol, the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, Scottsbluff National Monument and the John Neihardt Center. Additionally, he has appeared at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and at the Bob Devaney Center for the state quarter dedication ceremony in 2006. In June of 2016, he released his second CD, “All Original, All Nebraska,” a collection songs he wrote about people, places, and events in Nebraska.
Humanities Nebraska
The mission of Humanities Nebraska is to help people explore what connects us and makes us human.
Our vision: Nebraskans possess the knowledge, understanding, and empathy to cultivate a more informed, thoughtful, and just society.
Our guiding principles:
- We believe that culture and connection are essential rights of human expression.
- We v
The mission of Humanities Nebraska is to help people explore what connects us and makes us human.
Our vision: Nebraskans possess the knowledge, understanding, and empathy to cultivate a more informed, thoughtful, and just society.
Our guiding principles:
- We believe that culture and connection are essential rights of human expression.
- We value conversation that respects difference and finds points of common experience.
- We provide inclusive opportunities to learn from the past to enrich our future.
- We expose people to other worlds of expression and human existence.
- We celebrate shared histories and diverse cultures.
- We develop engaging experiences for all Nebraskans.
- We are flexible and responsive to the changing and pressing needs of Nebraskans.
- We foster lives of purpose and meaning.
Making connections for 50 years
Humanities Nebraska is a statewide, independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1973 as a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Over the last five decades, Humanities Nebraska programming has evolved and expanded to include:
- Grants to nonprofit organizations conducting public humanities programs
- A Speakers Bureau with more than 250 humanities programs available
- Chautauqua with scholars portraying historic figures
- Nebraska Forum on Global Issues for high school students (formerly Capitol Forum)
- Prime Time Family Reading Time, a reading and discussion program
- Nebraska Warrior Writers, a workshop for veterans and active duty military led by professional instructors
- Museum on Main Street exhibitions from the Smithsonian
- Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities, an event bringing a prominent humanities speaker to Nebraska every year
- Nebraska History Day, a year-long education program that engages students in grades 6-12 in the process of discovery and interpretation of historical topics, co-sponsored with Nebraska Wesleyan University
There are two organizations that fall under the Humanities Nebraska umbrella — the Nebraska Humanities Council is the entity that conducts programs and makes grants. The Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities works with the Council to secure private funding and advocate for public funding at the state and federal levels to support these programs. A third organization, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, serves as the endowment for both Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Arts Council, a state agency.
michael mcdonald -- cowboy poetry and nighthawk tunes
michael mcdonald -- cowboy poetry and nighthawk tunes
Michael McDonald hails from Yankton County, S.D., growing up on a couple of farms with six brothers and a sister. He is a Vietnam era veteran, a graduate of the University of South Dakota, and is the Yankton County Veterans Service Officer. He and his wife, Deb, are parents of three, grandparents of three, and live in Yankton.