MHC invites proposals from working Minnesota poets, individuals, or organizations currently mentoring youth in the arts to serve as Poetry Mentors for Voices Forward, a youth poetry and public humanities initiative.
Throughout 2026, MHC will engage communities across the state and explore how remembrance, democracy, and identity intersect locally and nationally to celebrate America’s Semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary. Voices Forward is part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250, a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils across the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia in collaboration with local partners. These programs explore 250 years of the nation’s cultural life and imagine its shared future.
Voices Forward invites emerging youth poets, ages 13–19, from across Minnesota to explore the Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s 2026 themes: Remembering Together, Harmonizing Together, Moving Together, and Building Together. Through mentorship and workshops, youth poets will craft poems that remember our past, mark our present, and imagine a shared future.
Mentors will receive a $3,500 stipend for compensation. The mentor opportunity scope of work, responsibilities, and requirements can be found with the Request for Proposals on the MHC website, and submissions can be directed to submissions@mnhum.org.
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