Paddlers reading poems at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis as part of Indiana Humanities’ Next Indiana Campfires program. Photo courtesy of Tessa Tillet for Indiana Humanities.
Indiana Humanities, the state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has earned a reputation for creating innovative public humanities programs that are educational, relevant, and fun. Since 2016, the council’s Next Indiana Campfires program has gathered hundreds of participants for guided treks followed by fireside discussions of great works by Indiana nature writers such as Gene Stratton-Porter and Pulitzer Prize-winner Edwin Way Teale. The partnership with more than 20 nature preserves has brought locals, humanities scholars, and naturalists together to reflect upon Indiana’s diverse landscapes—from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to the Limberlost Loblolly Swamp—and the writers these landscapes have inspired.
“The Next Indiana Campfires program is terrific. I can’t say enough good things about connecting people to Indiana outdoors and Hoosier writers! Indiana Humanities has hit a home run.”
–Participant
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Trailside discussion along Indianapolis’s Urban Wilderness Trail during Indiana Humanities’ Next Indiana Campfires program. Photo courtesy of Tessa Tillet for Indiana Humanities.
Since the initial kick-off event—a conversation between authors Terry Tempest Williams and Scott Russell Sanders that drew more than 150 attendees—Next Indiana Campfires has successfully facilitated constructive conversations around challenging local environmental issues. In 2016, a special trek brought together staff from the Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Forest Alliance to discuss texts conveying varying philosophies of land management. As a result, these frequent opponents were able to better understand one another. The 2018 program focused on the White River, a major two-forked river running through the heart of the state that was polluted in the late twentieth century. More than three-quarters of participants said their trek helped them to appreciate the river in new ways and better understand the factors impacting its health. Months later, half indicated they had changed their behavior to better protect the White River.
The program’s impact continues to expand. Seventy percent of participants who responded to a longitudinal survey indicated that they have explored other new-to-them sites since their trek and 64% have sought out additional works by Hoosier writers and/or environmental authors. An impressive promotional campaign—enhanced by sleek graphic design, an extensive blog, and a lively conversation on social media—garnered new sponsorships, local television and radio spots, more than 25 newspaper articles, and the 2016 Pinnacle Award for Marketing/Communications from the state chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. In addition to the well-attended excursions, Indiana Humanities has distributed more than 800 free “Trek and Talk Toolkits,” which provide select literature about Indiana landscapes, facts about Indiana’s ecology and environmental history, and discussion questions for self-guided treks. In recognition of the program’s impact, Next Indiana Campfires was awarded the 2016 Helen and Martin Schwartz Prize for outstanding public humanities programs by the Federation of State Humanities Councils.
Walking and talking at the restored Loblolly Marshes made famous by Gene Stratton Porter, a Hoosier native who wrote some of the first widely popular environmental literature in the early 20th century. Photo courtesy of Tessa Tillet for Indiana Humanities.
