Speakers Bureau

Sharing the diversity of stories in settings across the state sheds light on where we've come from and starts conversations about who we are. The insights and ideas we generate as people in conversation are lighting the road ahead — for each of us and for the state we all proudly call home. 

Humanities Kansas Speakers Bureau presentations and discussions are available free to Kansas nonprofits, as funding allows. These are intended for adult, out-of-school audiences.  

Speakers Bureau Catalog                        

NEW! Accessibility Funds                         

Common Questions

Documents and Forms

FIND a Speaker

Apply     

Publicize Your Event

How to Bring a Humanities Kansas Speaker to Your Event

1. Review the Speakers Bureau catalog and select a speaker and topic.

2. Contact the speaker and confirm time, date, location, and equipment needs. It is up to the host organization to provide the equipment necessary for the presentation or to confirm with the speaker that they can bring their own. Presentations can now be conducted online. Contact the speaker to discuss setting up a presentation online. Download this guide with step-by-step instructions for setting up an online presentation.

3. Apply for funding to bring this speaker to your community. Find out how. (Please note: Completed applications must be submitted six weeks before the event date to be considered for funding.) Presentations are intended for out-of-school adult audiences and must be free and open to the public. Humanities Kansas is not able to fund applications that do not meet these requirements.

4. Publicize your event. Download press releases and photos.  Download a Humanities Kansas logo poster.

5. Tell us how it went. After the event, download and fill out a Speakers Bureau Evaulation and Cost Share Form. 

Speakers Bureau is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, HK Friends of the Humanities, Midwest Energy, and Western Kansas Community Foundation.

Intersted in joining the Speakers Bureau? Click here to learn how more!    

Photo Credit: Tom Parker. The opinions expressed by the speakers do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Kansas.

Gallery

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Humanities in the wild! Coffey County Library hosted Megan Kaminski for a presentation of “Listening in Place: Nature and Poetry Walk.”

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Rex Buchanan presents at the Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby, KS.

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Prisca Barnes presents her Speakers Bureau Presentation "The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In" at the Junction City Public Library.

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Marla Day poses with the Nathan Edson DAR Chapter after her Speakers Bureau presentation on Parsons native and fashion designer, Nelly Don.

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Phil Dixon shares history and memorabilia of the Kansas City Monarchs with audiences.

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The Parsons Public Library hosted Ayako Mizumura for a Speakers Bureau presentation on Japanese war brides in postwar Kansas. In her presentation, Mizumura shares the voices of Japanese women who fled the devastation of a war-torn Japan after World War II and triumphed amidst great struggle to find community, connection, and cultural identity in the place they viewed as the last destination of their lives— the Kansas prairie.

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Dr. Debra Bolton poses with staff at the Manhattan Public Library after leading a discussion on the documentary film, "Strangers in Town."

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The Dodge City Public Library hosted Gene Chavez for a presentation on a classic staple of Mexican cuisine—the tortilla. Pictured is Gene demonstrating how to make a classic tortilla at the Dodge City Public Library.

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The De Soto Historical Society welcomed Will Haynes for a presentation on the Civil War in Kansas. In his talk, Will presents the story of Kansas during the Civil War and how it helped shape the states image for years afterward.

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Erika Nelson presents topic at Speakers Bureau event. Photo credit: Hutchinson Community College.

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Priscilla Howe how presents at a Speakers Bureau event.

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Leo Oliva presents at the Independence Historical Museum.

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Phil Dixon presents at the 2021 Manhattan Juneteenth event.