From the National Humanities Alliance:
Washington, DC – Stephen Kidd has been named Executive Director of the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), a coalition of more than 100 humanities organizations and institutions from around the country committed to advocacy for the humanities. Kidd comes to the Alliance most recently from the Smithsonian Institution, where he served as Director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Associate Director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Throughout his career, Kidd has focused on bringing humanities scholarship to both broad public audiences and policymakers. As Director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, he managed one of the largest public humanities events in the United States. Known as the Smithsonian’s museum without walls, the Festival presents three major, research-based thematic exhibitions on the National Mall during a two-week period each summer. The Festival draws more than one million visitors per year with an annual budget of $5 million. As Director, Kidd forged partnerships with ministries of culture, institutions of higher education, museums, and community-based organizations; represented the Festival’s interests on Capitol Hill; raised millions of dollars in funds from diverse sources; oversaw research committees; and represented the scholarship of the exhibitions to a wide range of audiences.
Dr. Kidd’s appointment is effective September 4, 2012.
Read the full press release here (PDF).