Video: Earl Lewis, President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, In Conversation with ACLS President Pauline Yu

ACLS is pleased to present a dialogue between President Yu and Earl Lewis, president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, that took place at the 2017 ACLS Annual Meeting in May.

The two discussed the value and future direction of the public humanities, and the role of the Mellon Foundation and philanthropy more generally in the humanities and higher education. Lewis stressed the importance of public support for the humanities, noting that the value of the arts and humanities are a public good.

Lewis recounted a number of experiences to illustrate the impact of the humanities on his own decision-making and how those impressions have shaped his leadership and approach to the work of the Mellon Foundation.  He spoke, too, of the importance of humanists teaming with others of diverse backgrounds in collaborative approaches to societal challenges.

This video is the second in a series begun in 2016, when President Yu spoke with Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation.