The Applied Cartooning Lab headed up the hill to Hanover for The Leslie Center for the Humanities’ “Humanities Work” seminar series at Dartmouth College. On April 22, The Lab’s own James Sturm presented a behind-the-scenes view on collaborative projects from past years, including “This is What Democracy Looks Like” and “How We Read.” Three days later, a seminar brought together the Leslie Center’s 2025 class of fellows in conversation with a group of state humanities council representatives: Michael Haley Goldman of New Hampshire Humanities, Jane Beachy of Illinois Humanities, and Ryan Newswanger and Christopher Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup of Vermont Humanities.
The convening occurred just weeks after the Trump administration canceled all federal grants from The National Endowment for the Humanities. The afternoon began with a panel discussion on the dire impacts of funding cuts. Goldman, Beachy, and Newswanger presented narratives of humanities funding in local communities. Alongside the Leslie Centers’ fellows, they talked about strategies for weathering the onslaught of federal cuts.
In the second part of the seminar, The Lab’s in-progress comic “Beyond Punishment” took center stage. The comic provides an overview of mass incarceration in the United States. Having read through the most recent draft, fellows and panelists alike were invited to provide feedback via zine-making. Pencils were sharpened, crayons were scribbled, and paper was carefully folded and cut. The outcome: A hefty stack of thoughts, commentary, and reflection on how the “Beyond Punishment” comic can be integrated into community discussions and anti-carceral work across the country.
For more on the impact of federal cuts to state humanitie’s councils, and for a printable zine on the topic, see our recent lab report “Humanities Make Us Whole.”
