News

The 2026 Clark Lecture The Shape of What's Gone: Craft, Labor, and the American South with Kimberly English

Apr 23, 2026

Artist and educator Kimberly English explores how cloth can be used to interrogate American mythologies of labor, heritage, and belonging, particularly as they take shape in the South. Working with inherited textile structures such as overshot and coverlet drafts, the artist reconfigures pattern through interruption, distortion, and negative space, treating absence as both a formal strategy and a historical condition.

a gaines center for the humanities mini grant event Denim Day Fashion Show: Awareness, Advocacy, and Action Registration Now Open

Apr 18, 2026

Rock your denim and join us for a powerful day raising awareness, standing up, and making change happen! Clothing is not consent. Join us for an evening of fashion, storytelling, and change as we challenge harmful myths and support survivors.

The 2026 Lafayette Seminar in Public Issues Humanities in Action: Origins and New Directions Registration Now Open

Apr 16, 2026

The Gaines Center for the Humanities will host the 2026 Lafayette Seminar, “Humanities in Action: Origins and New Beginnings,” from 3.00pm until 5.00pm on Thursday, April 16, in the Hardymon Theater, Davis Marksbury Building.

Twelve New Gaines Fellows Named

by Ryan Girves

Apr 3, 2026

Twelve University of Kentucky students have been selected as the newest Gaines Fellows, representing nine colleges across campus and marking a record number of applications for the highly competitive program. The Gaines Fellowship in the Humanities is a distinctive, two-year program designed to enrich undergraduate education through interdisciplinary coursework, independent research and community engagement. Fellows are selected for their academic achievement, research potential, interest in public issues and commitment to exploring the human condition through the humanities.

NOW AVAILABLE Our Fall 2026 Newsletter

Feb 19, 2026

The Fall 2026 newsletter includes the many (many!) things happening over here in the UK Gaines Center including our 40th anniversary alumni reunion celebrations, our 2025-2026 mini-grant recipients, and spotlights on current senior fellow Marc Vazsonyi and alumna Cat Wentworth.

NOW AVAILABLE TO STREAM The 2025 Bale Boone Symposium with Ebony G. Patterson

Jan 12, 2026

The 2025 Bale Boone Symposium with Ebony G. Patterson is now available to stream on our YouTube channel. CLICK HERE TO STREAM

now available to stream 2025 Breathitt Lecture with Lucas Carlos de Lima

Jun 30, 2025

The 2025 Breathitt Lecture, Crystal Palaces: Designing a Better World Amidst Social Chaos presented by Lucas Carlos de Lima, is now available to stream on our YouTube channel. Click here to view the lecture.

Gaines Class of 2027 Gaines Center Selects Newest Cohort of Fellows

May 31, 2025

The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities is thrilled to announce the selection of 12 undergraduates as the newest class of Gaines Fellows. These students will join the prestigious Gaines Fellowship Program in the Humanities for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Gaines Center featured in the Journal of Appalachian Studies

Dec 16, 2024

The Gaines Center for the Humanities' annual Lafayette Seminar featured in the latest edition of the Journal of Appalachian Studies. The article, authored by Associate Director Dr. Chelsea Brislin, revisited the two-day 2024 Lafayette Seminar, a series of public events on the topic of Monsters, Myths, and the Metaphysical. Check out the article in the Volume 30, Number 2 edition, available now at this link.

watch it on our YouTube channel Did You Miss "An Evening with Emily St. John Mandel"?