PORTLAND — The Maine Humanities Council last week received $100,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The funding will support “2020: Bicentennial Vision for Maine Past, Present, and Future,” a project that, according to the NEH, includes scholar-facilitated reading and discussion sessions, a speakers bureau, and a “theater of Ideas” that explore the history of Maine’s road to statehood to commemorate the state’s bicentennial.

The Maine Humanities Council, at 674 Brighton Ave., uses literature, history, philosophy and culture as a tool for change in Maine.