photo of Henry Magowan

Henry Magowan

Co-Founder
The Gravel Institute

Henry Magowan is the CFO and Co-founder of the Gravel Institute, a 501c4 non-profit dedicated to combatting conservative disinformation. At the Gravel Institute, he helps to oversee a team of talented directors, animators, musicians, researchers, and creatives whose work earned over 10 million views and 300,000 subscribers in its first year of operations. The Institute is crowd-funded on Patreon and ActBlue and makes educational videos on history, economics, and the world with guests that range from New York State Senator Jabari Brisport to Actors David Cross and H. Jon Benjamin.

Previously, Henry was the Director of Finance for Sen. Mike Gravel’s 2020 Presidential Campaign, one of 21 national campaigns to qualify for the July Democratic Primary Debates and the only of which ran by teenagers. The campaign for then-88-year-old Sen. Gravel sought to expand the Overton window with a particular focus on the horrors of American empire and the military-industrial complex.

Henry was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, and is graduating from Columbia University in 2022 with degrees in History and Political Science, focusing on Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. Accordingly, Henry recommends “What They Didn’t Teach You About the Civil War” as his favorite Gravel Institute animated video.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.

Events featuring Henry Magowan
Events featuring Henry Magowan