Michigan Humanities Awards $203,101 in Grants for Cultural Programming

Michigan Humanities is pleased to announce $203,101 in grants to 16 Michigan organizations in support of public humanities programming. In addition to this direct support, each agency was required to present matching cash or in-kind cost share, bringing an additional $374,885 to the table. This major grant cycle, the Humanities Grants, support projects exploring history, theatre, reading, education and community identity.

Shelly Kasprzycki, President and CEO of Michigan Humanities said, "Humanities Grant projects are an invaluable way for sharing humanities-rich, cultural programming throughout Michigan. These projects not only educate, inform, and enhance local audiences in these communities, but also attract visitors, support community development, and build capacity in organizations around the state."

"The heart of Michigan Humanities are the creative projects developed and carried out in our state's communities, large and small. Through our grant programs, we are proud to support public humanities in towns from Marquette to Vandalia, and Allendale to Detroit. We want people to experience art, literature, history, music, culture, books and films in many ways, through many means -- so that we can all share what makes us human." said Council Board Vice-Chair Celeste Diehm.

Humanities Grants will be offered again in the fall of 2019. Draft proposals and applications are currently being accepted with a final application deadline of August 22, 2019. Please visit www.michiganhumanities.org, or contact James Nelson, Director of Grants, for additional information.

Michigan Humanities received 48 eligible applications for review in its spring 2019 deadline cycle. The organizations, with award amounts, by county, are listed below.

Project details can be found on the Michigan Humanities website at www.michiganhumanities.org/humanities-grants

By County - 2019 Humanities Grant Awards

Barry County

Gilmore Car Museum -Birth of the Automobile: Amish Buggy to Horseless Carriage, $3,850

• A small team of participants will transform an Amish horse-drawn buggy into a gasoline-powered horseless carriage which resembles a 1909 Holsman highwheel motor buggy. The project results will be shared with students across Michigan.

Cass County

Underground Railroad Society of Cass County-Underground Railroad Days, $12,000

• The 10th Annual Underground Railroad Days is a three day festival the second weekend in July that celebrates the history and legacy of the Underground Railroad in Cass County MI.

Ingham County

Michigan History Foundation-Michigan Anishinaabe Heritage Program Planning and Development, $15,000

• Heritage Michigan will plan an annual program that celebrates Michigan's rich indigenous history and culture, past and present.

Marquette County

Cedar Tree Institute-Water Rising, $14,000

• Water Rising is a unique multi-genre collaboration that brings the humanities and arts together via writing and the visual arts, as well as through music and video installation to inspire viewers to engage their own sense of place.

Oakland County

Lawrence Technological University-Humanity + Technology Lecture Series, $6,800

• The series will consist of 6 public lectures or panels featuring recognized humanities scholars, who will share their work investigating the human implications and effects of technologies past, present, and future.

PuppetART-Opportunity Southfield, $9,900

• PuppetART will be conducting a series of shows and workshops in their new community of Soutfield.

Ottawa County

Grand Valley State University-L'dor V'dor: Jewish Community of Michigan, $11,628

• L'dor V'dor: Jewish Community of Muskegon is a collaborative public history project documenting the congregational history of Temple B'nai Israel in Muskegon, Michigan through an immersive exhibit opening in Fall of 2020 at the Lakeshore Museum Center in Muskegon.

Hope College-Little Read Lakeshore, $15,000

• The Little Read Lakeshore program will be a month-long community-wide reading program focused on the reading of one book that will take place during November 2019.

Saginaw County

Friends of Theodore Roethke Foundation-Bringing the Past Home, $14,354

• Former Roethke student, Tess Gallagher and her writing colleague, Alice Derry, will visit Michigan in October to celebrate reading and writing with Michigan students.

Washtenaw County

Akshara-Rasa Festival of Performing Arts, $15,000

• The Rasa Festival of Performing Arts is a series of performing arts events (dance, music, theater), rooted in the traditions of South Asia but being preserved, nurtured, and given new expressions in the flourishing Indian and Bangladeshi communities of SE Michigan.

Wild Swan Theater-Women Scientists Take the Stage, $15,000

• An original piece to be based on the life and work of world-renowned computer scientist, Margaret Hamilton.

Wayne County

Detroit Educational Television Foundation-Rihla: Arab Americans in Detroit, $15,000

• Rihla: Arab Americans in Detroit will connect DPTV's audience to some of the largest, oldest and most diverse Arab American communities in the United States.

Detroit Historical Society-Neighborhoods: Where Detroit Lives Oral History Project, $14,500

• The Neighborhoods: Where Detroit Lives oral history project seeks to capture the history and identity of Detroit's neighborhoods through the memories and experiences of its residents.

Detroit Public Theatre-Richard III-In Prison: A Critical Edition, $15,000

• Richard III-In Prison: A Critical Edition" will be the first in a series of critical editions of Shakespeare's plays, edited and annotated by Shakespeare in Prison members old and new.

Detroit Women of Color-Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival $11,069

• The Detroit Women of Color, Inc. will host the Fourth Annual Detroit Women of Color International Film Festival on September 27-29, 2018 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.

Historical Society for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan-Documentary of the Court and its History, $15,000

• The Historical Society will produce a 60-minute video documentary of the history of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to educate students and Michigan residents about the history of the Eastern District, and the importance of the federal judicial system and the federal court in Detroit, Michigan.