The 2012 Major Grants Announced

 

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities has announced the 2012 Major Grant Awards. A total of $192,600 was awarded to 24 organizations in support of humanities projects across the State of Rhode Island. Eight of the organizations are first-time grant recipients and over 75% of the awards went to organizations outside of Providence. Funded projects include documentary films, online archives, public forums, radio shows and exhibitions.

Six Democracy Demands Wisdom Grants were awarded to further the creative integration of the humanities into civics and history education for K-12 students. These grants support the development of new curricular materials, provide access to hands-on learning experiences, and engage students in contemporary civic issues. “An engaged and informed citizenry is an essential ingredient to keep Rhode Island's ‘lively experiment’ thriving,” said Grants Director SueEllen Kroll, “The Humanities Council renews its commitment to preparing Rhode Island's future civic leaders by awarding these new grants.”

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH) inspires and supports intellectual curiosity by providing funding for research and public programs designed to encourage lifelong learning for all Rhode Islanders. Since 1973, RICH has provided over $6.7 million in grants to support more than 500 organizations throughout the state of Rhode Island, as well as independent researchers, filmmakers, scholars, and oral historians.


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Action Speaks: Underappreciated Dates that Changed America
$15,000 was awarded to support the public forum / radio show that explores the contemporary ramifications of under-appreciated dates in twentieth-century American history. Action Speaks is embarking upon its 16th year.

Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Interpreting the Chocolate Mill Overlook Park
$9,500 was awarded to support the creation of educational, interpretive panels for the new Chocolate Mill Overlook Park in Central Falls. The signs will include the history of the William Wheat Chocolate Factory and chocolate manufacturing in the 18th century.

Bryant University
The African Digital Archive (ADA)
$6,000 was awarded to support the creation of the African Digital Archive, an online archive of images, interviews, videos, and curriculum materials about African people living in Rhode Island. The interactive website will be a resource for learning about African culture, including topics of migration, assimilation, race, and identity.

FirstWorks
Caravanserai in Rhode Island: A Place Where Cultures Meet
$10,000 was awarded to support a series of humanities programs that invite Rhode Islanders of all ages to engage with visiting Pakistani artists and scholars. Through public forums, in-school programs, and workshops, the Caravanserai initiative seeks to expand participants’ connections with contemporary Muslim societies.

Friends of Hearthside, Inc.
Color & Light
$15,000 was awarded to support an exhibition and programming centered on 50 recently discovered photographic prints of the 200-year old Hearthside House in Lincoln, RI. The hand-tinted prints will be displayed alongside artifacts to bring a blend of art and history to life.

Global Rhode Island
RI Capitol Forum on America’s Future
$9,600 was awarded to support a program that offers professional development training to 16 Rhode Island teachers on complex international issues. The project culminates in the Capitol Forum – a mock UN day held at the State House with 80 students, legislators, and policy and non-profit professionals.

The Learning Community
An Inquiry-Based Social Studies Curriculum for Middle Grades
$6,000 was awarded to support teacher training for the development of social studies curriculum for 6th and 7th graders. The curriculum will be based on Inquiry Projects, an initiative in which students learn about and actively intervene in local community issues of interest to the students.

Little Compton Historical Society
The History of Little Compton: A Home by the Sea, 1820-1954
$10,000 was awarded to support the History of Little Compton Project. Based on the successful model of Phase One, The History of Little Compton, First Light: Sakonnet, 1660-1820, the project will research and archive the history of Little Compton from 1820 to 1954, and present an exhibition, a publication, and accompanying public programs.

Newport Historical Society
The Spectacle of Toleration
$5,000 was awarded to support a project that will research and publicize Rhode Island’s role as a groundbreaking establishment of tolerance in the 18th Century, and the positive impact that position had on its interesting and economically successful society. This grant supports the planning phase of the project, which will commemorate the 375th anniversary of the King Charles Charter.

North Providence School District
Civic Engagement Program
$1,800 was awarded to support the development of a new Civic Engagement Program in the North Providence School District. With guest lecturers, guided tours and leadership training, the Civics Engagement Program will enhance students’ writing and oral communication skills with the aim of addressing pertinent civic issues.

The Preservation Society of Newport County
Newport Historic Urban Plan Project
$5,000 will support the development of an online, interactive map depicting the history of Newport’s physical development linked to information on its social, political, economic, and cultural history. The project will engage the public in a continuing conversation about American history, citizenship, and democracy by providing an access point for researchers, educators, and the general public to gain information about Newport’s past.

Providence Children’s Film Festival
Providence Children’s Film Festival
$9,000 has been awarded to support the third annual film festival that specializes in independent and international family films. Workshops, filmmaker presentations, and hands-on activities will enrich the film-going experience as children learn to think actively about film as a medium to tell stories, understand new concepts, and activate the imagination.

Redwood Library and Athenaeum
To Arrive Where We Started
$8,809.37 has been awarded to support an art installation within the Redwood Library. The installation is inspired by and draws upon the Library’s archive collection and the historic building in which it is housed. The installation will be accompanied by a catalog with scholarly essays and lectures.

Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra
Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time: Visions of Oppression and Peace
$5,000 has been awarded to support a series of panel discussions and presentations in anticipation of the Rhode Island premiere of Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.

Rhode Island College
Exploring the Japanese-American Internment through Art and Literature
$5,000 was awarded to support a lecture and exhibit on the Japanese-American internment. The exhibit explores the importance of storytelling and art to preserve memories, as well as how fictional representations can reflect the human consequences of racism and social injustice. The exhibit will be presented as part of Rhode Island College’s Open Books Open Minds Conference.

RiverzEdge Arts Project
Stories of Access, Stories of Denial: Communities of Color on the Blackstone
$10,000 has been awarded to support a project in which youth historians and mentors will research stories about the historic role of the Blackstone River in city life. With focus on communities of color from the Civil War to Civil Rights eras, youth will create a blog and a public exhibition involving performance, storytelling, artifacts, and visual art.

Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre
Big Brother in Our Hip Pocket: Why Orwell Still Matters
$5,700 was awarded to support public forums coordinated in conjunction with the production of George Orwell’s 1984. Forums will explore the themes of the novel and a digital presentation providing context on the life, work, and influence of George Orwell will be viewable online and at the theatre.

Serve Rhode Island
Justice Talks Continuation & Replication Project
$5,000 has been awarded to support an evaluation plan for Justice Talks, a unique six-week discussion and reflection series that engages Rhode Island state AmeriCorps members in generating challenging, open discussions about service, social justice, and civic engagement through provocative readings and reflective conversations.

Slater Mill
Student Access Program
$7,386.67 was awarded to support visits to the Slater Mill historic site for teachers and youth from five of Rhode Island’s most economically disadvantaged cities.

Social Venture Partners Rhode Island
Social Enterprise Storytelling
$15,000 was awarded to support the Social Enterprise Story Project in collecting and sharing the stories of Rhode Island’s social entrepreneurs. The project will address why entrepreneurs pursue social change and how their efforts impact Rhode Island communities.

Southeast New England Film, Music, and Arts (SENE)
Slatersville: America’s First Mill Village
$3,900 will support the creation of a working script for a 30-minute educational and promotional video on the historical significance of the Slatersville mill village founded by Rhode Island’s Father of the Industrial Revolution, Samuel Slater.

Tiverton Public Schools
Bridging the Gap in Social Studies Instruction Middle to High School
$9,904 will support 20 Tiverton Public School social studies teachers to work with a curriculum consultant to develop new units aligned to the Rhode Islands Grade Span Expectations.

Vartan Gregorian PTO
I WAS THERE
$10,000 was awarded to support a classroom and community project for students learning about the history of Fox Point through lessons, activities, and teacher training. The 2011-2012 school year theme is A Taste of Home: Food as Connector to Culture, Community, and Local Geography.

VSA Arts RI
“Getting Away With It”: Lucy Truman Aldrich’s Weekend with Chinese Bandits
$5,000 was awarded to support an exploration of the 1840-1930 debate on Deaf instruction in Rhode Island, Lucy Truman Aldrich’s Atlantic Monthly essay, My Weekend with Chinese Bandits, and the 1920’s Chinese rebel practice of kidnapping foreign tourists. Research will result in a public presentation and a script based on Aldrich’s essay.