March Mini Grants Awarded

Three Organizations and Three Individuals Secure Project Funding in March

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities' Board of Directors recently awarded a total of $4,915 in mini grants to three non-profit organizations and $6,000 in mini grants to three individuals for development and production of public humanities projects. Following is a list of the grant awards.

Organizations

AS220 ($2000): The Cultural Origins of Street Bands: An Experiental Learning Experience. Funds will support a multi-faceted program to engage youth at AS220’s Broad Street Studio and the Rhode Island Training School in a summer research project on music, history, and the social function of benevolent aid societies in New Orleans and Haiti. Focusing on the grassroots elements of street bands, music lessons and practice will result in a youth-made band and "benevolent aid society" that will directly support the youth’s communities.  In addition, the youth’s research – conducted online, at the Providence Public Library, and at the Schomburg Center – will serve as the basis for a curriculum that other youth programs can learn from.

Little Compton Historical Society ($2000):Time To Play. Funds will support production expenses for “Time To Play,” a major exhibit that will showcase the history of children’s pastimes in Little Compton dating from the time of the Sakonnet Indians until the 20th century.

Hera Educational Foundation ($915): Films By Women. Funds support a series of three documentary films followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers and humanists. Topics examined in the films include family and relationships, social change, and community.

 

Individuals

Christian de Rezendes from Slatersville ($2000): Little Rose: The Stigmatized Ecstatic of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Funds will support research and complete pre-production work for a film documenting the life of Marie-Rose Ferron (1902-1936), a woman from Woonsocket whose alleged weekly stigmata attracted thousands of visitors to her family’s home. The film will examine the culture surrounding present day Rose devotees in Rhode Island and throughout the state, as well as examine the social, historical, and economic contexts in which Rose’s life unfolded.

Nancy Kougeas from Newport ($2000): The Voyages of a Rhode Island Slave Captain: John Sabens, 1799-1807. Funds will support a research project on Captain John Sabens, an active figure in the slave trade between 1799 and 1807, with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of Rhode Island’s participation in the slave trade up to 1808 and after – when it was federally prohibited – through the personal and professional lenses of Sabens’ life.

G. Wayne Miller from Pascoag ($2000): Behind The Hedgerow: Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of Newport. Funds will support research for a feature-length documentary on Eileen Gillespie Slocum, the famed and prominent society figure from Newport.