The Council is pleased to announce our most recent mini grant awards of almost $14,000 to 7 humanities projects across the state. Congratulations to our newest group of grantees! Learn more about their innovative projects below:
Mini Grants to Individual Researchers:
Robin Bowman, $2,000 to Transnormal. Funds support the development of an oral history project documenting the life experiences of the diverse members of the transgender community in Rhode Island. The project cumulates in a panel discussion examining ways in which Rhode Island fits within the nationwide conversation about transgender issues.
Sandy McCaw, $2,000 to Matunuck, Not Just a Place, but a State of Mind. Funds support the development and printing of the eighth volume of the Matunuck Oral History Project. After conducting oral histories of local Matunuck residents, the narratives are edited into a printed volume and distributed to several local libraries and historical societies.
Theresa Guzman Stokes, $2,000 to Legacies of Slavery and Freedom: A Family Journey Through the Atlantic World. Funds support a reexamination of New England’s colonial slave trade through genealogical research, interviews, and the archival records of both an enslaved person and past slave owners. Researchers reactivate the legacy and history of the Atlantic slave trade by adding faces, names, and life experiences of those involved in the practice.
Mini Grants to K-12 Civic Education:
Brown University, $2,000 to Shakespeare para todos! [Shakespeare for Everyone]. Funds support the development of a program connecting scholars and undergraduate students with Spanish speaking children and communities to study Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The program connects with larger community efforts of theatres, universities, and libraries celebrating Shakespeare’s First Folio exhibit, hosted by Brown University in 2016.
Living History, $1,955 to Iron Man Phase III. Funds support a project engaging high school students from the MET School in hands-on learning about the technical, economic, and cultural impact of 18th century iron making at the Nathanael Greene Homestead in Coventry. Students participate in an archaeological dig, document their findings, and act as guides and interpreters for 6th grade school visits.
Mini Grants to Public Projects:
Coggeshall Farm Museum, $2,000 to Building a Multicultural Narrative for Coggeshall. Funds help support the development and incorporation of a multicultural narrative and curriculum into the teaching materials, printed documents, and learning experiences of visitors to the historic salt marsh farm in Bristol, RI.
University of Rhode Island, $1,982 to Memory vs. Representation: Veterans’ Homecoming in History, Literature, and Memory. Funds support veterans programming focusing on the literary interpretations of homecomings and the harsh realities that veterans often face. Three panels across the state encourage veterans, and their families, to engage in open dialogues about the challenges of reintegration into civilian society.
