The Council recently awarded $12,000 in mini grants to the following projects:
Grants to Organizations
Providence Children’s Film Festival, $2,000 to The PCFF Online Film Directory – Planning. Funds support the research and development of an online international children’s film directory, in order to offer Rhode Island families, educators, and librarians access to film related resources, learning guides, curricula, and information on where and how to access their full catalogue of previously-featured films.
Providence Public Library, $2,000 to Crossing Paths. Funds support two panel discussion events that engage historical fiction writers, historians, and special collections librarians in conversations about the processes surrounding historical research and the narratives that organize history into compelling stories.
Grants to Individuals
Robb Dimmick, $2,000 to Disappearing Ink: A Bibliography of Books by and about Rhode Island African Americans. Funds support a research project to create a comprehensive bibliography of books related to Black life, literature, and culture in Rhode Island. These materials, now marginalized and difficult to locate, will be identified, cataloged, and published in order to open up access to and shed light on this existing body of literature.
Marjory O’Toole, $2,000 to New Stories of Enslavement: A Return to Primary Source Documents in Little Compton, RI. Funds support a research project exploring the little-known history of slavery and indentured servitude in Little Compton, Rhode Island. Research will culminate in a public presentation at the Little Compton Community Center, and will add to the growing body of work promoting new understandings of Rhode Island’s slave history.
Sylvia Ann Soares, $2,000 to Eddie Soares Tribute. Funds support a research project on the life and influence of Cape Verdean jazz pianist Edwin Jose “Eddie” Soares (1913-1993) of Fox Point in Providence, a prominent figure from the days when Providence’s jazz scene was lively and robust.
Robert L. Tessier, $2,000 to Anatomy of a Village: The Influence of the Lapham Family on the development of Albion, Rhode Island. Funds support a research project on the history of the village and historic district of Albion, Rhode Island, located in the town of Lincoln. Research will document a span of nearly 300 years – from its original colonial land owners to the sale of mill village tenement property beginning in 1935.
