[ad_1]
MANISTEE — Michigan projects exploring a range of humanities topics, including a conference, a festival, exhibits and oral histories received a boost in funding this month. A Manistee nonprofit is among them.
Michigan Humanities recently announced $210,620 in grants was awarded to 15 organizations in support of public humanities programming. The council strives to bring people together through stories, histories, cultures and conversations.
Manistee Area Racial Justice & Diversity Initiative received $15,000 for its “Journey of Discovery: Honoring the Contributions of African Americans in Rural Michigan” program.
“We are thrilled to be funding such interesting and diverse projects in communities all throughout Michigan with this round of Humanities Grants,” said Jennifer Rupp, Michigan Humanities’ president and chief executive officer, in a news release. “These projects are bringing to light the untold stories of our communities that make up the fabric of Michigan’s history.”
The Manistee group is planning a series of events for 2023.
“Black History Month offers us the opportunity, and obligation, to learn about, reflect upon and lift up the experiences and the influences of African-Americans here in our region,” said Lisa Allen, a Manistee Area Racial Justice & Diversity Initiative member who wrote the grant application, in an email. “In an effort to become a more just and inclusive community, learning more about each other is key and will engender greater trust and lead to more equitable, happy and meaningful lives for us all.”
Manistee Area Racial Justice & Diversity Initiative, in cooperation with the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts in Mansitee, will present a month of programming in February highlighting contributions from African-Americans, past and present, in rural Michigan.
Allen said via email that the project, “Journey of Discovery,” will begin with a fine art exhibit of African-American artists from rural Michigan in the Hardy Hall Gallery at the RRCA.
“Part of the opening of this ‘Journey,’ along with the art exhibition, will be a performance by The Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, a group dedicated to empowering and supporting youth through use of the arts,” she said.
Events in February also will include a performance by solo artist Crys Matthews, a musician whose work is primarily centered on social justice, and an appearance by Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox, an award-winning historian of 19th century America with a special focus on race relations on the frontier and rural Michigan.
Cox will speak at the RRCA about her research and her books, as well as provide “insight into the history of African Americans here in our own region of northern Michigan.”
Two traveling exhibits are also included in the series; both will be housed at Hardy Hall at the Ramsdell for the whole month.
One, from the Michigan State University Museum, features the history of a very significant resort community for African Americans in rural Michigan, named Idlewild, near Baldwin, said Allen. The other, from the Wright Museum, is an exhibit about the Underground Railroad in Michigan.
“This series is meant to highlight the impact and pioneering spirit of African Americans, past and present, here in rural Michigan,” said Allen.
Humanities Grants award up to $15,000 per project to Michigan nonprofits doing work to support cultural, educational and community-based public programming with a humanities element,” according to a news release.
“These grants play a vital role in sharing our diverse culture, our state, our community and identities, and are intended to connect us to Michigan’s rich cultural heritage and historical resources,” reads a news release in part.
The full list organizations receiving grants is as follows:
- Alma College, The PBB Disaster at 50: A Conference to Commemorate and Learn from the Poisoning of Michigan, $14,975;
- Birmingham Museum (city of Birmingham), The Underground Railroad and Abolition Movement in Southern Oakland County — Traveling Exhibit/Website, $14,475;
- Capital City Film Festival, Capital City Film Festival Humanities Lens Project, $10,000;
- Detroit Historical Society, Modernizing Interpretive Tools in “Streets of Old Detroit” Exhibition, $15,000;
- Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives, GRAAMA on the Road, $15,000;
- Manistee Area Racial Justice & Diversity Initiative, Journey of Discovery: Honoring the Contributions of African Americans in Rural Michigan, $15,000;
- Michigan State University, Jackie Kallen, AKA “The First Lady of Boxing,” $14,965;
- Michigan State University, The Art and Science Behind Charlotte’s Web, $8,705;
- MSU Museum, Sounds of Religion, $15,000;
- Museum of Ojibwa Culture, Welcome to the Ojibwa World Prior to Colonization, $15,000;
- Real People Media, Animated Stories of the Copper Country — Mining History, $15,000;
- Saginaw Valley State University, Museum exhibitions and related programming that celebrates three heritage months in Michigan, $15,000;
- Shakespeare in Detroit, Black Classical Reading Project, $15,000;
- SOAR LLI, SOAR Community Access Initiative: SOAR on the Road, $12,500; and
- Underground Railroad Society of Cass County, Underground Railroad Days 2023, $15,000.
[ad_2]
Source link