Grants Awarded Fiscal Year 2006
Early Response Grants
Trudeau Center Restoration & Digitization Project
J. Arthur Trudeau Memorial Center
$1,000
This project seeks to preserve and digitize the Trudeau Centerís collection of historic photographs, films, newspaper clippings and policy papers relating to the history of social welfare in RI.
Humanities Outreach: A Pilot Project
2nd Story Theatre
$2,000
The project brings a humanist-in-residence to the theatre to develop scholarly essays and host audience discussions on themes presented in the plays produced from January to June 2006.
Whitman, The Printer
John Russell Bartlett Society
$610
This lecture at the URI Library features the Whitman scholar Dr. Ed Folsom from the University of Iowa examining Whitmanís use of the art of printing to convey his poetry.
March Into Reading
Salve Regina University
$2,000
This program highlights the importance of reading as the cornerstone of education, enabling a lifelong pursuit of knowledge. Local authors and illustrators will join with others to excite interest among children and parents alike by presenting storytelling as an accessible process.
Journey to Freedom:
The Dialogue Touro Synagogue Foundation
$2,000
This three-part series examines historical aspects of religious freedom and the interfaith dialogue that has evolved during the colonial era in New England.
Untitled Oral History Project
Hamilton House
$2,000
This multi-faceted oral history project will document and archive the personal history of Hamilton House seniors. The results will be displayed in a traveling exhibition to include a short video documentary, an art and photography component, essays, and a story quilt.
Burleigh Exhibition and Family Day
Little Compton Historical Society
$2,000
This exhibition and day-long event explores the contribution of Little Compton artist and philosopher Sydney Burleigh. The Family Day event provides Victorian activities and amusements for the whole family to gain a better understanding of Little Compton life in the late 19th century.
Boots on the Ground Discussions
Trinity Repertory Theatre
$2,000
These moderated discussions will follow performances of Boots on the Ground ñ an original play based entirely on interviews with Rhode Island soldiers, families, employers, and others about their concerns and perceptions regarding the ongoing war in Iraq.
Nathanael Greene Public Humanities Forum
Rhode Island Historical Society
$2,000
This public forum, coinciding with RIHS's completion of the 13-volume Papers of General Nathanael Greene, will bring together scholars and a journalist working on a newspaper series on Nathanael Greene, Rhode Island's famous Revolutionary War general, to explore his life and career from a variety of vantage points.
Not Your Classroom Radio Program
AS220
$2,000
Originally aired on Brown Student Radio, this radio program featuring interviews with RI university faculty about their current research and its connection to the greater world will be re-edited to air on WRNI, Rhode Islandís NPR news station.
The Vikings Return!
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University
$2,000
This three-day public program brings together humanities scholars and costumed interpreters with the general public to explore the world of Vikings, Viking explorations and activity in North America, and the roles of Rhode Island and New England in understanding the Viking Age.
Languages of the Land:
A Dialogue With Salter Grove Warwick Museum of Art
$2,000
RICH funds support three panel discussions, accompanying the main exhibit, which encourage both participants and audience to consider how the landscape of Salter Grove influences and, in turn, is influenced by memory, imagination, and creativity for groups as diverse as Native Americans to teenagers to country-clubbers.
Radio at Brown:
A Unique RI Institution Brown Broadcasting Services
$1,750
RICH funds support the production of a 60-minute radio documentary chronicling over 70 years of history and influence at Brown University's student radio stations WBRU and BSR respectively. The launch of the documentary will be marked with a correlating exhibit at the John Hay Library at Brown.
Local History Activity Workbook about Barrington, RI
Barrington Preservation Society
$2,000
RICH funds support the production of a 20-page history activity workbook about Barrington that will be given to and completed by all third graders.
Humanities Resource Grants
Provide Access to 1200 Glass Plate Photographs, 1889-1940s
University of Rhode Island
$6,000
This project will convert and index a collection of glass plate and film negatives from 1889-1940ís that are housed in the University of Rhode Island Library in order to create public access to these images and this research collection.
Uncovering the Legacy of the Newport Casino
International Tennis Hall of Fame Museum
$2,000
Funds will support The International Tennis Hall of Fame Museum efforts to plan a more accessible archive in consultation with an archivist. An inventory of the ITHFMís paper-based collections will help establish a basic understanding of the records, which will enable a request for funding from the National Archives / National Historic Preservation.
Szathmary Menu Collection
Johnson and Wales University
$2,000
Funds will support Johnson and Wales University efforts to increase public accessibility to the Szathmary Menu Collection by organizing the collection and the creation of a related exhibit.
Independent Research Grants
The Garden
Lucas Foglia
$1,900
The Garden project is a research project that documents the community garden through interviews and photographs. The research will result in a public exhibit at a local gallery and on the web. Foglia says, " On a deeper level, a garden enables its gardeners to retain their cultural traditions and it fosters dialogue between cultures. The garden is a lens into the intricate dynamics of the neighborhood that it serves."
Burrillville Bicentennial Video Project
Betty Mencucci
$2,000
Research on the history of Burrillville for a film. This historical documentary will explain the resason for the separation from Gloucester and the man for whom the town is named, James Burrill, Jr. It will also include how Burrillvile has celebrated important events in the past and how it celebrates its 200th birthday this year.
No Place Like Home:
The Fifth Ward Neighborhood History Project
Joyce M. Botelho
$2,000
Funds will support research on the history of Newportís 5th Ward for a publication and presentation. An illustrated history and interpretative program will be developed into a lecture and walking tour program for general public audiences in addition to the preparation of an article suitable for publication.
Americana Dreaming
Abraham Henderson
$2,000
Funds will support research that chronicles the pursuit of the ìAmerican Dreamî concept by Dominican refugees for a stage and film documentary. Statistical information, migration theory, and personal interviews with survivors of the raft/refugee boat experience will be compiled for a screenplay and stage script.
King Philip and the Peopleís War
Ann Tweedy
$2,000
Funds will support research and documentation of Narragansett stories for a film. These stories deal with the process of relearning and reclaiming heritage, going back to the era of colonization. How are the impacts of 17th century colonization still being felt? How did colonization affect the subversion of leadership roles, social structure, and inter-nation native trade networks?
Steve Tyson Film Project
Don Manley
$2,000
Funds will support research on the local history of architectural preservation with a focus on preservation architect Steve Tyson for a film. Steve has worked on over 100 projects, including work on notable Rhode Island landmarks such as Slater Mill, Smithís Castle, the Towers in Narragansett, and several buildings in Roger Williams Park.
Media Production Grants
South Side:
The Fall and Rise of an Inner-City Neighborhood
Southside Broad Street
$8,915
Funds will be used to complete and distribute a series of documentary film vignettes to engage debate about urban regeneration. These interconnected segments showcase different eras of South Providence and provoke questions about the ways a neighborhood is remembered, the ways disinvestment creates segregation, and the effects of diversifying a segregated area.
Script Development Grants
The Language of American Native Cultural Survival in the Global Age
Northeast Historic Film
$2,500
A documentary film that explores New England Native identity from the point of view of lanuage preservation and loss. New England Native culture represents a ten-thousand year human experience of continuous cultural development, and RICHís funding is being used to research and script the Narragansett Indian section of the film.
Public Project Grants
Everyday Happiness
Hera Educational Foundation
$2,755
Everyday Happiness is a monthly television series on RI PBS that examines the topic of the Pursuit of Happiness from a broad variety of perspectives held by Rhode Island residents and scholars. Episodes have examined what happiness means to seniors, to immigrants, and faith worshippers. Upcoming episodes will include an episode that examines happiness from the perspective of seventh graders.
America's History in the First Person:
Interpreting the American Revolution at the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House
Newport Historical Society
$6,840
This is an educational program that will serve youth, families, and adults throughout Rhode Island. The Newport Historical Society will offer two new interactive educational programs at the house including field trips for youth in grades four through seven and an enhanced tour on Saturdays this fall for all ages.
Viscerally or Virtually Americans
University of Rhode Island
$2,470
Viscerally or Virtually Americans is a traveling multi-media exhibit and exhibit catalogue and website based on current research with South Asian immigrants and South Asian call center workers with regards to the negotiation of identities and the experience of virtual immigration. The exhibit catalogue will include humanities essays on the subject and a DVD with excerpts of interviews of the immigrants.
Orchards in the Ocean State:
RI's Apple Growing Culture
Cranston Public Library
$4,432
Orchards in the Ocean State is a traveling exhibition including photographs and film that will be accompanied by interpretive text. The exhibit will describe the early and recent history of apple-growing in Rhode Island and will explain how Rhode Islandís apple growers have responded to changing technology and markets and survived through resourceful adaptation.
Working Stories:
Narratives of People and Their World
Slater Mill Historical Site
$4,877
Working Stories: Narratives of People and Their Work is a multi-media exhibit on the lives and histories of working people in Pawtucket, Rhode Island that will be presented at the Slater Mill Historic Site and afterward on the web. The exhibit will use oral histories, photographs, and objects to introduce the stories of Pawtucketís mills and its workers.
Pawtucket Humanities Forums:
Straight Talk and Shared Sundays
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre
$4,750
Humanities discussion programs hosted by scholars at the Gamm Theatre. Shared Sundays is a series of post-performance talk-backs accompanied and supplemented by program essays for a general audience and study guides for youth audiences. Straight Talk is a pilot program consisting of a series of staged readings of theatre pieces based on documentary records, followed by audience discussions.
The Jerusalem Perspective:
150 Years of Archaeological Research
Brown University
$2,518
The Jerusalem Perspective: 150 Years of Archaeological Research will convene an international group of scholars for an interdisciplinary conference that includes a series of public lectures related to the city of Jerusalemís archaeological and cultural heritage.
The Moby Dick Project
Mixed Magic Theatre
$1,900
Mixed Magic Theatre and scholars of the Herman Melville Society will meet to plan The Moby Dick Project. This project will bring high school students, scholars, artists, other professionals, and members of the public together to study Herman Melvilleís Moby Dick and then work together to write and produce a modern stage version of the novel.
Humanities Outreach at 2nd Story Theatre
2nd Story Theatre
$2,920
Funds will support a scholar-in-residence program at the theatre that produces humanities dialogues with audiences in conjunction with performances. Essays distributed in conjunction with specific performances provoke thought and then discussion before and after performances.
Architectural Gems:
18th & 19th Century Buildings in South County
Courthouse Center for the Arts
$2,300
Funds will support a group of South County historical sites working together to produce discussion programs and a brochure highlighting the history of each site. The project, which examines the architectural history of each site, further examines the cultural impact architecture and design have had on our communityís social and physical landscape.
Creative Cartography
New Urban Arts
$4,500
Funds will support creation of a summer youth workshop in consultation with a scholar; the program critically examines and discusses cartography and results in an exhibit and publication of the youth work. This project promotes critical analysis of cartography as a creative art form with a longstanding history for analyzing and interpreting the world in which we live.
FirstWorksProv Artists Up Close:
Humanities First
FirstWorks
$3,000
Funds will support Humanities First audience discussion forums that will take place in connection with the FirstWorksProv arts and cultural festival. Working with artists Kronos Quartet, STREB, Pixilerations, Aurea, Native American Dance, FirstWorks will present five umanities programs, form a steering committee to identify themes and formalize investigations, and produce a 4-color dedicated promotional piece.
RI Capitol Forum
Global Rhode Island
$10,696
Funds will support teacher and student engagement in a project that will bring Rhode Island high school students to the State House in 2007 and 2008 for an up-close study of civic and international issues. The Capitol Forum program provides an opportunity for high school students to deliberate about the role they believe the nation should play in an increasingly complex international environment.