Indiana nonprofits receive nearly $35,000 in grants to conduct and create humanities-based programs
Learn more about the projects funded by Indiana Humanities' Humanities Initiative Grants.
Indiana Humanities has awarded grants of up to $2,000 each to 20 nonprofit organizations for projects that seek to engage the public in the humanities. The Humanities Initiative Grants will fund a variety of programs across the state, from Whiting to Lincoln City. Funded projects include presentations on Amelia Earhart and Abraham Lincoln, an accessibility app for the deaf and hearing-impaired, as well as numerous exhibits, lectures and reading groups, all of which provide opportunities for communities to facilitate conversations.
Indiana Humanities will hold two grant workshops later this year to provide information on its grants and the types of activities it funds, as well as tips on how to write a successful grant proposal. The workshops, scheduled for Hobart on Nov. 2 and Vincennes on Nov. 30, are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Learn more at www.IndianaHumanities.org/grants.
Humanities Initiative Grants support nonprofit organizations that sponsor public humanities programs such as town hall meetings, panels, workshops, lectures, reading and discussion programs, and production of humanities resources.
This round of Humanities Initiative Grantees include:
Studebaker National Museum Fall Public Programs ($1,600)
Studebaker National Museum, South Bend
In conjunction with The History Museum's exhibition Dressing Downtown, this fall the Studebaker National Museum will present two programs—one on South Bend's historic mansions and another on the motorcars of Downton Abbey.
Calumet Revisited: A Monthly Forum on the Calumet ($550)
Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative, Whiting
The Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative will present its third-annual Calumet Revisited forum in 2016-2017 with sessions on a variety of topics related to the region's cultural and environmental history.
Amelia Earhart—Live! ($2,000)
Sheridan Historical Society, Sheridan
The Sheridan Historical Society will bring scholar/re-enactor Ann Birney to the community in February to deliver two presentations on Amelia Earhart—one for elementary students and another for the general public.
Lincoln Colloquium ($2,000)
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Lincoln City
The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial will partner with five other organizations to deliver a one-and-a-half-day public conference in October 2016 on the life of Abraham Lincoln, with a focus on Lincoln in public memory, Lincoln as part of Indiana's cultural history, and other topics.
Plant the Seed, Read! ($2,000)
Kosciusko Literary Services, Warsaw
Kosciusko Literary Services will purchase copies of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms for a community-wide reading program in spring 2017; a scholar will discuss Hemingway and the book at a number of public and school assemblies in towns around the region.
James Whitcomb Riley Home Education Program ($2,000)
Riley Children's Foundation, Indianapolis
The James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home will introduce new educational activities that tie more closely to specific Indiana Department of Education academic standards and will develop to promote the programs to schools.
Telling the Story: Black History and the Town Clock ($2,000)
Friends of the Town Clock Church, New Albany
For Black History Month in February 2017, the Friends of the Town Clock Church will present a series of programs to celebrate New Albany's African-American heritage and to tell the history of the Second Baptist Church, which served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
History as Literature: Using Literature to Teach ($1,706)
Chesterton Middle School, Chesterton
Chesterton Middle School will have all students read the Newbery Medal–winning book My Brother Sam Is Dead this fall and will then use it as a tool to teach Revolutionary War history utilizing Socratic seminars, social media and other activities.
The Indiana Album: Photograph Scan-a-Thon Series ($2,000)
The Indiana Album, Indianapolis
The Indiana Album will host six workshops across the state throughout the next year, helping participants scan their family photos and demonstrating how to preserve them; organizers will catalog and share high-resolution digital copies of the photos with the Indiana State Library and the Digital Public Library of America.
Building Bridges, Not Walls in the 21st Century ($2,000)
Marian University, Indianapolis
In November Marian University will bring an international migration scholar, John Francis Burke, to talk about how migration has impacted the global community; the discussion will tie into a university-wide reading program built around the book Outcasts United.
Fourth Annual Madame C.J. Walker/Frederick Douglass Public Lecture ($2,000)
Indiana University/Frederick Douglass Papers, Indianapolis
The Frederick Douglass Papers will host one of its keynote speakers, Dr. James Trotman, at its annual symposium in October; the keynote is part of a two-day event featuring a number of scholarly assessments of Douglass as well as readings of his speeches.
Magna cum Murder Crime Writing Festival ($1,500)
Ball State University/E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center, Muncie
The Magna cum Murder Festival, now in its 22nd year, will draw more than 45 mystery and crime writers from around the world for a weekend of panels, presentations, discussions and readings in October; the organizers will use this grant to bring two of its featured authors, Ruth Dudley Edwards and Natasha Cooper, to the festival.
The "Furnishing Touch" ($1,842)
Museum of Miniature Houses, Carmel
From January to May 2017 the Museum of Miniature Houses will hold an exhibition called The "Furnishing" Touch; this grant will help pay for three speakers who will deliver presentations related to the exhibition, with a focus on furniture and gothic architecture.
Walking Tour Brochure Series #1 ($2,000)
Floyd County Historical Society, New Albany
The Floyd County Historical Society will revise and reprint a popular walking brochure on the downtown's historic architecture.
My Bloomington History: Summer Camp Workshops ($2,000)
BCT Management, Bloomington
The Buskirk-Chumley Theater will develop and host a summer camp for third and fourth graders in 2017; participants will explore Bloomington's history, their family history, and the historical impact that the entertainment industry has had on culture.
Marvin Chandler: Musician and Minister ($2,000)
Second Baptist Church, Bloomington
Members of the Second Baptist Church will develop a 30-minute documentary on Marvin Chandler, an African-American Hoosier who has been a jazz musician, a minister and an advocate for civil rights; they plan to distribute a student version and a discussion guide to schools.
Accessibility App for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing ($2,000)
Indiana Medical History Museum, Indianapolis
The Indiana Medical History Museum has created a prototype of an app that will allow deaf and hearing-impaired visitors to fully experience guided tours of the museum via transcripts and ASL interpretation videos; this grant will help them develop a fully functional app.
George R. Mather Sunday Lecture Series ($2,000)
Allen County–Fort Wayne Historical Society, Fort Wayne
The Allen County–Fort Wayne Historical Society will use this grant to support its ongoing Sunday lecture series offering free monthly programs on humanities-related topics; subjects in the 2016-2017 series include Indiana's bicentennial, historic Fort Wayne theaters and African-American migration to Indiana.
Happy Mediums: Camp Chesterfield's Oral Histories ($1,210)
Friends of Camp Chesterfield Foundation, Chesterfield
The Friends of Camp Chesterfield will use this grant to gather oral histories from 15 to 20 former and current camp residents; the Friends will submit these oral histories to IUPUI's Center for Digital Scholarship for addition to the Camp Chesterfield online collection.
The Gift of Giving ($550)
Whiting Arts Council, Whiting
This holiday season the Whiting Arts Council will hold an art celebrating international traditions of gift giving; the show will explain customs through interpretive labels and through a lecture series featuring immigrants and community members who carry on family traditions.
Indiana Humanities offers a competitive grants program that awards funding to Indiana nonprofit organizations, schools and other tax-exempt community groups. Grants are divided into two categories: Humanities Initiative Grants and Historic Preservation Education Grants. Humanities Initiative Grants are awarded twice a year to not-for-profit organizations that sponsor public humanities programs such as town hall meetings, panels, workshops, lectures, reading and discussion programs and the production of humanities resources. Historic Preservation Education Grants are awarded annually to support educational programs related to historic structures in Indiana. This is the last grant round for 2016; grant deadlines for 2017 will be announced later this year. Funding for Indiana Humanities grant programs is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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