The Northampton-based Mass Humanities announced a new round of funding for projects opening dscussion about a variety of issues effecting Massachusetts communities, including rascism, homophobia and even economic displacement, as a means to help strengthen democracy.
Northampton-based Mass Humanities announced it has distributed a new round of funding for a variety of programs designed to spark discussion of issues within specific communities in the state.
"We were impressed by the range of relevant, dynamic projects in this round of applications," Executive Director Brian Boyles said. "Organizations around Massachusetts are responding to their communities through new approaches to the humanities. They're asking big questions, reaching new audiences and shedding new light on our shared history and culture."
The National Endowment for the Humanities-affiliated non-profit has distributed approximately $475,000 during 2018 to a variety of humanities projects.
In the latest round, Western Mass recipients included Historic Holyoke at Wistariahurst which received $14,500 for an oral history project and exhibit examining the lives and experiences of black residents during the second half of the 20th Century.
Eggtooth Productions was awarded $7,500 for support a two-day event in Turners Falls focusing on issues of race, age, gender, religion, class and cultural identity that has been surppressed.
The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights Institute received $12,209 for a teachers institute on the holocaust, genocide and human rights to be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus.
The UMass Amherst Labor Center received $15,000 for a film project to, "help local workers see their work lives as worthy of attention and part of a historic trajectory in which they are agents," according to the agency. The event includes a three-day digital storytelling workshop, conference and website showcasing the videos.
Greater Boston recipients receiving fundind were: the UMass Boston CANALA Institute was awared $14,047 for a five-day summer teacher workshop "highlighting historic sites in Boston where communities of color struggled for recognition and inclusion in the social contract," the agency announced. Those communities include Deer Island, Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, Chinatown's Quincy Grammer School and Villa Victoria.
Interlock Media in Cambridge received an award of $13,500 to support distribution of a documentary film called "CodeSwitching" exploring the cultural shifts students bused from urban to suburban schools as part of Boston's Metco program needed to negotiate.
Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge received $3,000 for a series of after-event conversations about one-act plays written by the cemetery's Playwright Artist in Residence Patrick Gabridge.
In central Massachusetts the Worcester Historic Museum received $15,000 for a project on the history of the LGBTQ+ community in the city, including oral histories and creation of an LGBTQ+ archive and educational program.
The American Antiquarian Society was awarded $14,935 for an educational website on Isaiah Thomas, printer and American revolutionary.
Clark University in Worcester received $14,998 to support ESL teachers in learning "Poetry Inside and Out," a translation-based approach to literary interpretation.
On the South Coast of Massachusetts, the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center was awarded $6,960 to explore how changes in fishing technology affected the town's fishing community over time.