Illinois Humanities Announces $50k in Community Grants

AMONG PROJECTS FUNDED ARE A DIGITAL CREATIVE WRITING CURRICULUM, A VIDEO ON HOW STATEWIDE MUSEUMS ARE FARING UNDER COVID-19, AND A PROJECT THAT IMAGINES BLACK FEMINIST FUTURES

Illinois Humanities has awarded 14 grants, totaling $50,750, to support public humanities projects across the state through its Community Grants program. Through the program, grants are made three times annually to support public humanities projects that strengthen community resilience by bringing people together for inquiry and conversation, engaging new audiences, and exploring more interactive programming techniques – such as digital humanities tools. Simply put, funding supports public humanities programming, planning, and partnerships.

Of the 14 organizations and projects funded, 10 are located in Chicago and four are located, or feature activity, elsewhere in the state. They include:

• Chicago Filmmakers (fiscal agent) / Prairie State Museums Project Impact Video & Final Report ($4,100) – Chicago, Ill.
• Chicago Poetry Center / Digital Creative Literacy Curriculum ($4,000) – Chicago, Ill.
• Dreaming Tree Foundation / Media-making as a Path to Social Justice and Advocacy for Western Illinois Youth ($4,000) – Rock Island, Ill.
• Gallatin County Historical Society / Tent City Commemoration ($350) – Shawneetown, Ill.
• Haitian American Museum of Chicago / Sharing Our Story – Oral Histories from Chicago Haitians ($3,100) – Chicago, Ill.
• Honey Pot Performance / Black Feminist Futures ($4,000) – Chicago, Ill.
• InterAction Initiative Inc / InterAction’s Counter Narrative Fellowship ($4,000) – Chicago, Ill.
• John R. and Eleanor R. Mitchell Foundation / This is My House! ($4,000) – Mount Vernon, Ill.
• National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial / Cambodian Day of Remembrance ($4,000) – Chicago, Ill.
• National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture / “Raices & Semillas” – A Puerto Rican Oral History ($4,000) – Chicago, Ill.
• Organic Oneness (fiscal agent) / Chicago Race Riot 1919 Commemoration Project ($5,100) – Chicago, Ill.
• Perceptions Theatre / Perceptions Theatre’s Inaugural Season ($4,100) – Chicago, Ill.
• The Point Magazine / Nonrequired Reading: Assessing needs among educators and general readers for public humanities ($2,000) – Chicago, Ill.
• Victory Gardens Theater / Creating Connection with a Classroom during a Pandemic ($4,000) – Chicago, Ill.

LEARN MORE about our Community Grants Program

ABOUT ILLINOIS HUMANITIES

Illinois Humanities, the Illinois affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a statewide nonprofit organization that activates the humanities through free public programs, grants, and educational opportunities that foster reflection, spark conversation, build community and strengthen civic engagement. We provide free, high-quality humanities experiences throughout Illinois, particularly for communities of color, individuals living on low incomes, counties and towns in rural areas, small arts and cultural organizations, and communities highly impacted by mass incarceration. Founded in 1974, Illinois Humanities is supported by state, federal, and private funds.

Learn more at ilhumanities.org and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn @ILHumanities.