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Michigan Humanities News
November 2019
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Message from our President
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Remembering Kathleen Mullins
Michigan Humanities lost a bright star with the passing of Kathleen Mullins in October.
She was my MH mentor and Board Chair. Kathleen was the epitome of leadership, with her confidence, razor sharp focus, ability to cut through chaos, and move towards positive outcomes. We met in October of 2015 when I was asked to interview at Michigan Humanities, and we became fast friends and colleagues. She changed the world through her work as CEO of Historic Ford Estates, and led so many mission-driven boards and organizations to success. We at Michigan Humanities are so deeply grateful to have her indelible mark, and my sorrow will be tempered by my desire to make her proud.
Please look for a special announcement in November about our opportunity to memorialize Kathleen and announcements about our new programs coming up soon. We will be investing resources in youth leadership and community conversation. Look for a grants and program announcement soon!
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Michigan Humanities is prioritizing how we serve all people of Michigan, so I’m pleased to report that our Board of Directors and Staff are delving deeper into our work through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. At our August board retreat, we began with an exercise on implicit bias and trust. We will be meeting again to discuss the questions we need to ask ourselves, and taking a thorough look at all of our internal processes before then turning back to our outside work. A DEI action council will review our progress and action plan by October, 2020. I will share updates as we progress.
Shelly Hendrick Kasprzycki
President & CEO
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We're moving!
Michigan Humanities is moving to a new office. Beginning on December 16, 2019, we will be located at 2364 Woodlake Drive, Suite 100, Okemos, MI 48864. Our phone number, 517-372-7770, and staff email addresses will remain the same.
As we move offices, email responses and follow up may be delayed the week of Monday, December 9, to Friday, December 13.
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Apply for an Arts and Humanities Touring Grant
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Applications for an Arts and Humanities Touring Grant open on
November 15
for performances that take place December 1, 2019 through February 28, 2020.
The Arts & Humanities Touring Program awards grants to help support the fees and expenses of touring performers, artists, exhibitors, and humanities presenters listed in Michigan’s
Arts and Humanities Touring Directory
.
Visit
our website
for grant requirements, additional application windows, and more.
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Dr. Mona’s first Great Michigan Read mini-tour is complete!
Events took place in Flint, Caro, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Farmington Hills, and Dearborn. In just three days, Dr. Mona visited 6 communities with events at 2 high schools, 2 community colleges, one library, and one museum!
Collaborations with 17 GMR partner organizations made this mini-tour possible, and we are so fortunate to be part of the important conversations that are taking place in and beyond Michigan about
What the Eyes Don’t See, and Dr. Mona’s ongoing commitment to public health, early childhood literacy, and fighting injustice.
Thank you to Dr. Mona, the discussion partners at each event, the organizations that co-hosted and planned for ways to bring many audiences together to hear Dr. Mona’s powerful story, the local booksellers who joined us at several events, and the local, statewide, and national sponsors for the 2019-20 program including the National Endowment for the Humanities and The Meijer Foundation.
In early 2020, the mini-tours will continue across Michigan. Stay tuned for tour details.
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Not yet a registered partner?
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Libraries, high schools, colleges, book clubs, arts and cultural institutions, and other organizations around the state are invited to register as partners via our online system.
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Supplement your Great Michigan Read community programming with a GMR Action Grant
Great Michigan Read (GMR) Action Grants provide up to $750 to GMR partners in support of their GMR programming. Organizations may receive one GMR Action Grant in the 2019-20 program cycle, which began in September, 2019, and ends September, 2020.
Eligible expenses include materials, guest speaker fees, food, transportation, venue rental, and other promotional expenses. Funding will be available on a rolling basis until funds are expended.
Apply today!
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Great Michigan Read partners from Oxford donate 1,000 books
We are so inspired by the GMR partners from Oxford, MI, who donated 1,000 books to Dr. Mona’s literacy initiatives!
Thank you for showing us the power of community and collaboration.
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Big Checks for Big Ideas! Congratulations to these two grantees on their forthcoming projects
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For their Birth of the Automobile: Amish Buggy to Horseless Carriage project, the Gilmore Car Museum was awarded $3,850. This project will bring a small team of participants to transform an Amish horse-drawn buggy into a gasoline-powered horseless carriage that resembles a 1909 Holsman high-wheel motor buggy. The car will be driven around the museum campus roads and all the participants can conclude that they “invented” a functional automobile just like Henry Ford!
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For their Coding to the Moon: Margaret Hamilton and the Apollo Missions project, Wild Swan Theater was awarded $15,000. The centerpiece of the Women Scientists Take the Stage series, this project will be an original production based on the life and work of world-renowned computer scientist, Margaret Hamilton, who in 1969, was credited with saving the Apollo 11 mission, the first landing of a human on the moon.
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Poetry Out Loud Application Deadline is November 21
The last day to submit an application for the 2019–20 Poetry Out Loud program is Thursday, November 21, 2019. Read more about POL
here
, and register for the program
here
.
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Looking for POL updates all year long?
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Congratulations to these 12 Humanities Grants grantees
Over $174,000 in grants were awarded to Michigan organizations in support of cultural, educational and community-based public programming with a humanities element. The 12 projects were selected from 45 eligible applications to Humanities Grants, which support projects exploring history, theater, reading, education and community identity in Michigan.
Genesee County
Flint Youth Film Festival—Flint Youth Film Festival, $15,000
Youth Arts: Unlocked—HerStory: Unlocked Project $15,000
Kent County
Calvin University—The Undefeated: Presenting Kadir Nelson for Black History Month and Festival of Faith & Writing, $15,000
Ingham County
Michigan State University—Storied Landscapes: Bridging Ecological and Oral Histories on the Corey Marsh Interpretive Trail, $10,718
MSU Museum—Beyond Black Panther: Visions of Afrofuturism in American Comics exhibit and programs, $10,000
Lapeer County
Center for the Arts of Greater Lapeer—Women’s Suffrage Project, $13,688
Mackinac County
Museum of Ojibwa Culture—Unlocking the Silence/A Path to Empowerment Travelling Exhibit, $15,000
Marquette County
Marquette Regional History Center—The Great Outdoors: The History of Outdoor Recreation in Marquette County, $5,400
Mason County
West Shore Community College—WSCC’s Humankind Series: “Dreams, Promises and Realities: Life in Cuba and the US,” $15,000
Wayne County
Charles H. Wright Museum—Bird Lives! “Yardbird: Conversations,” $15,000
Michigan Opera Theatre—Taking the Stage: The Changing Voice of Opera and Dance, $15,000
Planet Ant Theatre—The Detroit Musical, $15,000
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Submit your Humanities Grant draft proposal today!
Spring 2020 Humanities Grant draft proposals are currently being accepted with a final application deadline of March 19, 2020.
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Crossroads Reflections from Old Mill Museum in Dundee
A message from Shirley Masingill, Old Mill Museum
The Historical Preservation Society of Dundee/Old Mill Museum felt that Crossroads was a perfect fit for our community as we are rural with a population of 5,100 and growing. Monroe County and Dundee has a rich history in agriculture while steadily moving forward into the world of manufacturing and industry. Dundee was nicknamed “Hub of the Highways” due to the interesting intersecting of roads in the center of our downtown area. These roads were footpaths for the Native Americans traveling through the state. This intersection allows travel from Lake Erie to Ann Arbor, Adrian, Detroit and Toledo. Dundee was definitely the ideal location for the Crossroads: Change in Rural American exhibit.
One of our local displays is a series of survey and plat maps dating from 1810 through 1901. We also have a 1931 archaeological map showing the foot paths of the Native Americans and their encampments coursing through Monroe County and several adjoining counties. There are also maps of the centennial, sesquicentennial, and bicentennial farms in Monroe County. These maps have become very popular with our visitors.
The one item that surprised us was that a number of visitors over 65 felt that there was too much reading and visitors 21 and younger enjoyed all of the written information. The younger visitors spent more time reading and interacting with the tour guides. They asked more questions regarding the exhibit.
The best part of hosting Crossroads has been the interaction with the public. No matter what age, they were able to relate to the exhibit by sharing stories of their communities and families. The exhibition brought visitors who had never visited the museum and a large number of our visitors traveled long distances to see Crossroads. One couple traveled three hours to see the exhibit!
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Crossroads is now on display in Decatur!
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Visit the Van Buren District Library-Webster Memorial Branch, now through December 8, 2019, to see Crossroads: Change in Rural America on display, or visit
our website
to see when it will be in a community near you.
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Jump-start your programming with an Action Grant
Is your organization looking for a way to jump-start programming? Do you have an exhibit that you need funding for? Maybe you are interested in having an author come and speak to your community!
Action Grants allow Michigan Humanities to provide a responsive line of funding for nonprofit organizations in Michigan to bring public humanities programming to their communities. If you have an idea, or are wondering if an Action Grant is right for your organization, you are invited to contact Jennifer Rupp, Director of State and Federal Grants, to discuss your project in more detail.
Learn more about Action Grants.
Here are some upcoming events around the state funded by a Michigan Humanities Action Grant:
- November 6, 2019, Schoolcraft College, Livonia: Meet the Author: Conversation and Book Signing with Steve Luxenberg. Learn more about this event.
- January 16, 2020, Holland Museum, Holland: Us versus Them: Understanding Images of Separation with Dr. David Pilgrim. Learn more about this event.
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We need your help to create, fund, and support the dynamic programs we present each year throughout the vast geography of our state.
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