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CFVI Awards $200,000 in Humanities Grants

Funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
U.S. Virgin Islands, January 27, 2022  The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) has awarded $200,000 in humanities grants, with funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the emergency and ongoing funding from the American Rescue Plan (ARP).

"We are very excited to announce a third round of funding to USVI organizations who are doing important work highlighting the culture and history of our Virgin Islands," said CFVI President Dee Baecher-Brown. "Since the beginning of CFVI’s partnership with NEH in 2020, we have provided more than $830,000 in support for humanities projects throughout the Territory. During these times of social distancing, it is especially meaningful to be able to unite around celebrating the traditions and values of our home."

The NEH distributed $51.6 million in funding to the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils and interim partners, the agency’s first awards under the ARP Act of 2021. The funds are designated to support humanities organizations, programs, and professionals at the local level, advancing economic recovery within a cultural sector devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
CFVI applied for and was awarded NEH funding from the ARP Act that the Foundation sub-awarded to eligible entities throughout the USVI to support operations of humanities organizations as well as humanities programming and activities.

Grants of up to $20,000 were available to facilitate the recovery of humanities organizations and humanities programming from the COVID-19 pandemic and to fund humanities programs, projects, and initiatives such as book festivals, literacy campaigns, speaker’s bureaus, teacher development, cultural tourism, humanities publications, films, exhibitions, and projects that preserve and provide access to cultural and educational resources in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Grant funding to support general operating costs of humanities focused organizations was also allowed.

The following organizations/programs received grant support:

81c Arts Foundation - $20,000
2022 Culture In Context Event Series
The series will present primary sources in media/culture that teach about history and culture in the VI, and pair them with secondary analysis and dialogue to place the primary sources in their context.

All Saints Cathedral School - $5,000
Countdown to ’28; our Blueprint for Cultural Perpetuity
Funding will be used to create a multi-and inter-disciplinary approach to foster an appreciation and understanding of our Caribbean culture, diversity and inclusion in our community and region.

Caribbean Genealogy Library - $20,000
Operating Support
The grant will alleviate some of the economic strain caused by COVID-19 and allow the library to focus a greater amount of attention on programming and meeting the increased demand for remote research assistance.

Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts - $20,000
Oral Traditions Preservation: Saving Living Libraries
Funding will be used to investigate the complex narratives of identity in our towns and the idea of memory at the historical, personal and communal levels, as well as engage youth in developing interviewing skills to capture oral history.

Fireburn Foundation Inc. - $20,000
Fireburn Foundation Literacy Campaign
Funding will be used to place copies of the children’s book, “James and the Fireburn” in each elementary school library; copies of “Fireburn the Screenplay” in each junior high and high school, along with the lifetime rights to show “Fireburn the Documentary.” A literacy campaign will allow for the author/creator of the products to interact with each class, virtually, and help create excitement about reading, writing and VI history.

Ten Sleepless Knights, Inc. - $20,000
USVI Folklife Festival 2022
Funding will be used to host a series of educational, cultural workshop events for the USVI Folklife Festival in the Town of Frederiksted, which is scheduled to coincide with the 174th celebration of USVI emancipation.

The University of the Virgin Islands - $15,000
Community Conversations and Cultural Preservation: Service Learning and Oral History Collection at the University of the Virgin Islands
Funding will be used to engage students in service learning by training them in best practices of oral history research, collection, preservation, digitization, public engagement, and linguistic practices and awareness.

Virgin Islands Architecture Center for Built Heritage and Crafts - $20,000
Operating Support
Funding will support the partial salary of one employee to provide clerical, administrative, and communications assistance.

Virgin Islands Children's Museum
Caribbean Folklore Youth Storytelling Workshop & Pop-Ups - $20,000
Funding will support a storytelling outreach program that aims to create the next generation of Virgin Islands culture bearers through creativity, and aims to empower students to create and tell their own stories, help students to develop deeper self-awareness and new forms of self-expression.

Virgin Islands Children's Museum
Operating Support - $20,000
The funding will be used to provide operational support in order for the museum to keep its doors open and continue to serve the community by providing nontraditional educational resources and an interactive play space.

Virgin Islands Museum Civic and Cultural Centre - $20,000
Operating Support
Funding will be used to employ a part-time administrative assistant to support the volunteer board as it develops its facilities and programming; to purchase computer equipment to carry out its responsibilities and to purchase operational supplies.
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The term 'humanities' includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life. (Source: NEH.gov)
About the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands
Since 1990, CFVI has been a catalyst for positive change in the Territory through initiatives committed to youth, learning, family support and the environment. With a professional staff and a volunteer Board of Directors composed of community leaders, CFVI is a trusted advocate and supporter of programs that ensure opportunity and sustainability for current and future generations. CFVI is a registered non-profit organization entirely supported by individual donors, grants, trusts, corporate donations and estate planning. For more information, visit cfvi.net.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
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