The South Carolina Humanities Board of Directors awarded more than $61,000 in Major Grants to 9 cultural organizations after a September 24, 2021 Board Meeting in Columbia.
The awards were selected through a competitive application and review process and are made possible by SC Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Matching community support for the 9 awarded projects totaled: $475,317.
A list of awarded grants is provided below:
Sponsoring Organization: Lake Hartwell Country
Project Title: Swine to Sauce: A History of Barbecue in South Carolina
Project Director: Andrew Stevenson
Awarded: $3,500; Cost-share: $7,301
Lake Hartwell Country will present their annual Farm Day on November 5 – 6, 2021. At the event, they will demonstrate whole hog barbecue and will provide a temporary exhibit about the history of barbecue in South Carolina, particularly the influences of both Native American and African American people. They will also provide a pamphlet with recipes from around the state and information about how to build a pit barbecue. Other events at Farm Day include vendors, demonstrations, and family-friendly activities.
Sponsoring Organization: Coastal Carolina University
Project Title: Children of Our Time: African American and Jewish Lamentations and Longings
Project Director: Gary Schmidt
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $10,000
Coastal Carolina University will sponsor a series of programs from November 2021 – April 2022 featuring dialogue about the persecution of African American and Jewish communities. Programs will include film screenings, book discussions, and five lectures, and will culminate in a series of concerts of music created in the 1930s and 1940s and dealing with issues like lynching and the Holocaust.
Sponsoring Organization: Varna International Music Academy
Project Title: Violins of Hope South Carolina
Project Director: Kalin Tchonev
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $182,466
Varna International Music Academy will coordinate a major, statewide series of educational and artistic events that present the story of the Holocaust through performances, exhibits, storytelling, lectures, and other programs. The “Violins of Hope” are a collection of 60 instruments that Jewish people played in concentration camps during the Holocaust. One of the main elements of the Violins of Hope South Carolina series will be the “Songs of Life” performance featuring the Long Bay Symphony, local choirs, and a Bulgarian folklore ensemble, depicting the rescue of Bulgaria’s Jewish population during WWII. This full performance will be given in Myrtle Beach on April 24, North Charleston on April 28, Greenville on May 3, and Columbia on May 8. Other programming includes educational events in schools and colleges, community events in partnership with synagogues, an art exhibit in Charleston, and various other programs TBD.
Sponsoring Organization: Southern NCSY
Project Title: The Butterfly Project powered by Southern NCSY
Project Director: Arielle Nakdimon
Awarded: $3,000; Cost-share: $137,000
The Southern National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), located in Florida, will coordinate an educational community memorial project in Greenville in 2022. Approximately 2,300 sixth grade students in Greenville County School District will participate by learning about the Holocaust, including the story of a particular child who died in the Holocaust, and will paint a ceramic butterfly in their memory. The butterflies will be crafted by an artist into a public art installation located in downtown Greenville that will be dedicated to the memory of celebrated Greenville residents and Holocaust survivors, Max and Trude Heller.
Sponsoring Organization: The Citadel
Project Title: Veterans of the 1969 Hospital Strike Oral History Project
Project Director: Dr. Kerry Taylor
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $20,550
The Citadel Oral History Program will coordinate an oral history project spotlighting participants in the 1969 Charleston hospital strike, a major part of South Carolina civil rights history. They will train five worker-interviewers to conduct 15 oral history interviews that will be transcribed and made available on the Lowcountry Digital Library and in The Citadel Archives. They will also present three free events to share highlights from the project, starting with an event in March 2022 commemorating the anniversary of the strike. Other events will potentially be in April and on Labor Day 2022.
Sponsoring Organization: Claflin University
Project Title: Celebrating Women Composer’s Classical Music for Piano
Project Director: Dr. Eunjung Choi
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $2,000
Claflin University received Planning Grant funds to plan for a series of four lecture-recitals featuring the work of four classical women composers who are connected to American musical history: Cecile Chaminade, Teresa Carreno, Amy Beach, and Lady Viola Kinney. The programs are tentatively planned to take place from March – August 2022.
Sponsoring Organization: Visit York County Partners in Tourism Foundation
Project Title: Jail, No Bail: How 30 Days Impacted the Civil Rights Movement
Project Director: Brianna Francis
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $22,000
The Visit York County Partners in Tourism Foundation will create a new permanent exhibit about the Friendship Nine Civil Rights historical event in Rock Hill. The exhibit will be displayed at the McCrory’s building where the incident took place in 1961 and will include sections like biographies of the major participants, information about the “Jail, No Bail” movement, information on Friendship Junior College, an interactive timeline of the 30 days, and a place where visitors can respond to whether they would go to jail for 30 days for something important to them. The exhibit is planned to open to the public in December 2021 and will be open six days a week.
Sponsoring Organization: Hub City Writers Project
Project Title: Spartanburg County Author Visits
Project Director: Kyla Burwick
Awarded: $3,000 Cost-share: $3,000
Hub City Writers Project will bring four nationally-recognized, diverse authors to Spartanburg County schools for author visits in Spring and Fall of 2022.
Sponsoring Organization: Southern Documentary Fund
Project Title: Saltwata Vibes: Sankofa Seeds from Geechee Roots
Project Director: Sherard Duvall
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $88,000
“Saltwata Vibes: Sankofa Seeds from Geechee Roots” will investigate the young adult generation of Gullah Geechee communities in South Carolina and how they understand their identity, particularly through the lenses of music and language. The documentary is currently in the production phase. Ultimately, “Saltwata Vibes: Sankofa Seeds from Geechee Roots” is planned to be a 90-minute documentary that will have public screenings, an international film festival appearance, and national broadcast distribution. A website will launch in November 2021; pre-community screenings will take place in Fall 2022 to get feedback, and the film is expected to be completed in April 2023.
For more information about any of these grant-supported projects, please contact T.J. Wallace at 803-771-2477.
