The South Carolina Humanities Board of Directors awarded more than $65,000 in Major Grants to 9 cultural organizations after a February 26, 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: $114,232.
A list of awarded grants is provided below:
Sponsoring Organization: Edisto Island Open Land Trust
Project Title: The Historic Hutchinson Family Story from Enslavement to Emancipation to Entrepreneur on Edisto Island
Project Director: John Girault
Awarded: $7,695; Cost-share: $8,372
The Edisto Island Open Land Trust (EIOLT) will create a traveling exhibit titled “The Hutchinson Family Story: From Enslavement to Emancipation to Entrepreneur on Edisto” that can easily be displayed in venues like libraries, museums, schools, and at local festivals and events. The exhibit will consist of four pop-up panels and a video about the Hutchinson family, a notable Edisto Island African American family whose historic house is in the process of being restored by the EIOLT. The traveling exhibit is expected to be completed and available for travel in October 2021.
Sponsoring Organization: Coker University
Project Title: South Carolina Civil Rights Monument Project
Project Director: Jasmine Baetz
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $11,450
Coker University will serve as the Fiscal Agent for the “South Carolina Civil Rights Monument Project” coordinated by Assistant Professor of Art and sculptor Jasmine Baetz. She will lead university students and community members from Hartsville and Orangeburg in creating four sculptures about the history and narratives of South Carolina Civil Rights activism, particularly by students, that will be installed outside the Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum in Orangeburg. The sculpture creation will occur during two “community making days” tentatively scheduled for Summer 2021 during which participants will hear from speakers like Cecil Williams about the history of the Civil Rights movement in South Carolina and the importance of art commemoration while contributing to the creation of the monuments. The sculptures are planned to be unveiled during a program in Fall 2021 featuring a panel discussion about history and art.
Sponsoring Organization: Richland Library
Project Title: Richland Library Story Walk
Project Director: Emily Stoll
Awarded: $6,000; Cost-share: $10,000
Richland Library will create two StoryWalk sites in public parks located in Richland County, most likely at Blythewood Park and Hopkins Park. A StoryWalk features laminated pages from a children’s book attached to wooden stakes dispersed along a family-friendly, accessible trail in a community park. Richland Library will consult with humanities scholar Dr. Nicole Cook to select the featured books, which will change quarterly. The first StoryWalk installation will take place in June 2021 and the second one in September 2021. The books from the StoryWalk site will also be featured in other Richland Library virtual and in-person programming.
Sponsoring Organization: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art (College of Charleston)
Project Title: Dyani White Hawk: Listen – Documenting the Catawba Language
Project Director: Bryan Granger
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $14,230
In 2022, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston will feature an exhibition of two different bodies of works by Native American artist Dyani White Hawk, including both a video installation titled LISTEN and a photography exhibition titled I Am Your Relative. In 2021, the Halsey Institute will commission a new installment in the LISTEN project featuring a Catawba speaker (previous pieces focus on Western tribes), and they will hire a videographer to document the creation of the Catawba video and create a mini-documentary featuring interviews with the artist and the Director of the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project. The exhibit will open in Charleston in January 2022, and the Halsey Institute proposes at least three public programs while the exhibit is on display, including an artist talk and an interdisciplinary panel discussion.
Sponsoring Organization: University of South Carolina (McKissick Museum)
Project Title: Carolina Knives: Handcrafted Traditions
Project Director: Lana Burgess
Awarded: $7,500; Cost-share: $20,000
The McKissick Museum will create an original exhibition titled Carolina Knives: Handmade Traditions that features the work of contemporary knifemakers from South Carolina and North Carolina, including a wide variety of blade styles and types. In addition to 90-100 knives and related objects, the exhibit project will include an audio-visual component and a robust public program series at the McKissick and the South Carolina State Fair. The exhibit will open in August 2021 and an online version of the exhibit will be created to reach a wider audience during the ongoing pandemic concerns.
Sponsoring Organization: Historic Camden Foundation
Project Title: Historic Camden Foundation Welcome Exhibit
Project Director: Virginia Zemp
Awarded: $4,000; Cost-share: $5,000
Historic Camden Foundation will install a permanent exhibit about colonial mercantile business at the entrance to their property in 2021 to coincide with the opening of the new Revolutionary War Visitors Center on the property next door. The opening of the colonial mercantile exhibit, which will have 4 or 5 panels, is tentatively scheduled for November 2021.
Sponsoring Organization: Historic Columbia
Project Title: LGBTQ Columbia History Initiative
Project Director: Robin Waites
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $15,775
Historic Columbia is expanding their Connecting Communities through History (CCtH) initiative by adding a new track focused on LGBTQIA+ history in the Midlands. Like their other CCtH programs, this one will include guided and self-guided tours in digital and walking/driving formats, interactive maps, and public programs. To build the content for the tours and programs, Historic Columbia will partner with the University of South Carolina’s Office of Oral History and South Caroliniana Library to record and transcribe 30 oral histories, process 70+ boxes in the “South Carolina gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer collection” at the South Caroliniana, and conduct several Research Roundtable programs. The “LGBTQ Columbia History Initiative” will officially launch in October 2021 at the SC Pride Festival.
Sponsoring Organization: Culture & Heritage Museums
Project Title: Historic Brattonsville Brick House Exhibition
Project Director: Kevin Lynch
Awarded: $4,275; Cost-share: $5,775
The Culture & Heritage Museums will create a new exhibit at Historic Brattonsville that will be installed at the Brattonsville Store, which is in the process of being restored and more fully interpreted. The exhibit will tell the story of the 1871 lynching of John Williams, a prominent African American militia captain, and explore the period of Reconstruction and its legacy. The exhibit will open in the Fall of 2021, depending on COVID-19 restrictions.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina State University
Project Title: Colors of Film
Project Director: Alison McLetchie
Awarded: $7,400; Cost-share: $10,054
South Carolina State University will sponsor a media literacy and film discussion program titled “Colors of Film” that will serve the Orangeburg community. In Fall 2021, two Black diasporic films will be screened outdoors in the green space behind the football field at South Carolina State University: The Day Shall Come (2019, Christopher Morris) and Burning Cane (2019, Philip Youmans), neither of which has received much attention in South Carolina. The film screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the two humanities scholars and guest speakers still to be identified. Additionally, the screenings will be bookended by pre- and post-screening media literacy workshops that will provide participants with the tools to better interpret and think critically about films, especially African American films. The workshops will have a maximum size of 80 participants, with 40 spots reserved for students from SC State and Claflin Universities.
For more information about any of these grant-supported projects, please contact T.J. Wallace at 803-771-2477.
