SC Humanities Board of Directors awarded $40,000 in Major Grants to 7 cultural organizations after a September 20, 2013 Board Meeting in Blythewood.
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 7 awarded projects totaled: $132,024.
A list of awarded grants is provided below:
Sponsoring Organization: Francis Marion University
Project Title: Poskito: South Carolina Photography and Video Conference
Project Director: Dr. Howard Frye
Awarded: $5,800; cost-share: $36,587
Francis Marion University will host the first annual “Poskito: South Carolina Photography and Video Conference” on March 6 – 8, 2014. The conference will include two seminars that focus specifically on humanities topics, such as South Carolina history and the history of the Civil Rights Movement, as they relate to visual narrative. The conference is free and open to the public.
Sponsoring Organization: Foundation for New Media, Inc.
Project Title: How They Got Over
Project Director: Robert Clem
Awarded: $4,995; cost-share: $48,755
The Foundation for New Media will complete and expand a documentary on African-American gospel quartets that will be suitable for screening on SCETV and PBS and will feature several key musicians from South Carolina, including Ira Tucker of The Dixie Hummingbirds and Arthur “Bob” Beatty of Spartanburg.
Sponsoring Organization: Museum of the Cherokee in SC
Project Title: Cherokee Peace Diplomacy in South Carolina, 1670-1816
Project Director: Luther Lyle
Awarded: $8,000; cost-share: $8,000
The Museum of the Cherokee in South Carolina in Walhalla, SC will create a short video about the relationships between the Cherokee people and the governments in South Carolina from Colonial times through the final treaty in 1816. The video will be used as one of the educational resources at the museum, which is open on Saturdays from 10 am – 2 pm, and it will also be shown at the Oconee Heritage Center, Oconee Chamber of Commerce, Oconee Tourism, and given to the Oconee School District for use in their classrooms.
Sponsoring Organization: The Pee Dee Land Trust
Project Title: The Williamsburg Black Farmer Storytelling Project
Project Director: David Harper
Awarded: $2,000; cost-share: $5,000
“The Williamsburg Black Farmer Storytelling Project” is an initiative by the Pee Dee Land Trust to conduct interviews with 5-7 black farmers and landowners in Williamsburg County about experiences with land tenure, challenges and successes, traditional farm practices, experiences with discrimination and more. The stories and materials gathered from this effort will be presented at a community program and compiled into storyboards that will be used as a traveling exhibit to be displayed at venues in Williamsburg County such as schools, libraries, churches, and museums.
Sponsoring Organization: Catticus Corporation
Project Title: Road to Disunion
Project Director: Richard Wormser
Awarded: $6,875; cost-share: $10,940
Writer and Producer Richard Wormser will create a documentary on the story of how and why the South seceded from the Union that is tentatively titled “The Road to Disunion.” South Carolina history and figures will play a major role in the two-hour television documentary, including Robert Barnwell Rhett, John Henry Hammond, and Mary Chestnut.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina State Museum
Project Title: The American Revolution in South Carolina
Project Director: Hilary Brannock
Awarded: $6,231; cost-share: $14,492
The South Carolina State Museum will create a new traveling exhibit for their Traveling Exhibit Program on “The American Revolution in South Carolina.” The exhibit will include 40 panels; educational materials such as a PowerPoint, Jeopardy Game, crossword, word search, lesson, and skit script; and a “Encampment in a Box” traveling trunk. The exhibit will premiere at the South Carolina State Museum on May 26, 2014, and four educational public programs are planned in June 2014 during the exhibit’s display.
Sponsoring Organization: Historic Columbia Foundation
Project Title: Making A Way Out of No Way: The Legacy of Modjeska Monteith Simkins
Project Director: John Sherrer
Awarded: $6,487; cost-share: $8,250
Historic Columbia Foundation will create a permanent exhibit and two interpretive wayside signs at the Modjeska Simkins historic property in downtown Columbia. In addition to the permanent exhibit and wayside signage, a public program will be offered in December 2013 that will debut the exhibit and feature scholars and family members of Modjeska Simkins.
For more information about the Grants Program of SC Humanities, please contact T.J. Wallace at 803-771-2477.
The mission of The Humanities CouncilSC is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. SC Humanities programs and initiatives are balanced, reflecting sensitivity to the diversity of ideas, encourage open dialogue, demonstrate integrity, and are ethical in operations.
