The Humanities Council SC Board of Directors awarded $55,000 in Major Grants to 12 cultural organizations after a February 21, 2014 Board Meeting in Columbia.
The awards were selected through a competitive application and review process and are made possible by The Humanities CouncilSC and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Matching community support for the 12 awarded projects totaled: $293,226.
A list of awarded grants is provided below:
Sponsoring Organization: Georgetown County Library
Project Title: Out of Rice Fields: Vestiges of Gullah Culture in Modern Society
Project Director: Dwight McInvaill
Awarded: $8,000; cost-share: $13,660
The Georgetown County Library will sponsor a multi-faceted project encouraging understanding of and engagement with Gullah culture from March 2014 – March 2015. The project will include an oral history effort through which interviews with local Gullah artisans and cultural leaders will be recorded on video; six monthly public lectures presented by scholars on different aspects of Gullah culture from linguistics to ethnomusicology; the collection and digitization of Gullah images and documents for inclusion in virtual and physical exhibits; and the creation of a documentary that will premiere in November 2015 at the Lowcountry Rice Forum in Georgetown.
Sponsoring Organization: SC Uplift Community Outreach
Project Title: Freedom Ain’t Free
Project Director: Eugene Washington
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $41,394
“Freedom Ain’t Free” is a documentary project that will examine the stories of several under-recognized Civil Rights heroes, such as South Carolinian George Elmore, South Carolinian Rev. J. A. De Laine, and Detroit housewife Viola Luizzo, and will encourage civic-mindedness and tolerance. The completed film will be screened at Keenan High School Theatre in October 2014.
Sponsoring Organization: University of South Carolina/McKissick Museum
Project Title: Coming Full Circle: Contemporary Native Arts in the Southeast
Project Director: Saddler Taylor
Awarded: $6,000; cost-share: $8,000
The McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina will create an original exhibit titled Coming Full Circle: Contemporary Native Arts in the Southeast that will examine Native American folkways and how traditions are passed down and maintained in contemporary society. The exhibit will focus on four primary cultural groups that are rooted in the South, including Iroquoian, Muskogean, Algonquin, and Siouan, and the folk traditions that will be represented are basketry, textiles, pottery, beadwork, storytelling, dance, and music. Coming Full Circle will be on display at the McKissick Museum from August 2014 – July 2015, during which time at least six public companion events, such as lectures, films, and performances/demonstrations, will be presented.
Sponsoring Organization: The Belle W. Baruch Foundation
Project Title: Between the Waters: Hobcaw Barony Archaeology Project
Project Director: Betsy Newman
Awarded: $5,000; cost-share: $29,752
The Belle W. Baruch Foundation is partnering with SCETV and the SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology to enhance the interactive website “Between the Waters,” a study of Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown County, with additional content, including a series of web-based videos that will document two important archaeological efforts investigating the Native American history of this region.
Sponsoring Organization: The Slave Dwelling Project, Inc.
Project Title: If These Walls Could Talk
Project Director: Joseph McGill
Awarded: $2,000; cost-share: $51,500
The “If These Walls Could Talk” project will bring together students, scholars, and the public in an effort to think about the maintenance and interpretation of extant slave dwellings in South Carolina.
Sponsoring Organization: Greenville County Library System
Project Title: Greenville County Textile History Project
Project Director: Susan Boyd
Awarded: $5,340; cost-share: $8,970
The Greenville County Library System in partnership with the Greenville Textile Heritage Society will sponsor a “history harvest” and related public programming with a focus on the textile industry and economic history of Greenville and Upstate South Carolina. The project will include the collection of images, artifacts, documents, and oral histories; the digitization of gathered materials; the creation of a public exhibit that will be displayed at the main branch of the Greenville Library; and the presentation of special events at the Textile Heritage Festival on October 4-5, 2014.
Sponsoring Organization: The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg, Inc.
Project Title: Spartanburg Soaring! Poetry Competition, Poetry Slam, Poetry Day, and Scavenger Hunt
Project Director: Jennifer Evins
Awarded: $4,000; cost-share: $8,000
The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg, in partnership with many different cultural and educational organizations in Spartanburg, will present the “Spartanburg Soaring! Poetry Contest, Scavenger Hunt, and Poetry Saturday” events in March and April 2014. The events include a juried written poetry contest on the theme of “how is Spartanburg soaring?” for four different age brackets; a culture-based, city-wide scavenger hunt that will highlight winning poems and cultural landmarks; and a multi-faceted poetry event on Saturday, April 26 that will include a poetry workshop, poetry performances, and two slam poetry competitions.
Sponsoring Organization: College of Charleston
Project Title: From Equality to Quality: Commemorating the Brown V. Board of Education (1954) Decision
Project Director: Jon Hale
Awarded: $5,000’ cost-share: $10,328
The College of Charleston will host a series of events in April 2014 on the topic of “From Equality to Quality: Commemorating the Brown V. Board of Education (1954) Decision.” The main program will be a panel presentation featuring noted Civil Rights activist Robert Moses together with Mayor Joe Riley and two Charleston activists, Lucille Whipper and Cecelia Rogers, on Thursday, April 10, 2014 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Additionally, another panel on “The role of Briggs in the Brown Decision” will take place on Friday, April 4, and a local history workshop will take place on Friday, April 11 at Burke High School.
Sponsoring Organization: The ETV Endowment of South Carolina
Project Title: Down on Bull Street
Project Director: Lynn Cornfoot
Awarded: $7,961; cost-share: $79,374
SCETV will create a one-hour documentary on the history of the Bull Street campus in downtown Columbia and of the treatment of mental illness in South Carolina. Using archival film, interviews, photos, re-enactments, stories, and letters, the documentary “Down on Bull Street” will tell the history of the Bull Street facility from its opening in 1827 to when services ended in the 1980s.
Sponsoring Organization: Historic Columbia Foundation
Project Title: Engagement at Oak Read: Helping Seniors Explore Their History
Project Director: James Quint
Awarded: $2,400; cost-share: 3,388
Historic Columbia Foundation will implement an interactive community history program with senior citizens living in two housing units managed by the Columbia Housing Authority: Oak Read and Marion Street. Participating senior citizens will experience five educational sessions about Columbia history, with a specific focus on African American history, that include lectures and field trips; they will then participate in five sessions that will help them develop and tell their own personal histories and stories. The resulting oral histories, scrapbook pages, and articles will be compiled into a book that will be published and unveiled at a Red Carpet Party for the participating senior citizens in November 2014, and some pieces will be digitalized as well.
Sponsoring Organization: Williamsburg County Magnet School of the Arts
Project Title: The Harlem Renaissance: SC Connections
Project Director: Cassandra W. Rush
Awarded: $2,000; cost-share: $30,900
The Williamsburg County Magnet School for the Arts in partnership with the Cassandra Williams Rush Museum of African Arts and Culture will present an interactive educational opportunity for the 420 K-6 students at the magnet school on the theme of “The Harlem Renaissance: SC Connections?”
Sponsoring Organization: Pee Dee Land Trust
Project Title: The Pee Dee Black Farmer Storytelling Project
Project Director: David Harper
Awarded: $6,000’ cost-share: $8,000
The Pee Dee Land Trust will continue the “Pee Dee Black Farmer Storytelling project” by conducting a series of five to seven interviews with black farmers and landowners in the Pee Dee region. A concluding public program is proposed to take place in the fall of 2014 at which the scholars will present their findings and some of the farmers who are willing to participate will be introduced. Additionally, story boards will be created using photographs and quotes from the interview process and mounted as a traveling exhibit.
For more information about the Grants Program of The Humanities CouncilSC, 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. The Humanities CouncilSC programs and initiatives are balanced, reflecting sensitivity to the diversity of ideas, encourage open dialogue, demonstrate integrity, and are ethical in operations.
