The South Carolina Humanities Board of Directors awarded more than $50,000 in Major Grants to 9 cultural organizations after a February 22, 2019 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: $549,002.
A list of awarded grants is provided below:
Sponsoring Organization: Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage
Project Title: Beyond the Oaks: Untold Stories of Lowcountry Plantations
Project Director: Kayleigh Vaughn
Awarded: $5,000; Cost-share: $18,785
The Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage will create and install their original 2019 – 2020 exhibit titled “Beyond the Oaks: Untold Stories of Lowcountry Plantations,” which will urge visitors to think critically about the various perspectives of plantation life in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and their lasting impact. The exhibit will be on display from May 4, 2019 – April 25, 2020. They also plan to offer a series of programs and lectures during the time the exhibit is on display and to offer docent-guided tours of the exhibit for a nominal fee.
Sponsoring Organization: Santa Elena Foundation
Project Title: Lost Century Shipwreck Symposium and Scholars Conference
Project Director: Chris Allen
Awarded: $6,000; Cost-share: $11,270
The Santa Elena Foundation will present an educational symposium on “Shipwrecks of America’s Lost Century” in Beaufort from April 5 – 6, 2019. The symposium will include lectures, video presentations, discussions, and Q&A periods covering European activity on America’s southeast coast during the 16thcentury, including the discovery of ten Spanish and French active shipwreck archaeology projects. A full-scale, functioning replica of the Santa Maria will be in Beaufort during the conference.
Sponsoring Organization: Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston
Project Title: Katrina Andry: Discussing Gentrification in Charleston
Project Director: Bryan Granger
Awarded: $5,000; Cost-share: $24,060
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston will present an exhibit of work by Katrina Andry, a multi-disciplinary artist who focuses on printmaking, from August 23 – December 7, 2019. The exhibit will explore the social construction of stereotypes associated with African Americans and gentrification in the Charleston community. Collateral events such as educational workshops, panel discussions, and other programs will take place during the exhibit’s tenure and will be designed to spur discussion about problems facing the Charleston area.
Sponsoring Organization: The Poetry Society of South Carolina
Project Title: Poetry at McLeod
Project Director: Katherine Williams
Awarded: $6,600; Cost-share: $22,450
The Poetry Society of South Carolina, in partnership with James Island Arts and the Charleston County Parks & Recreation Commission, will present a four-part poetry series at McLeod Plantation Historic Site from April – October 2019. The four featured African American poets will present perspectives on the experience and legacy of enslavement fundamental to James Island history and culture. Each reading will be followed by a Q&A and a reception, and a free writing workshop at James Island Town Hall will take place the next day. The featured poets are Delana Dameron, Roger Reeves, Tyree Daye, and Glenis Redmond. They expect 25-50 people to attend each program.
Sponsoring Organization: University of South Carolina
Project Title: The Barnwell Archaeological Research Project
Project Director: Dr. Kimberly Cavanagh
Awarded: $5,000; Cost-share: $8,987
The University of South Carolina Beaufort will help coordinate an archival research and archaeology project about the Barnwell Site tabby structure on Hilton Head Island. The goals of the project are to 1) determine the age and use of the tabby ruins, which have never been fully researched or understood before and 2) develop an educational outreach program based on the site by hosting public outreach events and developing instructional materials to educate visitors to the site. Excavations will take place at the site from January – May 2019, and Dr. Eric Plaag will conduct historical and archival research about the site. Public programs will include student field trips to the site to observe the excavations; a Public Outreach Day on April 13, 2019 in partnership with SC Archaeological Public Outreach Division and SC Department of Natural Resources; and the development of interpretive signage to display at the site.
Sponsoring Organization: Gibbes Museum of Art
Project Title: Rauschenberg in Charleston
Project Director: Sara Arnold
Awarded: $6,400; Cost-share: $41,200
The Gibbes Museum of Art requests grant funds to support the presentation of the exhibit Rauschenberg + Charleston from September 6, 2019 – January 5, 2020. The exhibit will present iconic American artist Robert Rauschenberg’s Charleston photographs from 1980 alongside examples of these images re-contextualized by the artist in later works. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring new scholarship on this body of work and Rauschenberg’s relationship to Charleston.
Sponsoring Organization: Historic Columbia
Project Title: Connecting Communities Through History – SC Statehouse Monuments
Project Director: John Sherrer
Awarded: $7,946; Cost-share: $16,250
Historic Columbia will implement a new phase of their Connecting Communities through History project that will document and provide access to the history of the monuments on the grounds of the SC State House. Project scholars will create an inventory with a database of resources and narratives about each monument. That research will form the basis for public programming including a web-based tour on the Historic Columbia website; a series of guided tours led by scholars and Historic Columbia staff that will take place four times per month from September – December 2019; and a series of at least four roundtable discussions that explore the past and future of these monuments in January and February 2020. The web-based tours will be maintained indefinitely, and the guided tours will continue to be offered in the future based on interest.
Sponsoring Organization: Oasis Total Development
Project Title: Information Wanted
Project Director: Pamela Bailey
Awarded: $8,000; Cost-share: $392,000
Information Wanted is a multi-faceted documentary project about local and inter-state migration of American-born enslaved people from the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. The project will also include the creation of an interactive website and outreach components including facilitated community discussion panels, film screenings, and the creation of a discussion guide. The expected completion date is June 2020. The expectation is that the 90-minue documentary will air on public television.
Sponsoring Organization: Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network
Project Title: Columbia City of Women
Project Director: Megan Plassmeyer
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $14,000
The Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network will present the “Columbia City of Women” project that will recognize notable women from the Midlands through maps, websites, tours, and facilitated community dialogue. With the support of grant funds, they anticipate developing a community engagement strategy, developing a discussion guide, facilitating 8 listening sessions in diverse areas of Columbia, recording several stories of Columbia women whose names will be added to the map, and presenting three educational programs in the community to recognize these first women identified.
For more information about any of these grant-supported projects, please contact T.J. Wallace at 803-771-2477.
