New grants totaling $48,120 are awarded to community-rooted storytelling and public humanities projects across California.
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Shonda Moore
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smoore@calhum.org
Oakland, CA — May 27, 2026 — California Humanities is proud to announce the recipients of the first round of its Connecting California grants, designed to bring people together across differences in a divided nation, awarding $48,120 to organizations statewide.
Connecting California is a new grant designed to support publicly accessible activities and events that strengthen social connections and cohesion across California’s diverse communities. Funded projects help foster understanding, empathy, and trust by creating opportunities for people to come together across differences and discover shared values, experiences, and aspirations.
The first round of funding supports projects taking place across California, including the Los Angeles Metro region, Central Coast, Central Valley, Orange County, Bay Area, and San Diego Metro region. Two additional rounds of Connecting California grants will be awarded in 2026.
“The awarded projects reflect the desire in communities across the state to bring people together in an increasingly fragmented nation,” said Rick Noguchi, President and CEO of California Humanities. “At a time when the country appears divided, we remain committed to investing in community-rooted projects that help Californians connect across differences and better understand one another.”
Across the state, grantees are using storytelling, art, history, and public humanities experiences to foster empathy and deepen civic connection. “By inviting people across differences in age, culture, language, background, and relationship to the ocean, the interactive installation Woven Waves creates a shared, low-barrier creative experience,” said Scott Sherman, Foundation Manager for the Doheny State Beach Foundation. “People come together to weave and reflect on what Doheny means to them, which fosters empathy, curiosity, and pride in shared coastal identity.”
2026 Connecting California Grant Recipients – Round One
Los Angeles Metro:
- Coloured Art Studio (Pomona) – Vitreous Voices: Inglewood’s Collective Narrative ($5,000) – Vitreous Voices creates a permanent tiled mural at the Inglewood Public Library, bridging Black, Hispanic, and Asian residents. Through storytelling workshops and collaborative tile-glazing, 100 participants transform individual histories into a unified “connective force.”
- Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival (North Hollywood) – Wisdom and Wonder: An Intergenerational Storytelling Workshop ($5,000)— “Wisdom and Wonder” pairs seniors and young people in an 8-week storytelling program. Guided by LAWTF professional teaching artists, participants develop personal narratives that foster cultural exchange and understanding.
Central Coast:
- Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages (Santa Cruz) – The Redman-Hirahara House: Piecing Together a Shared History ($5,000) – JAMP hosts 4 community gatherings – three in-person in Santa Cruz, Aptos, and Watsonville, and one virtual between May and August 2026, bringing together Japanese American descendants, archaeologists, local historians, and university students to collectively recover the history of the Redman-Hirahara House and strengthen cross-cultural understanding and connection.
Central Valley:
- Pasifika Arts Project (Fresno) – Stories on Cloth ($3,500) – Community members of diverse backgrounds participate in guided pareu painting workshops that combine Polynesian cultural learning, storytelling, and collaborative artmaking. Through shared creative experiences, participants build social connections, cultural understanding, and empathy as they explore identity, heritage, and belonging.
Orange County:
- Doheny State Beach Interpretive Association (Dana Point) – Woven Wave ($4,620) – At least 300-600 direct participants actively weave or contribute written reflections to the installation – a sculptural loom made in the shape of a wave. By inviting people of all ages, cultures, languages, backgrounds, and relationships to the ocean. Alternative description in grant: Woven Wave is a participatory public art installation at the Doheny Surf & Art Festival, where community members collectively weave a sculptural wave and share reflections on what Doheny means to them, transforming spectators into co-creators of a shared story of place.
Bay Area:
- Poetry Flash (Berkeley) – Radical Kinship ($5,000) – Radical Kinship convenes East Bay residents for free community writing circles in Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond. Through dialogue, paired interviews, and engagement with local landscapes, participants explore climate grief, displacement, and environmental justice. The series culminates in a public reading and civic conversation at the Berkeley Poetry Festival.
- Raizes Collective (Santa Rosa) – Community Study Session on the Implications of Passing a Sanctuary Law ($5,000) – This session includes a community discussion and a cultural component. It helps explain why immigrant communities are requesting a non-collaboration policy.
- Richmond Community Foundation (Richmond) – Portal of Healing Events ($5,000) – Portal of Healing brings together BIPOC, unhoused, and LGBTQ+ community members in Contra Costa County. There are 8 facilitated gatherings at accessible community spaces that blend storytelling, somatic practices, and cultural celebrations. The aim is to build trust and a sense of belonging for a more connected community rooted in dignity and hope.
- Independent Arts & Media (San Francisco) – Witness Collaborative ($5,000) – Witness Collaborative is a long-term, community-based project that engages immigrant communities in creating autobiographical video portraits. The project’s goal is to build a publicly accessible visual and oral archive of immigrant experiences, shared through immersive exhibitions, public projections, and an online platform.
San Diego Metro:
- New Village Arts, Inc. (Carlsbad) – A Walk with Yáamay ($5,000) – This project is a series of site-specific guided art-walks blending natural exploration with excerpts from Yáamay: An Anthology of Feminine Perspectives Across Indigenous California. Led by Native artists, participants pause along trails for art and performance, inviting reflection on the land, its rightful stewards, and their connection to both.
About California Humanities
California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, connects Californians to ideas and one another to better understand our shared heritage and the many cultures that shape our state. For 50 years, our grants and programs have fostered connection, community, and learning through storytelling, dialogue, and the arts.
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