February 14, 2022
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Cherie Hill, Communications Manager, chill@calhum.org
Image / Courtesy of Richmond Art Center
(Oakland, CA) — California Humanities is excited to announce that fifteen public humanities grantees will receive a total of $71,195 in funding through the Humanities for All Quick Grant program. This winter cycle’s awards stem from almost every region of the state and feature projects unearthing the hidden histories of California’s diverse communities.
Humanities for All Quick Grants provide up to $5,000 to support small-scale locally initiated public humanities projects. Projects from this round of awards include enriching fusions of the arts and humanities and community contributions around race and identity. For example, “Sana, Sana: Hope and Healing for Latinx Communities in Times of Precarity,” organized by faculty at Humboldt State University, blends music and poetry to promote healing, empathy, and understanding of current and historical challenges facing the Latinx community, including the impact of COVID and racism. In addition, “Visual Analogies: A Racial History of Oceanside” in the greater San Diego Area will invite community members and culture bearers to contribute personal artifacts, photos, and other documents to fill in essential gaps in the city’s history and educate the general population about the contributions and legacies of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in Oceanside.
“Overall, the strong interest in this cycle of Quick Grants has demonstrated how organizations across California are boldly re-imagining their programming through socially distanced, hybrid, and digital offerings that provide rich humanities-focused content, keeping participants safe while remaining nimble to changing conditions,” shares California Humanities President & CEO, Julie Fry.
The California Humanities’ Quick Grant program is a branch of the Humanities for All grant line. The grants supply funding for small-scale local public humanities activities that take place within a year.
Projects Awarded Winter 2022
In addition to continuing consideration of all eligible project applications on any topic, using any mode or format and reaching any public audience, California Humanities designated three specific funding focus areas for Humanities for All Quick Grants: Youth Voices (denoted by “‡”), Arts & Humanities (denoted by “+”).
Visual Analogies: A Racial History of Oceanside+
Oceanside Public Library, Oceanside
Project Director: Monica Chapa Domercq
In partnership with the Hill Street Country Club, a non-profit arts organization, and Oceanside Historical Society, Oceanside Public Library will present an art exhibit titled “Visual Analogies: A Racial History of Oceanside.” This project will develop an exhibit featuring photographs and personal stories contributed by community members pertaining to significant but not well-known events in Oceanside’s history. By creating this exhibition, this project seeks to fill important gaps in the city’s history and educate the general population about the contributions and legacies of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in Oceanside. All programs will be held April-June 2022 at local libraries and a community art space.
2022 Mojave Project Webinar Series+
Fulcrum Arts, Pasadena
Project Director: Kim Stringfellow
The “2022 Mojave Project Webinar Series will consist of three free, virtual public panel discussions coinciding with the public exhibition of The Mojave Project at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on exhibit from February through July 2022. These Zoom webinars will bring together Indigenous culture bearers, scholars, researchers, and activists from the Mojave Desert bioregion spanning California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. The highlight of our programming is the Indigenous Perspectives of the Mojave Desert panel discussion includes Native American representatives whose current and traditional homelands are located within the Mojave Desert.
Story Ambassadors Program
Capital Storytelling, Sacramento
Project Directors: Lisa Cantrell & Betsaida LeBron
“The Story Ambassadors Program” will train eight individuals in Sacramento to host open-mic storytelling events in their communities. Twenty-four storytelling events will be held across Sacramento and culminate in the Main Event in July of 2022. The Main Event will bring together the members of the eight open-mic forums for a cross-community storytelling gathering to foster connection, empowering individuals to share their personal stories and increase empathy and understanding across communities. In addition, the stories will be recorded, transcribed, and shared online.
1860 Kayseri to LA 2022: Mapping Culture and Sharing Stories
Ararat Home of Los Angeles Inc., on behalf of Ararat-Eskjian Museum
Project Director: Maggie Goschin
“1860 Kayseri to Los Angeles 2022: Mapping Culture and Sharing Stories” is a special exhibit and conference developed by the Ararat-Eskijian Museum in collaboration with the Armenian Dress and Textile Project. This exhibit will display ancestral textiles, rugs, costumes, and other items from the Telfeyan and Timourian families in Kayseri, Turkey, produced during the Ottoman period. The exhibit seeks to tell the human stories behind the items and probe themes of daily life, survival, and migration. The accompanying conference will present a contextual understanding of Armenian life in mid-19th century Kayseri to 20th-century immigration and the impact of these histories on Armenians in California today.
Sana, Sana: Hope and Healing for Latinx Communities in Times of Precarity+
Humboldt State University Sponsored Programs Foundation, Arcata
Project Director: Rachel Samet
“Sana, Sana: Hope and Healing for Latinx Communities in Times of Precarity” is a project that will blend music and poetry to promote healing, empathy, and understanding of current and historical challenges facing the Latinx community, such as the impact of COVID and racism. This project seeks to empower young Latinx poets by providing a platform for their voices to center and value the unique individual experiences of members of Humboldt County’s Latinx community. In addition, the project provides opportunities for the broader community to interact with a successful, young, Latinx professional; and connect the whole community through amplifying the commonality of our challenges to build empathy and understanding of the specific challenges faced by each poet. Selected poems created through this project will be set to music by professional composer Carlos Cordero and premiered at public concerts where each poet will read and discuss their poetry.
Sacramento Poderosas‡
La Familia Counseling Center Inc, Sacramento
Project Director: Rhonda Rios Kravitz
“Sacramento Poderosas” will create an original mural to give voice and awareness to historically marginalized Chicana/Latina ponderosas, powerful women in Sacramento. This project seeks to uplift the stories of Sacramento’s inspirational women to celebrate their achievements and inspire upcoming generations using murals to tell their stories. In addition, this mural will become the starting point for more extensive conversations about the future of our communities and the role of women of color as change-makers. The mural highlights how they have secured transformative, equitable, and accessible justice for their communities through their accomplishments as educators, lawyers, scientists, politicians, authors, poets, and artists. These murals will be painted on the walls of community centers, schools, and businesses and will be accompanied by community workshops from September through December 2022. A bilingual coloring book for elementary school children with the bios of the women displayed on the mural will also be available.
Appreciation: Rebuilding a Sense of Community through (Visual) Stories+
California State University Fresno Foundation, Fresno
Project Director: Ah Ran Koo Ph.D.
“Appreciation: Rebuilding a Sense of Community through (Visual) Stories” will feature facilitated community dialogues and visual art workshops led by California-based Asian/Asian American scholars, authors, poets, and contemporary artists. This project seeks to expand people’s understanding of Asian/Asian American communities in California. Participants will take part in profound conversations about isolated Asian/Asian American communities in California who are suffering during/after COVID-19 periods when Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased. This project aims to build a bridge between arts and humanities by presenting community dialogue and discussion sessions led by prominent ethnic and cultural studies scholars/researchers and visual art workshops facilitated by contemporary AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) artists and scholars. The project will be held virtually through zoom sessions, and the outcomes will be exhibited through a virtual gallery and presented in the spring and fall of 2022.
Remembrance, Redress, and Reparations: Learning from the Past
Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego, San Diego
Project Director: Samantha Alberts
“Remembrance, Redress, and Reparations: Learning from the Past” will consist of a three-part series incorporating video, panel discussion, and community interaction to share personal experiences of Japanese American incarceration, post-WWII efforts for restitution, and how these experiences continue to offer vital lessons for Americans today. The Japanese American Historical Society will share the importance of first-person stories and the remembrances of ancestors to effect redress and change. In interactive sessions, participants will engage with questions of reflection to consider their own experiences, responsibility, and action. Programming will begin on February 19, 2022, to commemorate the signing of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans in the United States. Subsequent sessions will occur during the spring and summer of 2022.
Emmy Lou Packard: Artist of Conscience+
Richmond Art Center, Richmond
Project Director: Amy Spencer
“Emmy Lou Packard: Artist of Conscience” is an interpretive exhibition – accompanied by a print publication and panel discussion event – to be presented at Richmond Art Center from June 21 to August 19, 2022. The exhibition will explore the legacy of Emmy Lou Packard (1914–1998), a remarkable, though overlooked artist known for her paintings, prints, murals, and social and political activism. Diego Rivera mentored Packard, and in turn, herself mentored a generation of primarily female and Chicana artists in the Bay Area.
Ferlinghettifest 2022
Chapman University, Orange
Project Director: Mark Axelrod
American poet, novelist, and painter, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, died in February 2021. To commemorate his passing, the John Fowles Center for Creative Writing plans to hold a “Ferlinghettifest in May of 2022,” honoring him with invited speakers to discuss his art and writing. Those invited include George Krevsky, Ferlinghetti’s gallerist from San Francisco; Robert Barsky, a literary critic and literature professor from Vanderbilt University; and Barbara Epler, editor of New Directions Publishing, the house that published much of Ferlinghetti’s work. This project seeks to recognize Ferlinghetti’s creative talents and will contribute to a broader understanding of Ferlinghetti’s work as an artist and humanitarian. Programming will occur in May 2022.
Public Art as Resistance in San José
San José State University, College of Humanities and the Arts, San José
Project Director: Katherine D. Harris and Alena Sauzaude
In collaboration with San José State University and local community arts organizations, “Public Art as Resistance in San José, will consist of a series of Spring 2022 activities investigating the history of resistance embedded in downtown San José public art. Activities include a 3-hour walking tour of nine works; a self-guided audio tour using QR codes and a map available in print and online; a culminating panel discussion about the art of resistance and resistant public art; and an exhibit at the downtown San José Hammer Theatre. The exhibition, curated from the social media hashtag campaign, invites participants to define resistance in public art for themselves.
Landscape & Life Talks+
Indexical Inc, Santa Cruz
Project Director: Gabriel Mindel
Indexical presents “Landscape & Life,” a series of visual art exhibitions and lectures that seeks to push back against the notion of landscape as an “empty space,” to connect the exhibitions’ themes to the everyday social, political, and environmental concerns of community members. Programming will take place from January through June 2022. It will feature humanities scholars, artists, and activists at the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz, a low-income artist housing complex of 100 live/work units and 28 studios.
Dancing with the Ballot+
Playhouse Arts, Arcata
Project Director: Jacqueline Dandeneau
“Dancing with the Ballot is a multimedia theater piece that incorporates historical research and community interviews to explore voter suppression in our local women from suffrage to today. This project explores the suppression of women and voting beginning the suffrage movement of the early twentieth century to the present. The organizers of this program will draw on the collaboration of community partners who will engage their constituents to gather personal stories and reflect on voting from their unique cultural perspectives. The performance will take place on the unceded territory of the Wiyot people in Guidi’ni (Arcata), to debut at the 02F Festival, March 4 through 6 of 2022.
MASCellaneous creative workshop series+
Intersection for the Arts, on behalf of Diamond Wave, San Francisco
Project Director: Kevin Seaman
“MASCellaneous,” is a creative workshop series exploring the intersections of queer masculinities. Hosted by Artistic Director Kevin Seaman and advisors Nick Ishimaru, Baruch Porras-Hernandez, and James Rouse Iñiguez, the program will create new queer masculine archetypes and shift existing queer masculine culture. The program also builds affinity amongst cis and trans men and masculine of center women and nonbinary people. Programming will run from January through November 2022 and will include 12 digital and in-person events that center artists in conversation with the community.
Migration: L.A. +
Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles, Los Angeles
Project Director: Luis Alfaro
Center Theatre Group’s “Migration: L.A.” project is a public event and installation that will explore the theme of migration in our production of ALMA at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in March 2022. This project will feature an audience engagement exhibit at the theatre and a panel conversation by cultural historian Josh Kun; professor of American Studies Natalia Molina; playwright Benjamin Benne; and director Juliette Carrillo. The event will explore how L.A.’s landscape and history are shaped by class, culture, politics, race, and water rights over time through the lens of migration.
To learn more about the Humanities for All grant programs, click here. Applications for the next round of Humanities for All Quick Grants are due February 15, 2022.
About California Humanities:
California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, promotes the humanities—focused on ideas, conversation and learning—as relevant, meaningful ways to understand the human condition and connect people to each other in order to help strengthen California. California Humanities has provided grants and programs across the state since 1975. To learn more, visit calhum.org, or like and follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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