Continuing our exploration of how public humanities providers are adapting to the new landscape imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, in this session we learn how a group of California Humanities grantees successfully experimented with a wide range of in-person activities that accommodated public health guidelines on physical distancing.
Participants
Simón Adinia Hanukai is a theater maker, director, educator, and Artistic Director of Kaimera Productions, a live arts company based in NYC and Paris. He has created work throughout the U.S., Middle East, Europe and India including SPACES:OAKLAND, a series of performances and discussions informed by stories collected from Oakland residents during the project.
Nancy Reiter is a Branch Manager 2 at Home Gardens Library in Corona, CA. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day-operations of a small library, she is always looking out for new ways to engage her patrons in order to keep her library relevant in her community. Nancy has received numerous awards, and a California Humanities Library Innovation Lab grant in 2020 supported a recent series of outdoor story time programs, featuring visits by multicultural children’s book authors.
Jake Schoneker is Executive Director of Youth Beat Oakland. Since 2010, Jake has built YB’s education programs and curriculum, creating community partnerships and helping produce 100+ youth-led media projects and live screenings, including outdoor events as part of Understanding Change in Oakland: A Youth Perspective. He has led the organization as Executive Director since 2016. His own documentary film work has appeared on the PBS NewsHour, the AFP, MSNBC and other outlets.
Ethan van Thillo is Founder and Executive Director of the Media Arts Center San Diego and San Diego Latino Film Festival. Since 1989, he has been working in media arts field, programming Latino film festivals and community-based events, as well as education programs and special events in 45 libraries across California and the Southwest. In 2020 curated the Little Saigon Mobile Museum multimedia project, which explored one of San Diego’s diverse immigrant neighborhoods.
Moderated by Dr. Oliver Rosales, PhD, History (UC Santa Barbara), Professor of History at Bakersfield College. Dr. Rosales holds a Whiting Foundation Fellowship for his current work on the project Mapping Common Ground: Agriculture, Labor, and Migration in Rural California. Now serving as Board Chair of California Humanities, he is also a past grant recipient and project director.
Recorded November 18, 2021.
About Tools of the Trade:
To support the public humanities field and promote its recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, California Humanities organized and delivered a series of free online learning sessions in 2020-2022. Aiming to build and rebuild the capacity of individuals and organizations to provide relevant, responsive, and engaging humanities programs, Tools of the Trade enabled California Humanities’ grantees and partners to share their innovative and creative work with other humanities practitioners.
Tools of the Trade is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the NEH Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) initiative.
