GCRI Member Rhode Island Council for the Humanities hosted A Cultural Conversation with Jane Chu of the National Endowment for the Arts and Karen Kenton of the National Endowment for the the Humanities, as well as all of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation. Over 300 community members attended the session, which took place at Trinity Repertory Theater.
RICH also announced a total of $136,429 in new grants to 14 humanities initiatives across the state. The announcement ceremony, attended by over 50 representatives from civic and cultural organizations, recognized Rhode Island’s strong humanities community and the role the humanities play in civic and community engagement.
Grantees included New Urban Arts, Manton Avenue Project, newportFILM, RISD Museum, South County History Center, Rhode Island Latino Arts, Little Compton Historical Society, Providence Preservation Society and Stages of Freedom for the Public Project category. In the Documentary film category, grants were awarded to Center for Independent Documentary, Rhode Island PBS and the Rhode Island Historical Society, while Meeting Street and Pushed Learning and Media/New Urban Arts received grants in the K-12 Civic Education category.
The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities also announced four Mini Grants to two organizations and two independent researchers. These public projects and individual research efforts will reach thousands of Rhode Islanders as they engage topics of preservation of family archives, the impact of a cultural nonprofit on its new neighborhood, how communities experience and remember a theatre festival, and finally, how we uncover and tell the stories of those traditionally on the fringes of the dominant historical narratives.