Grant Recipients 2008

October 2008

Humanities Council awards grants totaling $114,867

The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) recently awarded a $14,000 grant to the Grand Island Public Library Foundation Inc. for “The Quilted Conscience,” a video documentary that tells the story of a group of Sudanese American children whose refugee parents have made a new home in Grand Island—the birthplace of American’s great social justice pioneers Grace and Edith Abbott.

It is a celebration of African culture in Middle America that also relates the unending worldwide struggle for children’s and immigrants’ rights. It involves the creation of a “culture-blend” story-quilt by 20 Sudanese-American girls under the guidance of acclaimed quilt-maker Peggie Hartwell, a founding member of the prestigious Women of Color Quilters’ Network.

In all, the NHC recently awarded 23 grants totaling $114,867. The other grant recipients and the amount of each grant:

Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation, Red Cloud, $10,362, for “The end is nothing; the road is all,” a programming theme that will explore the social and humanitarian aspects of aging, quilts, Woody Guthrie and Roberto Clemente. The theme will continue throughout 2009 at the Red Cloud Opera House.

Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, $10,350 for “National History Day: Nebraska,” a humanities education program that over the course of nine months provides students grades 6-12 the opportunity to learn historical content and develop research, thinking and communication skills. A state competition will be held in April 2009 at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

The Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara, Flat Rock, N.C., $9,750 for “The Day Carl Sandburg Died,” a one-hour documentary film about the life and work of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. It will revisit the impressive range of his work through modern-day scholars, artists, family and friends. Currently in post-production, the film is scheduled for release in 2009.

Asian Community and Cultural Center, Lincoln, $9,503 for “Building the New American Community Initiative,” an effort to facilitate or enhance the successful integration of newcomers—refugees and immigrants—at a community level through arts, language, discussions, and cultural presentations.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, $8,960 for “Celebrating Darwin’s Legacy,” a series of events commemorating Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of “Origin of Species.” Events include a lecture, an exhibit at the Great Plains Art Museum, educational programs for Lincoln Public Schools students and teachers and a Great Plains symposium.

Heartland Center for Leadership Development, Lincoln, $7,480 for “Strengthening the Rural-Suburban-Urban Connection,” which will explore a historical context for considering cultural change within the framework of rural, suburban and urban communities in Nebraska.

UNF Charitable Gift Fund, Lincoln, $6,800 for the 2009 Abe Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration, a series of events Feb. 12-15 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts and a Lincoln high school.

Opera Omaha Inc., $5,848 for “Behind the Scenes / Behind the Lines,” a series of lectures and talks through June 2009 at Westroads Mall, the Orpheum Theater, Oak View Mall, Mall of the Bluffs, Oakview Barnes and Noble, Film Streams, The Blue Barn Theater, and the Urban Wine Co.

The Public Media Foundation, Northeastern University, Boston, Mass., $4,750 for “Scribbling Women,” a one-hour, abridged audio dramatization of “The Letters of a Woman Homesteader,” by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, for broadcast on public radio stations and on a website.

El Museo Latino, Omaha, $4,300 for the Frida Lecture Series, a series of lectures, discussions and presentations through November, with guest scholars exploring the writings and photographs of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

Grand Island Multicultural Coalition, Grand Island, $4,290 for “The Road to Cultural Competence,” the coalition’s 4th annual conference Oct. 16 at the Midtown Holiday Inn. It will explore the full range of what diversity means and modes of diversity in real-life situations.

John G. Neihardt Foundation, Bancroft, $3,820 for “Neihardt and Native Realities,” the 2009 Spring Conference, April 25 at the Neihardt State Historic Site in Bancroft. The event will address Native peoples and what survives and what does not a century after Neihardt wrote about them.

Friends of the Libraries of UNL, Lincoln, $3,347 for two programs related to the national traveling exhibit “Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country.” The programs are Oct. 30 and Nov. 6 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, $2,000 for “Real to Reel: Documenting Empowerment, Equality, Inclusion,” the second biennial Blacks in Film Festival April 16-24 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center at UNL.

The Norris Institute, McCook, $1,500 for “Commonalities—REA and Rural Broadband Internet,” the 2008 Norris Lecture by Laurence Malone, Nov. 17 in McCook.

West Nebraska Arts Center, Scottsbluff, $1,500 for an Oct. 17 appearance by the Hugo Wolf Quartet of Vienna, Austria, at the Midwest Theater in Scottsbluff.

Northeast Nebraska RC&D Council Inc., Plainview, $1,500 for “Shootin’ the Breeze,” a celebration of cowboy poetry and Winnebago history, Oct. 18 at St. James Marketplace.

Literacy Center for the Midlands, Omaha, $1,150 for a series of Family Fun Fairs in the next year to promote the love of reading by teaching parents how to instill literacy skills in their children.

The Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools, $1,032 for “Take a Stand: Moving Beyond Stereotypes to Achieve Your Academic Goals,” a Native American student leadership conference Oct. 10.

University of Nebraska at Omaha, $1,000 for a lifelong learning event featuring speaker John Delaney, author of “Ireland,” May 1 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Omaha.

Homestead National Monument of America, Beatrice, $1,000 for events at the Monumental Fiddling Championship and Acoustic Band Contest, May 23 in Beatrice.

Omaha School of Music, $625 to explore the origins of “The Black National Anthem,” based on a poem by James Weldon Johnson, at the annual Nebraska Martin Luther King Holiday celebration and during Nebraska’s Black History Month celebrations in February.

Major and media grants are for more than $1,500. Major grant applications must be postmarked by March 1 or Aug. 1; media grant applications must be postmarked by Jan. 15 or June 15.

Mini grants are for $1,500 or less and there are six grant cycles a year. Applications must by postmarked by Jan. 1, March 1, May 1, July 1, Sept. 1 or Nov. 1.

For details on applying for a grant, call Mary Yager at (402) 474-2131 ext. 103 or Erika Hamilton at ext. 104.

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August 2008

Humanities Council awards grants totaling $10,615

The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) recently awarded a $1,500 grant to Analog of Omaha, for a series of pre-concert talks during “ARTSaha! 2008: Set Sail for the Sun,” a new music festival Sept. 3-13 in Omaha. Various artists will give talks about programs at the festival, which will celebrate the life of legendary German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Stockhausen, who died Dec. 5, would have been 80 years old on Aug. 22. The talks will put the work of Stockhausen and other modern composers in a historical context for audiences, and a question-and-answer session will be taped and archived for future study.

The NHC recently announced eight grants totaling $10,615. Other grant recipients and the amount of each grant:

The Angels Company, Lincoln, $1,500 for “The Life of a Concert Company: Genevieve Fodrea.” The grant is for the planning phase of a project to develop an interpretative performance based on the diary of Fodrea, a traveling musician. It will be performed in several communities.

Administrative Services, Lincoln, $1,500 for “World Day on the Mall,” a celebration of diversity Sept. 10 on Centennial Mall. The event is a collaboration with schools, community groups and state agencies to provide cultural programs, information, art projects, ethnic food and entertainment.

Lentz Center for Asian Culture, Lincoln, $1,500 to create a catalog for the exhibition “The Daily Arts of Bhutan,” running Sept. 5 through Dec. 14 at the Lentz Center. The exhibition will include textiles, jewelry, ritual and personal items.

Nebraska’s Official Soft Drink Heritage Foundation, $1,296 to create Spanish-language brochures and posters for the Kool-Aid Days Festival Aug. 8-10 in Hastings. The event celebrates the invention of Kool-Aid in Hastings by Edwin Perkins in 1927.

Nebraska Archeological Society, Lincoln, $1,175 for the 2008 Artifact Show, Aug. 23 in Seward. The show is an outreach event designed to educate the public about the cultural pre-history of the state found in the archeological record.

Board of Regents, University of Nebraska, $1,170 for the Richard Wright Symposium, Sept. 18-19 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus. The event will celebrate the centenary birth date of Wright, author of “Native Son” and “Black Boy.”

John G. Neihardt Foundation, Bancroft, $974 for the 43rd annual Neihardt Day Celebration, Aug. 3 at the J. G. Neihardt State Historic Site in Bancroft.

For details on applying for a grant, call Mary Yager at (402) 474-2131 ext. 103 or Erika Hamilton at ext. 104, or visit the NHC website at www.nebraskahumanities.org.

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April 2008

Humanities Council awards grants totaling $127,334

The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) recently awarded an $18,662 grant to the Nebraska Chapter of the United Nations Association of Lincoln, for “Meet Eleanor Roosevelt,” a series of Chautauqua-style presentations by Elena Dodd for audiences in schools, community and faith-based groups and civic groups. Dodd presents historically accurate information in the persona of Roosevelt, who was instrumental in developing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, now celebrating its 60th anniversary. The appearances will be scheduled Oct. 18-Nov. 1 and April 14-28, 2009.

The NHC announced 25 grants totaling $127,334. Other grant recipients and the amount of each grant:

Nebraska Independent Film Projects, Lincoln, $16,000 media grant for “Madison County,” a documentary film that examines a small community’s lost sense of security in the wake of a deadly crime. Madison County residents were stunned when a bank robbery in 2002 resulted in the deaths of five innocent people in the small town of Norfolk.

NET Foundation for Television, Lincoln, $12,000 for discussion and website development of “1968: The Year Nebraska Mattered,” a documentary telling the history of Nebraska’s role in the 1968 presidential election. The project includes studio production of a follow-up discussion program featuring analysis of 1968 and its events.

Plum Creek Children’s Literacy Festival, Seward, $10,000 for the 2008 festival, a three-day literacy event that enables children and accompanying teachers to interact with nationally known authors, illustrators and storytellers. The festival will be held Oct. 9-11 at Concordia University in Seward.

Great American Comedy Festival, Norfolk, $9,615 for a youth camp June 16-21 at Northeast Community College in Norfolk and the Johnny Carson Theatre at Norfolk High School. An estimated 30 students will participate under the direction of staff from the Brave New Workshop’s school of acting and improvisation in Minneapolis.

The Great Platte River Road Archway, Kearney, $7,466 for Dancers of the Plains Pow Wow June 20, 2009, at the archway. The inaugural event will focus on the Pawnee tribe. Themed food will be available throughout the event, which will follow the design and timeframe of a typical pow wow.

Sheldon Art Association, Lincoln, $6,750 for activities related to the exhibition “Poets on Painters” and for a poetry contest and writing workshops entitled “Nebraska Poets on Sheldon Paintings” at Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery through June. Students will write poetry and both children and adults will engage in creative writing.

University of Nebraska at Omaha, Teacher Education Department, $6,498 for a series of events examining Latino history and culture through the artistic works of David Diaz and Diego Rivera. Programs will be held Nov. 17-22 at Joslyn Art Museum, El Museo Latino, and the W.T. Thompson Alumni Center in Omaha.

Panhandle Resource Conservation and Development, Scottsbluff, $6,457 for “Preserving Our Traditions Through Dance, Drum and Song,” the Ninth Annual Friends of the Intertribal Gathering, June 13-15 at Fort Robinson. The annual family-oriented event helps to strengthen American Indian culture.

Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, $5,000 for the 2008 Great Plains Theatre Conference May 24-31 at the Fort Omaha Campus, the Omaha Community Playhouse and Creighton University. The third annual event emphasizes the work of new and emerging playwrights and includes workshops, symposia and discussion panels.

Durham Museum, Omaha, $5,000 for a Teachers’ Institute Oct. 13-14 at the museum. Teachers will learn how to use resource materials on the National Archives website to enrich lesson plans.

Battalion Chief Herbert L. Davis Foundation, Omaha, $4,641 for “Courage Under Fire,” a lecture and pictorial history of Omaha’s black firefighters presented in historical context.

Creighton University, Omaha, $3,245 for the 19th Annual Women and Health Lecture, featuring Jeannette Walls, author of “The Glass Castle,” 7 p.m. Sept. 7 at Joslyn Art Museum’s Witherspoon Concert Hall.

Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Omaha, $3,000 for a series of workshops, pre-show seminars, scholars’ forums and the Anne Dittrick Sonnet-Writing Contest.

Homestead National Monument of America, Beatrice, $2,000 for “Homestead Days: Exploring the Cultural Impacts of the Homestead Act of 1862 through Dance,” June 13-15 at Homestead National Monument in Beatrice.

McCook Arts Council, $1,500 for the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival, May 30-31 at several venues in the McCook area. Storytellers Andy Offutt Irwin and Barbara McBride-Smith will headline the festival.

Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Education Foundation, Red Cloud, $1,500 for the 53rd Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference, June 5-7 in Red Cloud. The theme is “Willa Cather and Her Contemporaries.”

Sunrise Communications Inc., Lincoln, $1,430 for a three-month outreach initiative to inform the public and work with them to develop radio programming for Lincoln residents for whom English is a second language.

Opera Omaha, $1,000 for a poetry contest in advance of the company’s September world premiere of “The Blizzard Voices” by Paul Moravec with text by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha, $1,000 for “Women’s Centennial Archive Project: Telling the History of UNO One Woman at a Time,” a digital collection of stories about women connected with UNO.

White Buffalo Club, Chadron, $1,000 for the 2008 Pow Wow, a one-day event in November at Chadron State College. The event includes dancers and traditional food.

Lincoln Quilters Guild, $1,000 for “A Quilter’s Compass: Turning Freely on a Pivot,” the guild’s 2008 Biennial Quilt Show, May 23-25 at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, Denton, $920 for workshops Nov. 1 at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. The workshops are designed to connect women to the prairie through the arts and humanities.

Nebraska Writing Project, Lincoln, $850 for “Celebrating Poetry of Place,” a public reading by Twyla Hansen and selected middle school and secondary school students May 2 in the Warner Chamber of the State Capitol.

University of Nebraska History Graduate Students’ Association, $800 for the James Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities. The theme of the April 12 conference was “Imagining Communities: People, Places, Meanings” and featured keynote speaker Joan Jensen.

Major grants are for more than $1,500 and there are two grant cycles a year. Applications must be postmarked by March 1 or Aug. 1. Mini grants are for $1,500 or less and there are six grant cycles a year. Applications must by postmarked by Jan. 1, March 1, May 1, July 1, Sept. 1 or Nov. 1. For details on applying for a grant, call Mary Yager at (402) 474-2131 ext. 103 or Erika Hamilton at ext. 104, or visit the NHC website at www.nebraskahumanities.org.

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February 2008

Humanities Council awards grants totaling $20,044

The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) recently awarded 16 grants to Nebraska organizations totaling $20,044.

Grant recipients and the amount of each grant:

Wachiska Audubon Society, Lincoln, $1,500 for several appearances by Brian Ellis in the persona of John James Audubon, celebrating the society’s 35th anniversary in southeast Nebraska. Ellis will speak to Lincoln Public Schools students and the general public during his visit April 10-11. He will portray Audubon as ornithologist, naturalist, hunter and painter.

Indian Center Inc., Scottsbluff, $1,500 for the Circle the Bluffs Powwow, June 13-15 at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Station. The event will feature informational booths, cultural exhibits and a traditional dancing contest to increase understanding of the culture among American Indian youth and non-Indian community members.

Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, Lincoln, $1,500 for an event commemorating 40 years since passage of the Fair Housing Act. Scheduled for April 4 at the Holland Center in Omaha, the event will feature a lecture, music and historic photographs.

Social Action Committee of The Unitarian Church, Lincoln, $1,500 for the 2008 Winter Lecture Series, “Africa: Challenge and Hope,” 7-9 p.m. on seven consecutive Sundays through March 9 at the Unitarian Church, 6300 A St. Sessions address a range of topics that balance awareness of regional problems with positive development.

University of Nebraska-Kearney, $1,500 for “Always the Young Strangers,” a lecture, writing workshop and performance April 10-11 at the Frank House and at the Merryman Performing Arts Center. Carl Sandburg’s poetry and songs will be used as examples of the connection between the personal and the poetic.

Durham Western Heritage Museum, Omaha, $1,500 for two Chautauqua performances by Charles Everett Pace portraying Malcolm X, Feb. 5, one for high school and college students and one for the general public, in observance of Black History Month.

Malaika Foundation, Central City, $1,500 for “Bringing the World to Your Classroom,” a professional teacher development symposium in February at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Board of Regents, University of Nebraska at Omaha, $1,454 for “Women in and of Film,” a documentary film series featuring four films made by women and about women during March, Women’s History Month, at Eppley Auditorium on the UNO campus.

University of Nebraska at Kearney, $1,450 for literary workshops and speaking engagements by visiting indigenous and international authors on the subject of the Sandhills crane species and its migration. Presentations will be at various sites in the Kearney area in March.

Wayne State College Department of Languages and Literature, Wayne, $1,450 for “Plains Writers Fiesta,” a series of literary readings of both fiction and poetry by Nebraska area authors, an art show and musical interludes between readings.

Grassland Foundation, Lincoln, $1,450 for “Wildlife and Sustainable Rural Development in Namibia: Applications to Nebraska,” a series of classroom lectures and a roundtable discussion with Chris Weaver of the World Wildlife Fund, March 25-26 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Center for Great Plains Studies.

City of Lincoln, $1,050 for the 8th annual Abraham Lincoln Birthday Celebration, featuring singer-songwriter Chris Vallillo performing “Abraham Lincoln in Song,” Feb. 12 at Lincoln High School.

Wayne State College, Wayne, $1,000 for a Language Arts Festival for students grades seven through 12, April 11 at Wayne State College. Students who attend will participate in workshops with visiting writers and college faculty and students.

University of Nebraska at Kearney, $796 for the 6th annual Kent Estes Justice for All Conference, a one-day training event for counselors, psychologists, social workers, students, faculty and others, Feb. 8 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Board of Regents, University of Nebraska at Omaha, $450 for the 2008 UNO Women of Color Awards Luncheon, March 5 at the DC Centre in Omaha. The theme is “Women in Politics,” and the keynote speaker is Esther Aguilera, CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Nebraska at Omaha, $444 for the 2nd annual Colloquium on Language Teaching, March 29 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Through its grants, the NHC works with non-profit groups statewide to create high-quality programs that add to the understanding and appreciation of Nebraska and the world, and that foster a better understanding of the humanities. The NHC staff is available for consultation and will read proposal drafts. Contact the NHC office if you need assistance with a project idea.

For details on applying for a grant, call Mary Yager at (402) 474-2131 ext. 103 or Erika Hamilton at ext. 104.

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