| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 15, 2007 |
CONTACT: Beth Felice (800) 357-0909 beth @ mohumanities.org |
The Missouri Humanities Council has just funded a large number of exciting projects. The 2007 Grant budget has been fully expended. We are now accepting grant applications for activities that will take place after November 1, 2007, the beginning of a new fiscal year.
"21st by 21" Projects
The following awarded grants exemplify an initiative of the Missouri Humanities Council to transform the interpretive practices of museums and historic houses to modernized (21st century) techniques by the statehood bicentennial in 2021.
"Voices of the Missouri/Kansas Border"
The MO/KS Border War Network of 19 history institutions will work together to create interactive web sites, podcasts, and virtual tours that would convey a variety of interpretations of the area's Civil War history. The Cass County Historical Society will manage this bold project with a grant of $16,108.
"Nodaway County Aesthetic Heritage Project"
The historical museum in Maryville will engage the interest of the local population by creating exhibits and activities on three themes over a period of thirteen months. The emphasis in this program will be on the interaction of past and present, young and old in the collective aesthetic sense of place. The project will also engage people through an upgraded web site. The Nodaway County Historical Society will conduct the project under a grant of $5,576. The project is an outgrowth of two MHC charette workshops in the past eight months.
"Waverly Heritage Days"
The Waverly Arts Council has been at work for the past two years on a rich local history project and a "virtual museum" for the internet. That project was the result of two charette workshops in 2005. The first phase of activity focused on Civil War history in Waverly. Capping that phase, the community will hold a festival centered on a reenactment of the 1858 wedding of General Joseph Shelby. The two-day living history festival will take place July 21-22 from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. A grant of $4,455 supports the project.
"Dred Scott Exhibit and Public Programs"
The Blackworld History Museum in St. Louis will refashion and upgrade its Dred Scott exhibit, which was one of the original displays when the museum opened ten years ago. The museum is adding Attorney Field to the interpretation to provide a more balanced presentation of the story and to encourage viewers to consider the broader, long-term implications of the historic case and its relevance to current issues of citizenship. A grant of $8,000 supports the project.
"Where the Wilson Meets the James" (A Virtual Museum)
Missouri State University's Center for Archaeological Research will create an internet museum using archaeological research, artifacts, and historic documents to tell the story of the people, cultures, and events that have left their mark on a piece of land southwest of Springfield where Wilson Creek flows into the James River. The web site will show the process of archaeology bringing light to those people who lived in or passed through an area known as Delaware Town. this area is associated with substantial, long-term prehistoric occupation as well as historic Osage, Delaware, and Cherokee Indians, Euro-American fur traders and early settlers, the White River Trace, the Trail of Tears, and the Civil War Battle of Wilson's Creek. A grant of $5,987 supports the project.
"The Oregon Trail" Living History Program at St. Louis Historic Houses
The Etc. Senior Theatre company is an organization that researches and creates scripts for living history scenes. This project entails creation of a living history dramatization of the 1867 return of the American historian, Francis Parkman, to his friend Henri Chatillon. The activity will be presented for visitors at the Campbell House Museum and the Chatillon-DeMenil House Museum. A grant of $2,494 supports the project.
Locally-Designed Chautauquas
"A Taste of Chautauqua" is a "starter" Chautauqua for Jefferson County. A one-day program on September 15 will feature Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, and we will provide details in our E-News. A grant of $6,000 to The Highway 30 Foundation supports the Chautauqua and its related local programming.
The Missouri Humanities Council will consider any proposal to support public humanities programming within Missouri’s borders. Audiences may be general or specific (public school history teachers, for example), but all should be adults. The Council is especially interested in the power of community programs to build bridges of understanding and communication across ethnic or racial lines, and to involve multiple generations in participation.
Within this wide range of possibilities, the Council has several chief interests:
"Cultural Heritage Development" is a category that is concerned with durable and sustainable improvements in the interpretive practices of museums, historical societies, and historic houses. MHC has announced a long-term initiative called 21st by 21, which aims to modernize interpretive practices throughout the state. We would like to bring methods and practices into the 21st century in time for the statehood bicentennial in 2021. To that end, MHC seeks to fund fifty exemplary projects in the next five years. We invite museums and historic houses to design experiential, interactive projects to help develop more visitation and more volunteers and members. Organizations may also develop experiential and interactive web sites to create “virtual museums.”
"The Many Faces of Missouri" is a category focused on integrating our knowledge of the many cultural traditions in our state. The intent of the program is to introduce people to unfamiliar cultural traditions. Newcomers to Missouri will have opportunities through this program to learn about the many cultural groups that have called Missouri home. Long-time residents will have opportunities to learn about the histories and traditions of our new neighbors. The demographics of Missouri are changing. This program will help us continually recognize each other.
• CONTENT: The program is about history, literature, philosophy, or another field of the humanities.
• APPROACH TO KNOWLEDGE: The program is concerned with how and why rather than simply telling what. It helps people think; it provides a way of getting at the meanings of an issue, a work of art, a piece of writing.
• PLANNING: The program planning reflects the participation of experts in the humanities as well as people in the community who hope to participate.
• AUDIENCE: The program is designed for adults out of school. The Council is particularly interested in supporting programs that are "family-friendly" and provide activities of interest to pre-teens and youth as well as adults.
• BALANCE: The program is politically neutral. We don't sponsor or support programs that advocate direct political or social action, although individual speakers may express opposing points of view.
Missouri Humanities Council
543 Hanley Industrial Ct., Ste. 201
St. Louis, MO 63144-1905
(314) 781-9660 (800) 357-0909