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Explore the Mass Humanities funded projects awarded from 2000 to the present. Browse by grant type, city, region or keyword. Subscribe to our newsletter and receive news when grants are awarded.
Multi-Sensory Interpretation at Gore PlaceGore Placemore
Finalization of improvements to their accessibility measures for sight-impaired visitors, including experiential interpretation, and for a workshop sharing best practices learned from this project.
Waltham, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Thom Roach
awarded on: 2014-06-20
amount: $5,000
Religion RefocusedThe Pluralism Projectmore
A partnership with upwards of ten faith-based groups of diverse traditions uniting to host five film-and-discussion events on civics and religion.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Elinor Pierce
awarded on: 2014-06-20
amount: $10,000
Women at Work: An Oral History of Working Class Women in Fall River, MA 1910-1940Fall River Historical Societymore
Documentation of the oral histories of the working-class life of women and/or their descendants during the 1910-1940 period.
Fall River, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Joyce B. Rodrigues
awarded on: 2014-06-20
amount: $5,000
Listening to Change on Working WaterfrontCommunity Economic Development Centermore
Development of a thematic and comprehensive understanding of facilitated discussion with the fishing community recorded since 2004 on the Narrative Stage and preparation of the materials for archival storage and public access.
New Bedford, MA, Bristol County
project director: Laura Orleans
awarded on: 2014-03-31
amount: $3,000
Worcester Revolution 1774Worcester Historical Museummore
A county-wide reenactment of the events of September, 1774, when the local British government was overthrown by weaponless militiamen.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Bill D. Wallace
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $10,000
Poverty, Place, Disability & Mutual AidStraight Ahead Picturesmore
An online exhibit and curriculum unit to be developed within the existing Disability History Museum website using the story of Anne Sullivan (Hellen Keller's famous teacher and Agawam, MA, resident) to tell the story of disability rights and poverty advocacy.
Conway, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Laurie Block
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $10,000
Mill, Mountain, River: A Child's Eye View of Olde ColraineFractured Atlasmore
A residency to produce the local history theatre piece Mill, Mountain, River: A Child's Eye View of Olde Colraine alongside third and fourth graders in Colrain, MA. The play tells the story of child workers in the Griswoldville factories and will be produced over two weeks and presented publicly as well as to the school community.
New York, NY, New York County
project director: Jonathan Mirin
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $4,150
Boston Muslim Film FestivalAmerican Islamic Congressmore
Support for speakers, scholars, and publicity materials for the seventh annual Boston Muslim Film Festival.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Edina Skaljic
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $4,900
Teachers Summer Institutes: Engaging New Audiences in Boston's Public Schools and Community CollegesMuseum of African American Historymore
Two four-day summer institutes for 60 Boston-area teachers. The institutes are loosely organized around the theme of women in African American history.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: L'Merchie Frazier
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $10,000
Stony Beach Outdoor InterpretationHull Lifesaving Museum, Inc.more
Production and installation of outdoors signage to help visitors interpret the history of the precarious entrance to Boston Harbor as viewed from Stony Beach in Hull, including the stories of pilots, lifesavers, lighthouse keepers and more.
Hull, MA, Plymouth County (Southeast)
project director: Victoria Stevens
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $5,000
Pre-production of a one hour television documentary on the untold story of women clerical workers organizing for pay equity, advancement, and recognition. The 9 to 5 Project addresses a significant aspect of feminist social movement history in the U.S. and raises important questions about labor history.
Yellow Springs, OH, Greene County
project director: Julia Reichert
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $10,000
Lowell's "Irish Problem:" The Town Vote to Fund a School for the IrishUniversity of Massachusetts Lowellmore
Production of a short film about historical discrimination against the Irish in Lowell. Lowell's "Irish Problem": The Town Vote to Fund a School for the Irish will be incorporated into fourth grade curricula.
Lowell, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Kristin Gallas
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $5,000
Engaging Student Audiences with PlaybillsTheatre Espressomore
Creation of multi-lingual playbills for the company's Road to Tolerance cycle of five plays, to be presented to Boston Public School students.
Jamaica Plain, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Wendy Lement
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $10,000
Counting the PeopleNorman B. Leventhal Map Centermore
Development and implementation a multi-lingual exhibit of census-based maps of Boston telling the story of recent immigration in the city.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Michelle LeBlanc
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $9,707
SeamsCenter For Independent Documentarymore
Support for development of the film Seams, a poetic oral history of women's experiences of the conflict between Britain and Ireland.
Walpole, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Carolyn Lewis
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $10,000
The Mildred FilesNorthampton Academy of Music, Inc.more
Production of a new, original play, The Mildred Files about a scandal involving the Academy's past interim director. The performance is part of the Academy's Women's Work Initiative, a multi-year series of events and productions focused on women in the performing arts.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Debra J'Anthony
awarded on: 2013-12-13
amount: $5,000
Odd Couples: Literary Feuds, Friendships and Falling-outsSturgis Librarymore
A four-part reading and discussion group exploring the works of four pairs of authors who were known to have a complicated relationship with one another.
Barnstable, MA, Barnstable County
project director: Antonia Stephens
awarded on: 2013-11-21
amount: $500
City of Lowell Division of Planning & Development CollectionLowell Historical Societymore
Preservation of the City of Lowell Division of Planning and Development Collection.
Lowell, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Martha Mayo
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $1,500
"The American Media Revolution" Archival CollectionFilmmakers Collaborativemore
An on-line exhibit and archive of images, film clips and sound files related to the early years of WBCN FM in Boston and protest movements on Boston Common.
Melrose, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Bill Lichtenstein
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $5,000
A pre-production grant to ValleyCAST for a script and trailer for a documentary about the Whitin family's mills in Whitinsville, MA and the employees in this company town.
Whitinsville, MA, Worcester County
project director: Heather J. Riley
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $10,000
Robbins House Exhibit Planning & Development GrantDrinking Gourd Project, Inc.more
Core exhibit planning for the Robbins House, a home built by the son of slavery survivor and Revolutionary War veteran Caesar Robbins in the early 1800s.
Concord, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Linda Ziemba
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $5,000
Re-Visioning Tomorrow: Emancipation for a New CenturyWilliam Monroe Trotter Center for Black Culture and Historymore
A series of six staged readings of plays from August Wilson's ten-play cycle about the lives of African Americans in the decades of the twentieth century.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County
project director: Barbara Lewis
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $10,000
Reflections on RaceThe Mirror of Race Project, Inc.more
Support for a script and trailer for a documentary film about the meaning of race in America.
Auburndale, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Gregory Fried
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $10,000
Paul Revere Artisan and Businessman: The Enduring LegacyPaul Revere Memorial Associationmore
Design and fabrication of a display about the varied career and entrepreneurship of Paul Revere.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Nina Zannieri
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $5,000
Du Bois in Our TimeUniversity Museum of Contemporary Artmore
Springfield-based programs featuring artists whose new work about the vision of W.E.B. Du Bois will be exhibited at the Umass Amherst Museum of Contemporary Art.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Eva Fierst
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $7,500
Agreeing to Disagree: Civility in Public DiscourseWAMCmore
Three one-hour radio segments taking a look at civility (and the lack thereof) in public discourse.
Albany, NY, Albany County
project director: Joe Donahue
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $10,000
1763 Peace of Paris Project Public ProgrammingBostonian Societymore
French-Canadian historical re-enactors take part in a public commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the treaty that ended the French and Indian Wars.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County
project director: Donald C. Carleton
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $5,000
Emilie: The Marquise de Chatelet Defends Her Life TonightWAM Theatremore
Lee, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Kristen van Ginhoven
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $9,980
An exhibit and programs exploring the history and culture of Carnival in eight communities in Europe and the Americas.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County
project director: Honee Hess
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $5,000
Splendid Splitters: Axes, Axemen, and the Building of the USS ConstitutionUSS Constitution Museummore
A video installation about how Old Ironsides was built by skilled boatwrights, focusing on the all important axe.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director:
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $3,849
Boston Book Festival 2013Boston Book Festival, Inc.more
Three days of varied programs with multiple literary collaborators including authors of national repute.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: Norah Piehl
awarded on: 2013-06-21
amount: $5,000
"I Have a Dream": Public Dialogues on the Unfinished Business of Emancipation & Civil RightsThe Tracing Center on Histories and Legacies of Slaverymore
Six public events-in the Berkshires, Roxbury, Cambridge, Medford, Watertown and Worcester-that explore the unfinished business of the Civil War and the civil rights era.
Watertown, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Margo Varea
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $10,000
Harvest of Voices - Cuentos de LawrenceMerrimack Collegemore
A community-based oral history/musical theatre project drawn from personal interviews within the Latino community in Lawrence, collected by Spanish-speaking students at Merrimack College, and dramatized by playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez.
North Andover, MA, Essex County
project director: Joseph Kelley
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $5,000
Farenheit 451: "If I had to Choose..." and "Who Gets to Choose..."Fitchburg State Universitymore
Two-months of community programming on the history and contemporary role of censorship in our society, using Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" as the centerpiece.
Fitchburg, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Mary C. Durling
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $10,000
CAM ConnectionsCape Ann Museummore
Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester will bring reproductions of regional landscape paintings from the Museum collection to seniors in care facilities in and around Gloucester, and also to support field trips for these seniors to the museum.
Gloucester, MA, Essex County
project director: Peggy Cahill
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $10,000
Academy of Music Play DevelopmentNorthampton Academy of Music, Inc.more
Development of a play that tackles issues in the history of women's work, based on the life of the strong-willed Mildred E. Walker, box office manager at the Academy whose controversial promotion to interim manager became the occasion of a scandal, criminal accusations, and the loss of her job.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County
project director: Debra J'Anthony
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $2,000
Civil War Teacher Training WorkshopFramingham History Centermore
A three-day workshop to introduce local teachers to the significant Civil War resources at the Center, and work with them in preparing to create lesson plans on the topic.
Framingham, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Annie Murphy
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $5,000
A Legacy of Rural Music, People and PlaceCountry Dance and Song Society, Inc.more
A weeklong workshop between beginner musicians from a selection of Hill Towns (Ashfield, Plainfield, Hawley, and Buckland) and mentors conversant in regional folk classics in preparation for storytelling performances.
Easthampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Jacqueline Cooper
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $5,000
Making History on the CommonsFriends of the Public Gardenmore
The fourth annual history fair on the Boston Common for third and fifth grade students. The fair has grown into an annual collaboration between FPG, the schools, and various history organizations that interpret, re-enact, and engage students in how the Common has been used throughout history.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Elizabeth Vizza
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $5,000
Music for the Soul: Building Community Through Musical DiversityAmherst Survival Centermore
Four dinner concerts and 10 lunchtime concerts, to be followed by scholar-facilitated discussions at the Center, a community organization that serves homeless and low-income people.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County
project director: Bob Weiner
awarded on: 2013-03-15
amount: $2,000