Past Grants Awarded

A series of public forums to be held at the First Parish in Harvard Square, Cambridge, on issues of education reform, the goals of which will be to explore the larger social issues that underlie the current crises of confidence in public education and to examine contemporary efforts to improve school performance with respect to their effectiveness in achieving broad-based education reform.

A collaborative, multidisciplinary humanities project involving a painter in residence at ArtWorks in New Bedford as well as local city experts, exploring the character of Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford's North End, a thoroughfare that has changed little over the last several decades.

Distribution funds and scholar honoraria and travel expenses for scholar/panelists at screenings of "Loaded Gun," a semi-comical film exploring Emily Dickinson's life and work. Funds may be used to establish the film as a teaching tool.

Distribution funds for a one-hour documentary that examines, over a five year period, the impacts and struggles of two rural New England towns that have confronted large-scale retail developments and the clash between national corporate interests and community needs. The proposed distribution plan includes public tv broadcasts, a local premiere, entry in film festivals, and preparing for non-broadcast educational distribution.

Media pre-production project consisting of oral history interviews with eight elderly Vineyard residents as resource material for the documentary film, Vineyard Voices, American Stories.

Production phase of a video documentary about the lives and legal case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were executed in Boston in 1927 after a famous and controversial trial. (MFH funded the pre-production phase of the project as well.)

Pre-production grant of $5000 to complete a treatment and promotional videotape for a national public television documentary about the social history of America's quintessential musical instrument - the banjo.

Reading & Discussion program at the Westwood Library

One day public symposium on Native American basketry.

Shakespeare & Company, a performance and education center, produces a series of historical and interpretive events celebrating Hawthorne's bicentennial.

Professional development initiative to expose Worcester teachers to their students' varied cultures through the study of literature.

Reading & Discussion group exploring young adult literature.

Reading & discussion group

Free public walking tours of past archaeological dig sites at UMass' Summer Field School in Anthropology for three weeks in June.

Exhibition and accompanying catalogue of THE CHAIR at WCC, concentrating on the historical context and meaning of the chair's place within culture.

A series of humanities seminars offered to BPS teachers to enrich curriculum and humanities pedagogy.

Reading & Discussion Series

Egyptian art and artifacts on exhibit at the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, 1/15/03 - 1/6/04, with related humanities programming.

Short documentary of portraits of people and institutions that reflect Northampton's diverse 350-year history.

The Fund for Women Artists will distribute a one hour documentary about Jane Sapp, a leader in cultural activism and music education workshops for 'at-risk' youth.

Massachusetts Center for the Book will plan a two-phase literary map of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, both in-print and on-line.

Five public readings and discussions of Dante's Inferno plus an unspecified 'day-long event.'

Pre-production grant for a documentary exploring the Connecticut River log drives, 1868-1915.

Historic, interpretative installation to accompany the Korean War Memorial, extended until 10/31/02

An oral history project documenting the lives of men who earned livings working at the oldest continuously operating marine railway in the country.

Lecture on American Jewish music, including presentations by three scholars of Jewish music and history. The Zamir Chorale will sing works to illustrate the speakers' points.

Youth residents of Maverick Gardens public housing will attend formal photography training and lab courses, in order to then document images of their community, slated for demolition within the next few years. Photos will be displayed at Maverick Gardens, and a public space TBD.

A humanities panel discussion about the use of film in times of war.

Script development for a play, "GEE!," to be written by Natalie Ross Miller and based on the life of Gertrude Lawrence, one of the most celebrated actresses of the twentieth century. The play will be performed on the Gertrude Lawrence Stage at the Dennis Union Church in late August 2002.

Curriculum, lesson plans, and web site development relating to the radio play production of Sarah Orne Jewett's "The Flight of Betsey Lane", distributed by NPR in February/March 2002.

Series featuring books by Massachusetts authors: _Murder at the Gardner_ by Janet Langdon, _Pagoda_ by Patricial Powell, _Family Orchard_ by Nomi Eve, _Fortune's Rocks_ by Anita Shreve.

A symposium with a featured speaker (Sylvia McDowell) on 19th century women activists. The event will focus on the visibility of diverse women activists in American history who varied in ideas and interests but helped to inspire positive social change.

The completion of a one-hour documentary motion picture that examines the role of dissenting citizens as participants in the process of a democratic government. The film focuses on the Vietnam War veterans and Lexington townspeople who participated in an anti-war demonstration over the Memorial Dat weekend, May 1971.

A documentary that will explore the rich tradition of trapfishing along the Massachusetts coastline and consider the crisis of a fishery in jeopardy.

An exhibition about the former Northampton State Hospital to be viewed at the Center for the Arts in Northampton. The exhibition will focus on the historical and artistic aspects of the hospital through the selected works of the scholars involved in the project.

The preproduction funding for the research and development of a four-part radio documentary and internet website on blues composer and singer William "Bog Bill" Broonzy. The project will explore the connections between African-American social, economic and cultural history, the codification of the country blues between 1925 and 1940, and the influence of the blues on American popular music.

A site interpretation of a frontier colonial house and farm site.

A series of talks and cultural events at the Du Bois Library at University of Massachusetts, Amherst in commemoration of the quincentenary of Brazil's discovery in 1500.

A documentary that focuses on the first year of the Epiphany School, a private, tuition free, full-service, faith based middle school for low-income children in Boston.

Production grant for a 90-minute documentary about the G-Clefs, one of the few remaining rhythm and blues groups from the 1950s that is still performing with its original members.