Past Grants Awarded

Support for the distribution phase of a feature-length documentary film about the Me2/Orchestra in which half the musicians are diagnosed with mental illness.

Production of a treatment and trailer to aid in production of a feature-length documentary film exploring U.S. immigration from Central America and the current sanctuary movement through the story of Lucio, an immigrant from Guatemala who came to the U.S. illegally and who entered sanctuary in the First Congregational Church in Amherst in 2017 after receiving deportation orders.

Funding to conduct and interpret 12 oral histories with affiliates of Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House, a 112-year-old settlement house, adding under-documented narratives into the archives that address the relationship between providers and patrons in the settlement house movement, and reflect on how such settlement houses were transformed by patrons who became providers.

Completion of a digital site on the history of immigration to Lowell, with a particular emphasis on immigration since 1965 to make often scattered information publicly available.

Production of a multimedia project for the 25th Anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this year in addition to creation of the trailer in for a film featuring three three men orphaned by the Rwandan genocide who teach photography as a healing practice to vulnerable children around the world, including at the Home for Little Wanderers in Boston.

A collaboration between formerly incarcerated women, a scholar, facilitators, and a playwright to create a performance exploring the history of incarceration and its connection to the women's personal experiences.

Support for moderated conversations following a series of one-act plays written by Patrick Gabridge.

Support for a project using film to help local workers see their work lives as worthy of attention, and as a part of a historical trajectory in which they are agents, including a three-day digital story-telling workshop, solicited video submissions from local workers, a 1 1/2 day conference and a website showing workers' videos.

Support for curricular development, a semester-long seminar for ESL teachers, and stipends for ESL teachers to learn and implement Poetry Inside Out, a translation-based approach to literary interpretation, in their ESL classrooms.

Support for a weeklong teacher's institute in July on the holocaust, genocide, and human rights, that employs a multidisciplinary approach engaging history, philosophy, ethics, and religion with an emphasis on literature and reflective writing.

Support for promotion and distribution of the documentary CodeSwitching, which explores the experience of shifting between 'home' and 'away' cultures for two generations of students who were bused from urban to suburban schools as part of Boston's METCO program.

Support for a five-day summer teacher workshop highlighting historic sites in Boston where communities of color struggled for recognition and inclusion in the social contract.

A series of three panel discussions exploring Boston's Great Molasses Flood of 1919, on its 100th anniversary.

Support for historical, contextual, and interpretive conversations between scholars, artists, and participating audience on art expressing the stories of marginalized social groups.

Support for the final planning stages of an interactive educational website on Isaiah Thomas that will introduce children, particularly high school students, to archival material.

Support for a project that will fill a gap in Worcester Historical Museum's collections and result in an exhibition and related programming during 2019, the 50th anniversary of New York's Stonewall Uprising.

A project exploring how changing technologies have affected the fishing community in New Bedford that includes archival research, ethnographic interviews with members of the fishing community, two public exhibits, six panel discussions, and MA standards-based curricula for elementary and secondary school children.

Oral history collection, transcription, and creation of a gallery exhibit examining the lives and experiences of Black residents of Holyoke from the second half of the 20th century through the present.

A reorganization of archival documents and electronic inventories to create a searchable, accessible inventory for both scholars and the public.

A three-part discussion series, led by Historian Bob Forrant, on immigration in the Lowell area.

Two public events-moderated by Scholar Kerri Greenidge and held in Cambridge and in Roslindale-based on writings by the women of Brook Farm, a 19th-century transcendentalist community in Boston.

A Literature & Medicine series, led by Scholar Ruth Rhode, at Bedford's local VA facility.

Research by Scholar Stephen O'Neill on 17th-century Plymouth Colony artifacts in order to produce a draft manuscript with photos, as well as a monograph and a public lecture.

A series of discussion-based events on local history and public health, inspired by Norwood's Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 and led by Scholar Patricia Fanning.

A Literature & Medicine series, led by Scholar Kent Jacobson, at Baystate Medical Center.

The creation and implementation of in-school post-show workshops to accompany Theatre Espresso's historical plays held each year at the John Adams Courthouse for Boston Public School students.

A year-long project that asks high school students to consider the ethical and philosophical questions raised by controversial public monuments-including those debated nationally, as well as controversial removals and renamings of Boston-area landmarks.

A "Play Reading Book Club" for families with incarcerated members and returning citizens that will lead up to the production of "The Peculiar Patriot."
(project website)

The creation, by Springfield-area youth producers, of three filmed segments, based in documentary journalism and storytelling, to explore the effects of Hurricane Maria on Springfield-area communities.

Three sections of a twelve-week course on poetry for male inmates at the Hampden County Sheriff's Department Pre-Release Center.

A disability-studies exhibit-to accompany a tactile art exhibit- on the history of accessibility in arts programming and on how both blind and sighted artists and audiences influence and affect the fine arts.

The development and launch of a digital public history project, combined with an annual History Harvest event, at which community members will share their own artifacts and stories.

A project that uses performance and documentary photography to allow middle-school students in Springfield to learn about Puerto-Rican immigrant experiences in their community.

An out-of-school digital humanities project to introduce teenagers to local history and archival research, which will result in the creation of a replicable curriculum.

A series of public programs to complement the fall production of Macbeth that will engage audiences-including Boston Public School students and young people recommended to the program by the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Child and Family Services-in debates about language in productions of Shakespeare's plays.

A project that connects experienced scholars with a cohort of Chinatown laborers-who will participate in six workshops on local history, national Chinatown histories, immigration, and documentary photography-to create original materials for a future exhibition.

A program for young people in Boston that will combine literary discussion, archival research, and community interviews in order for participants to learn and write about Boston as a city, while focusing on the history and community of an individual street.

Research and organization of three discussion events for Puerto Rican community members to compare events in Worcester that took place in the 1960s with the current reception of those relocating in Worcester due to Hurricane Maria.

Two events celebrating the work and legacy of Frederick Douglass: a performed mock trial with a community discussion and Worcester's annual Reading Frederick Douglass event.

Four moderated discussions to accompany performances of "The Burials", a play addressing gun violence in schools.