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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- June 17, 2005
Contact: Scott Hirko, Public Relations Officer
(517) 372-7770 -- shirko [at] michiganhumanities.org

We the People GRANTS TO CONNECT COMMUNITIES WITH AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

(LANSING)-----The Michigan Humanities Council announces that it will make available nearly $200,000 in grants to Michigan non-profit organizations for We the People projects that explore significant events and themes in American history and culture that were grounded in Michigan. The Council is currently accepting requests for proposals up to $20,000 for We the People projects and has made the application and guidelines available on its website, www.michiganhumanities.org. The deadline for receipt of proposals is September 15, 2005.

The mission of We the People is to explore significant events and themes in our nation’s history and culture that advance the knowledge of the principles that define America. Through Michigan’s past, its stories, its documents, and its people, Michigan exemplifies American history and culture.

“The Michigan Humanities Council is excited to fund projects which will help Michigan citizens explore the significant roles (the state has played in American history,” said Janice Fedewa, executive director of the Michigan Humanities Council. “The Council is committed to work with communities to create projects that focus on the experiences of Michigan’s people, places, and events that played a vital role in defining ourselves, our culture, and our history. Today’s leaders have stated the need to understand our past in order to prepare for our future. The Council’s We the People program will help communities to meet those needs.”

We the People projects must have a public humanities component and be collaborative within the community. The range of grants available is between $5,000 and $20,000 per project. The National Endowment for the Humanities may match up to an additional $10,000 per project. Only one grant will be awarded per organization. Grant applicants will be notified of the status of their application by November 15, 2005. Projects must begin no sooner than November 15, 2005, and be completed by November 30, 2006.

In 2004, the Council funded $73,000 for four We the People grants and generated an additional $430,605 in cultural activity; however, 19 applications were received which had a potential investment of $937,613 in Michigan’s communities. Examples of We the People projects funded last year include:

• an educational component to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Dear Mrs. Parks oratorio, featuring classroom visits by the composer, a discussion series about the historical and cultural significance of Rosa Parks on the Civil Rights Movement, and tours of the Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum
• Arab American historians, the University of Michigan, and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services collaborated to collect oral histories from community elders who immigrated to Michigan, with local high school students using these interviews in a creative writing course to generate a cycle of stories about the interplay of ethnic and national identities.

The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is the state’s independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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