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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- December 20, 2007
CONTACT: Scott Hirko, Public Relations Officer,
shirko [at] mihumanities.org, 517-372-0029 ext. 25

$206,000 AWARDED FOR 17 HUMANITIES PROGRAMS

(LANSING)-----The Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) has awarded $206,000 for 17 public humanities programs in 14 Michigan communities. It is the MHC’s largest single grant disbursement period in at least 23 years in records dating back to 1984.  The grants were awarded for programs in two different categories:  12 awards for Michigan People, Michigan Places … Our Stories, Our Lives programs; and 5 awards for The Great Michigan Read programs.

Michigan People, Michigan Places … Our Stories, Our Lives programs emphasize collaboration among cultural, educational, and community-based organizations and institutions to serve Michigan's people with public humanities programming. Launched in July 2007, The Great Michigan Read is a reading program for the entire state with one book – Ernest Hemingway’s The Nick Adams Stories – used to encourage Michiganians to read or rediscover literature. Awards for The Great Michigan Read programs were provided to organizations that will create programs to expose audiences to literature using Hemingway and his The Nick Adams Stories.

“The Michigan Humanities Council is pleased to provide a significant amount of funding for community based programs,” said Jan Fedewa, executive director of the Michigan Humanities Council.  “The amount awarded reflects the extensive number of quality proposals we received to support outstanding programs throughout Michigan.”

Michigan People, Michigan Places … Our Stories, Our Lives grant awards include:

The Library of  Michigan Foundation (Lansing) was awarded a $23,000 grant for the project, “2008 Michigan Notable Books.”  In 2008, the project will reach 55 libraries across the state—all working around a common theme. Project consists of a juried selection of 20 fiction and nonfiction titles published in 2007, set in Michigan or in the Great Lakes or written by a Michigan author, and includes a statewide tour of libraries by some of the Michigan Notable authors. A goal of Notable Books is to strengthen library programming and engage communities in dialogue and lifelong learning about the state as well as expand access of communities to humanities programming. Kickoff of the two-month author visits begins with a special public event entitled “A Night for Notables.” Attendees have an opportunity to listen to the authors, speak with them in person, and obtain personal book signings. The MHC also funded Michigan Notable Books in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

The Ann Arbor Book Festival was awarded $17,000 for the 2008 Ann Arbor Book Festival.  The 2008 Ann Arbor Book Festival will be held on May 15-18, 2008. This is the fourth year of the Ann Arbor Book Festival, funded by the Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) in 2005, 2006, and 2007. This event celebrates reading, writing, and literacy in the community and state. A traveling Hemingway exhibit, “Up North with the Hemingways,” will be part of the programming with tentative plans to include a reception centered around the exhibit. The festival will also host outcomes of two other MHC-sponsored projects: the performance of the play, "The Adapted Nick Adams," and 2008 Michigan Notable Books.

Central Michigan University (Mt. Pleasant) was awarded $15,000 for the project, “2008 Michigan Story Festival.”  The sixth annual Michigan Story Festival will be held in Mount Pleasant on October 18, 2008.  The MHC has funded the festival in four of the previous five years. The festival will highlight national and regional storytellers, performers, and exhibitions throughout the community. Storytelling workshops for K-12 educators; programs at area schools; outreach to senior citizens at their centers; elements of story such as art, movement, quilts, recipes, photo essays, music, and the spoken word are all showcased. Programming brings together an intergenerational audience from the greater central Michigan area, celebrates diversity and culture, and highlights narrative as the common thread tying past to present. The festival places an emphasis on interdisciplinary art forms and their connections to the humanities. A special on the Michigan Story Festival will be taped and broadcast on CMU’s public television station.

The Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates (Holland) was awarded $15,000 for the project, “From the Hennepin to the Thousand Footers—The Rise of the Self-Unloader.”  An exhibit entitled “The Rise of the Self-Unloaders” will be created to address past and present commercial shipping technologies using the recent discovery of the Hennepin shipwreck as an example. The Hennepin is a historically significant vessel representing the world’s first self-unloading vessel and the paradigm for the modern self-unloaders currently used by 80 percent of the shipping industry in Michigan.  It will also reflect on shipwrecks as a source of information on Michigan’s maritime culture. A 15-minute film documentary on the Hennepin’s discovery will be created for a public presentation in summer 2008. A companion publication will also be included in the exhibit. MSRA is developing an online curriculum guide for teachers to fit with the exhibit and Michigan maritime history.  The exhibit will be one part of another exhibit entitled “Working Waterfronts” which will examine the past, present, and future plans for the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor maritime landscape. Both exhibits will be on display for two years beginning April 2008.

The Grand Rapids Area Council for the Humanities was awarded $15,000 for the project, “Gathering Our Community’s Voices for Now and Always.”  A yearlong series of activities is proposed that build on previous public humanities programming. An electronic magazine, "Through the Third Eye," will be launched to gather the voices of young people. This electronic magazine will be fashioned with poetry, commentary, and literary news created by students ages 13-22 under the mentorship of Poet Laureate Rodney Torreson. Popular reading and discussion programs will be continued which primarily serve senior citizens, and a life journey with books and biographies focusing on how literature intersects with these areas for audience members. Selected titles for the latter will involve video-recorded sessions in which participants will interview a woman important to them during Women’s History Month in March 2008.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (Sault Ste. Marie) was awarded $15,000 for the project, “Interpretive Exhibit: U.S. Weather Bureau Building.” The project will create a new permanent interpretive exhibit within the context and location of the U.S. Weather Bureau Building located at the Soo Locks, Sault Ste. Marie, along with an exhibit catalogue.  The exhibit is scheduled to open on August 1, 2008. It will provide a cultural interpretation of the structure and the human activity surrounding it with regards to Great Lakes commerce. Subject matter includes local history of the maritime area, weather reporting, the U.S. Life-Saving Service, U.S. Coast Guard, and shipwrecks. Some 400,000 visitors come to the Soo Locks Park each year.

Michigan Television at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Flint) was awarded $15,000 for the project, “Michigan Minutes.” This project includes researching, producing, and airing seven 90-second video stories on lesser-known pieces of Michigan history along with a companion web page. This project should heighten awareness of and interest in Michigan’s history. The Michigan Minutes segments are expected to air through 2009 and reach a general public audience through Michigan PBS stations.

The Friends of Theodore Roethke Foundation (Saginaw) was awarded $14,928 for the project, “Historic Perspectives of Roethke’s Saginaw: from Interview to Art.”  The FTRF plans to sponsor oral history workshops that canvas the Saginaw community collecting stories spanning Pullitzer Prize winning poet, Theodore Roethke’s lifetime (1908-1963). Organizations collaborating with the FTRF on this project include: Saginaw Township Community Schools, Castle Museum of Saginaw County History, Hoyt Main Library, Saginaw Valley State University, Delta College, Arthur Hill High School.  Student interviewers of middle/high school and college age will be trained to interview elders in the community about Roethke as well as to achieve new historic perspective on the community. Collected stories will be transcribed into poetry illustrated with visual interpretation that will contribute to Saginaw and also to Roethke’s centennial birthday in 2008. Public presentations and exhibits of the works will be presented at key events. Oral history archives will be stored at the Theodore Roethke Home Museum and Saginaw Castle Museum. A community presentation event will be hosted in May 2008 in conjunction with Roethke’s centennial birthday.

Mitchell Elementary School (Ann Arbor) was awarded $5,000 for the project, “A Feast of Families.”  This is an intergenerational cultural and historical project that included two fourth grade classes working with seniors in the community. Songs were written and performed between December 10 and 14, 2007, based on oral histories the students collected from seniors at American House. Singer and songwriter Kitty Donohoe spent five days at the school writing and refining the songs while working in small groups with the children.

Interlochen Arts Academy (Interlochen) was awarded $4,020 for the project, “Dr. William Beaumont, the Michigan Years.”  The project includes collaboration between IAA English as a Second Language (ESL) students and those at Traverse City High School Language Arts. The collaboration will focus on the career of Beaumont from 1819 to 1833 .The Traverse City students will create a podcast based on an evaluation of Dr. William Beaumont’s famous medical experimentation of a patient on Mackinaw Island. IAA students will create and perform an original radio drama based on this same story. A live radio drama will be performed at the IAA on April 28, 2008.

The Great Michigan Read grant awards include:

The West Branch Public Library was awarded $7,500 for the project, “A Year with Nick Adams: Hemingway in Mid-Michigan.” A series of activities are planned for all age groups. In winter 2008, a writing contest will be conducted at the Ogemaw Heights High School focusing on rites of passage and coming of age.  A poet and musician will celebrate Hemingway and northern Michigan (April 16); a local impersonator, Les Sellers, will appear as Nick Adams at the Senior Center in West Branch, Surline Elementary and Middle Schools (March 12), and Rose City Elementary and Middle Schools (March 19); the impersonator will also tell Nick Adams stories at the 2008 Ogemaw County Fair (August 13-17) where a cabin will be recreated as a facsimile of Ken’s Diner, the setting for one of the book’s stories. A writing workshop will also be held in Standish (October 18) where the instructor will take an in-depth look at Hemingway’s influence on readers and writers. Students in elementary and middle school grades will be asked to create art that depicts the story they hear and the artwork will be displayed at the County Fair and the West Branch Public Library.

Artworks (Big Rapids) was awarded $7,500 for the project, “One Book: 15 Communities.”  This will be a continuation of the region’s reading and discussion program is proposed for May through July 2008.  The program will feature, The Nick Adams Stories. The Ernest Hemingway: Life in Michigan DVD will also be viewed and discussed, family and personal memoirs will be written, fish and game meals that celebrate the abundance Michigan has to offer will take place. A traveling exhibit, “Up North with the Hemingways,” produced by the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University and the Michigan Hemingway Society, will be hosted at Artworks  from April 25 through May 12, 2008. On  May 1, Artworks will host “A Celebration of Local Writers” event and the writers in turn, will host a reception in honor of Hemingway. The programming will end with Michigan author, Jerry Dennis, presenting his thoughts about the life of Ernest Hemingway and the time Hemingway spent in Michigan.

The Alpena County Library was awarded $7,197 for the project, “Hemingway, Michigan Genesis.” A wide-range of community programs are planned around The Great Michigan Read from January through March, 2008. All will focus on Hemingway and his work to heighten awareness and understanding. Each will include analysis and discussion of the man, his work, and how it all relates to the human condition. Events include reading/discussion programs (February 5, 28), a fly tying and fly fishing discussion (January 31), cooking fish program (February 19), Hemingway film and discussion sessions (January 12, 19, February 2, 23, and March 8), author presentations on Hemingway (January 22 and 23), a creative writing project at Alpena High School, and the “Up North With the Hemingways” exhibit (February 15 – March 3).

The Peter White Public Library (Marquette) was awarded $7,500 for the project, “Hooked on Hemingway.” This project has collaborations from libraries in four different counties (including Escanaba Public Library in Delta County, Spies Public Library in Menominee County, and Calumet School Public Library in Houghton County) from March through May, 2008. Program includes distributing Nick Adams Stories book kits through the four participating libraries, holding book discussions, a Hemingway film series, scholar-led discussions, fly-tying workshops, a dramatic reading of a Hemingway short story, a photo presentation of the natural history of the Great Lakes, a historic exhibit of fishing and hunting artifacts from the time period of the Nick Adams Stories, and a concert by the blue grass band, “Catching Steel.” The “Up North with the Hemingways” exhibit is also scheduled for display in April 2008.

826michigan (Ann Arbor) was awarded $7,500 for the project, “Young Writers Reflect on Hemingway.”  826michigan will host a three-week workshop, "Hemingway: A life in literature in Michigan," for students 14-18 highlighting three of the short stories in The Nick Adams Stories. Students will then write their own work inspired by Hemingway and these stories. As a second part of the project, Ann Arbor’s Community High School theater students will participate in a six-week workshop that includes in-depth analysis of several stories resulting in a series of student-written short plays adapted from Hemingway’s original text. The plays are titled, “"The Adapted Nick Adams."  Outcomes from both projects will be featured in May of 2008 at the Ann Arbor Book Festival.
        
More information on each of the grants is available on the Internet at www.michiganhumanities.org.  The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is a private, non-profit organization funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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