Summer 2000

The Culture Tour, sponsored by Michigan Humanities Council and Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs since 1998 as a cultural tourism initiative, has additional support from Consumers Energy, Mead Paper Division and hosts at 23 state and national parks, a dozen national forest recreation areas and a half-dozen community sites in the north.

Twenty touring programs by talented artists, musicians, dancers, historical role-players, storytellers and cultural interpreters on the 2000 Culture Tour include:

* Musician Kitty Donohoe, who brings tales of "Lighthouses & Legends" and "Bunyan & Banjoes."

* Father-daughter duo Mark and Molly Mitchell, singing songs of "Working People: Simple and Extraordinary."

* Voyageur reenactment group Project Lakewell, relating the time of "Fur Trade in the Great Lakes Region."

* Michael Deren, as "The Past in Person," interpreting the lives of a Great Lakes schooner captain and northwoods lumberjack.

* Native American storyteller and artist Lois Beardslee, sharing native stories and traditional art forms.

* Judy and Jim St. Arnold interpreting their "Ojibwe Culture and Way of Life."

* Musician Neil Woodward, helping audiences view "Michigan Through the Eyes of a Song."

* Environmental educator-musician Tom Hodgson singing "Songs Celebrating Michigan's Great Outdoors."

* Troubadour Terry Wooten relating "Michigan Bardic Stories."

* Sarah and Wil Reding as the naturalist characters "Loon Lady" and "Marsh Mallow Man."

* Storyteller Jenifer Ivinskas Strauss spreading "Michigan Legend & Lore: Stories from Shore to Shore."

* Musician Wanda Degen commemorating "Michigan in Song: Of Woods & Water."

* Musician John Berquist exploring "Roots & Branches: The U.P. Musical Legacy."

* Storyteller-musician Patty Clark telling "How Rabbit Became Moon ... & Other Stories & Songs of the Great Lakes."

* Storyteller Barbara Schutzgruber spinning tales of "Michigan Facts & Fables."

* The Madame Cadillac Dancers colorfully portraying "Michigan's French Colonial History."

* A "19th Century Community Brass Band" -- the Dodworth Saxhorn Band.

* Historian Larry Massie as a lumberjack character for "White Pine Whispers: More Adventures in Michigan's Past."

* Great Lakes balladeer Lee Murdock taking audiences along on "Michigan's Freshwater Highways," and

* Maritime folk musicians-singers Song of the Lakes.

Each presenter uniquely brings to life the essence of northwoods culture and heritage, introducing travelers and local residents to the colorful legends, lore and lifestyles of Michigan's woods-and-water environment. Travelers and local residents, young and old relax on blankets, park benches and lawn chairs to enjoy an evening cultural experience under summer skies.

Brochures with a complete schedule of Michigan's Great Outdoors Culture Tour programs, sites and dates are available from the Council's Lansing (800/837-4532) and northern (906/789-9471) offices, at Michigan Welcome Centers in northern Michigan, at host sites and on-line at http://mihumanities.h-net.msu.edu/culturetour.

Support for the tour also comes from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Division, the Hiawatha Interpretive Association, the Huron-Manistee National Forests, the Eastern National Forest Interpretive Association, the Ottawa Interpretive Association, the U.S. Park Service, the Isle Royale Natural History Association and community participants.

'Sense of Place' Focus of Midwest Arts/Culture Forum

Michigan's rural arts and culture will be in the spotlight at Hancock July 6-8 as the state's cultural organizations and the community host the 2000 Midwest Rural Arts and Culture Forum, "Celebrating Sense of Place." The Council joins the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), Michigan Association of Community Arts Agencies (MACAA), the Copper Country Community Arts Center and Finlandia University (formerly Suomi College) in sponsoring the event, which will involve representatives from seven Midwest states.

Keynote speaker for the weekend will be National Endowment for the Arts Chairman William Ivey, who is returning "home" to the Keweenaw Peninsula for the forum; Ivey is a Michigan native who was raised in Calumet. Also speaking will be Dr. Robert Archibald, another former Upper Peninsula resident and president of the Missouri Historical Society, who will speak from his recent book, A Place to Remember: Using History to Build Community. Other presenters include former Council member Barbara Carlisle, now chair of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Tech University; community artist Mary Wright of Marquette, and LaMoine MacLaughlin, director of the Northern Lakes Center for the Arts in Amery, WI.

The forum offers participants from Midwest rural arts and cultural organizations an annual opportunity to share their perspectives on the unique challenges of rural cultural programming as well as exchange ideas and information about local programs.

For more information, contact MACAA at 800/203-9633.

Cultural Tourism-Related News to Use:

"Marketing the Michigan Experience," a Michigan Museums Association conference, is scheduled Nov. 1-2 at the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids. Sessions will help participants from cultural organizations learn how to attract new tourist audiences by creating cultural tourism itineraries that can be promoted to travel writers, tour organizers and the traveling public. Registration materials will be available in September. For information, contact Tamara Real, MMA cultural tourism project coordinator, c/o Get Real! Communications, 107 Miller Ave., Ann Arbor 48104, or by telephone at 734/669-4360; fax, 734/669-4361, or e-mail (getreal@pobox.com).

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Travel this summer with guidance and enrichment from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Take in some NEH exhibits close to home -- check out Michigan museum listings in our Exhibits section. Look for the (NEH) following the exhibit information.

Planning to visit Washington, DC? Check out "Washington, D.C., Beyond the Monuments," a free map-style walking guide to the "real" Washington beyond the famous tourist destinations. The NEH-funded resource and guide cards for each of nine District neighborhoods, are available from the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., at 202/785-2068.

So you'll be in Chicago? NEH's panel exhibition "Hail to the Chief: Presidents, Power, and Politics" will rotate this summer among three shopping malls in the Chicago area: Louis Joliet Mall in June, Lincoln Mall in July and Stratford Square Mall in August. The exhibition features images and text about 10 U.S. presidents -- Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, Andrew Johnson, Grant, both Roosevelts, Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson -- accompanied by a continuous-loop videotape of excerpts from NEH-funded award-winning PBS presidential film biographies.

If you're heading to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial has unveiled four new interpretive wayside exhibits on its Presidential Trail, featuring the four Mt. Rushmore presidents -- Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln. Interpretive materials derived from NEH's traveling panel exhibition, "Hail to the Chief," were developed through a partnership of NEH, Mt. Rushmore Memorial and the South Dakota Humanities Council.

National Folk Festival Aug. 11-13 -- Don't Miss a Beat!

Michigan Humanities Council is among sponsors for this summer's National Folk Festival which celebrates America's rich cultural heritage in downtown East Lansing Aug. 11-13. This will be the second of a three-year run in East Lansing for the national traveling festival, which is open to the public free of charge.

Experience the sights, sounds and tastes of all our national culture has to offer at this annual festival, including a variety of live musical and dance performances, traditional crafts from basketry to furniture, storytelling, parades, games and children's activities. Mouth-watering offerings at the Taste of Traditions Food Court range from Dutch-American sausage to spicy Middle Eastern specialties. Visitors can let loose on the dance floor to Cajun, Haitian, Irish, Salsa and Tejana music or take in demonstrations by exceptional traditional musicians, cooks, craftspeople, storytellers and dancers who represent America's diverse cultural roots.

The Council-funded Crossroads Stage will focus on the theme "What We Wear: Work, Play, Celebration, Identity." Hands-on sessions, performances and interpreted activities will highlight the artistry and cultural significance of clothing and body adornment for more than 18 occupational, recreational, ethnic, religious and regional populations from across the state of Michigan.

This year's National Folk Festival will be the focus of a Humanities Institute for Michigan High School Teachers Aug. 10-13 at Michigan State University. Social studies, visual arts, music, theater, dance and language arts teachers will participate in hands-on activities related to the festival and around themes and resources that help students explore their relationship with the past and its meaning for them today. Teachers will work with others across disciplines reviewing a curriculum resource unit in final development and developing integrated lessons

that align with Michigan Content Standards in the arts, language arts and social studies while getting a behind-the-scenes introduction to the National Folk Festival's presenters, folk crafts and traditions taught by internationally recognized traditional artists and scholars.

The National Folk Festival is produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the City of East Lansing and the Michigan State University Museum. For more information call 517/351-2735 or visit the festival web site (www.nff.net).

'Yesterday's Tomorrows' -- Past Visions of the Future

Ray guns, robots, the atom-bomb house and a nuclear-powered car are all part of the traveling exhibit, "Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of an American Future," due to tour in Michigan beginning in early 2001. The exhibit offers a unique history of expectations and beliefs about the shape of things to come.

Michigan Humanities Council continues its partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and other state humanities councils in the Museum on Mainstreet project, which brings Smithsonian exhibits to rural communities across the country. "Yesterday's Tomorrows" will be the third exhibit to tour the state under this partnership; "Barn Again: Celebrating an American Icon" toured during 1999-2000 and "Produce for Victory: Posters on the American Home Front 1941-1945" in 1997-98.

"Yesterday's Tomorrows" will visit five Michigan communities from March 2001 through January, 2002, and local project coordinators from each site will participate in a teleconference this summer to begin developing plans for exhibit-related community programs such as invention contests, oral history projects, historic preservation initiatives, town time capsules and community future-planning activities. Participants include the Flat River Historical Society of Greenville (hosting the exhibit March-April, 2001); Tecumseh Area Historical Society of Tecumseh (May-June, 2001); Ironwood Theatre in Ironwood (July-August, 2001); Presque Isle County Historical Museum at Rogers City (September-October, 2001), and Leelanau Historical Museum of Leland (November, 2001-January, 2002). The teleconference is being facilitated by MSU Extension.

As one of the first state councils to host "Yesterday's Tomorrows," the Council's staff is working with the Museum on Mainstreet project of SITES to research and develop a national web site for the traveling exhibit. Scheduled to "go public" in fall, 2000, the web site will include information about the exhibit, tour schedules in host states (Michigan, Utah, Florida, Georgia and Missouri), quizzes on predictions about the future that went awry, lesson plans and family activities on finding the future in film and television, homes and transportation of the future, use of robots and other futuristic themes. The web site is being designed to supplement the exhibit and related local programs as it travels to rural communities across Michigan and the country.

For information about the project, contact LuAnn Kern, director of grants and education at the Council's Lansing office, 800/837-4532, or by e-mail (lkernmihum@voyager.net).

Public Meeting/Grant Writing Workshop Aug. 8

The Council's annual summer Public Meeting and Grant Writing Workshop is scheduled Aug. 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Michigan Library and Historical Center in Lansing.

Along with information on the Council's many programming opportunities and resources, this workshop offers a "nuts and bolts" approach to applying for Collaborative Projects in Communities Grants and Mini Grants. In addition, information on new deadlines and revised guidelines for 2000-2003 Arts & Humanities Touring Program grants will be outlined and the new 2000-2003 Arts & Humanities Touring Directory will be available.

The Council especially encourages new applicants to attend the free workshop. Registration is required. Contact Anne DeMarco at the Council's Lansing office at 800/837-4532 or by e-mail (tourmihum@voyager.net) for further information and to make your reservation.

Coming Soon: New A&H Touring Directory

Watch for the Aug. 1 debut of the new 2000-2003 Arts & Humanities Touring Directory, a three-year edition that features listings for 248 of the state's finest performing and visual artists and humanities interpreters. Each listing provides a program description and photograph, fees and a contact for engaging the artist, presenter or exhibition.

In addition to program and exhibit listings, the directory provides nonprofit organizations with complete guidelines and an application for Touring Program grants which help cover the costs of hosting performances by the directory's artists, actors and actresses, dancers, musicians, storytellers, speakers and humanities interpreters and traveling exhibits.

A full schedule of new deadlines under two new granting periods (Oct. 1-March 31 and April 1-Sept. 30) for 2000-2003 are outlined in the revised grant guidelines, with the first deadline for applications scheduled to begin Aug. 15 and run through Sept. 25.

Produced by Michigan Humanities Council in partnership with Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the 2000-2003 Arts & Humanities Touring Directory will also be available on-line this fall on the humanities council's web site (http://mihumanities.h-net.msu.edu) and on the Michigan Culture Link partnership site (http://miculturelink.h-net.msu.edu). Revised grant guidelines and a downloadable application will be included, and many on-line directory listings will also offer audio or video clips of performance material to help users determine appropriateness for their audiences.

Formal adjudication of this year's 331 applicants for the directory took place in March, with about 60 individuals from appropriate humanities and arts fields serving as reviewers.

To reserve your copy of the free 2000-2003 Arts & Humanities Touring Directory, contact the Council's Lansing office at 800/837-4532 or by e-mail (mihum@voyager.net).

Attend Touring Arts-Humanities Showcase Sept. 16

Join your colleagues from around Michigan Sept. 16 at the Touring Arts & Humanities Showcase 2000 at the Brighton Center for the Performing Arts in Brighton to sample some of the top-quality programs included in the new 2000-2003 Arts & Humanities Touring Directory.

Talented actors and actresses, dancers, musicians, storytellers, speakers, visual artists and other cultural interpreters will be on hand to perform and demonstrate as well as exhibit, talk about their work and schedule performances.

The one-day program, which runs from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is intended to inform those who plan arts and cultural activities for community organizations about the wide range of live programs available in the new three-year directory. Arts & Humanities Touring Program staff will provide information on grants that help cover fees and expenses of performing artists and humanities interpreters included in the directory.

The fee for the day's activities, including continental breakfast and lunch, is $30. For a registration form to attend the Showcase or information on the new directory, contact Jan Fedewa, Arts & Humanities Touring Program director, at 800/837-4532 or e-mail (mihum@voyager.net).

Community Projects Awarded $65,000 in Grants

Eight diverse projects involving communities throughout Michigan have received a total of $65,000 in funds under the Council's Collaborative Projects in Communities grant category this spring. Projects involve humanities activities in Detroit, East Lansing, Coldwater, Saginaw, on Beaver Island and in the broad community of Michigan's disabled population. The Council's new grantees are:

• The Saginaw Community Foundation which will sponsor a series of public programs beginning this fall to recognize the literary legacy and life of Saginaw's hometown poet and Pulitzer Prize winner, Theodore Roethke. "The Poetry and Past of Ted Roethke, Saginaw" project will include tours of Roethke's home and major sites in the community associated with him, student poetry workshops, public lectures and exhibits and other community gatherings.
• The Michigan Disability Rights Coalition of Lansing for a groundbreaking examination and documentation of events, people and significant milestones in the history of Michigan's disability rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s. The "Millennium Oral History Project" will involve interviews with early leaders of the grassroots movement for a publication and public programs in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Marquette in 2001.
• Beaver Island Historical Society, sponsor of a one-hour television documentary on Jesse James Strang, "The King of Beaver Island," which will trace the Mormon minister's flamboyant "rule" of the island following its founding as a Mormon settlement in Lake Michigan. The production, scheduled for release in late 2001, will examine issues of religious fervor, power and tolerance in the 1850s surrounding Strang's story and his ultimate assassination.
• The Westsiders of Detroit, an African-American senior community organization, will continue work documenting the neighborhood of their youth through research, artifact collection and preparation of an exhibit, "Our Village: Detroit's West Side, 1920-1950," which will open in September at the Detroit Public Library and will travel to community locations over several years.
• The Democratic Values Project of Detroit will examine the value and meaning of active, committed citizenship in "Passing the Torch: The Life and Times of Saul Wellman," a documentary film to trace the breadth of involvement of the legendary Detroit social activist, freedom fighter, community advocate and mentor. The film is scheduled for release in summer, 2001, for screenings at Michigan high schools, colleges and community organizations.
• Michigan State University Museum of East Lansing for this year's National Folk Festival Crossroads Stage, which will give visitors a chance to examine "What We Wear: Work, Play, Celebration, Identity" through interpretation and stories about traditions of various kinds of garb. Tradition bearers will demonstrate a wide range of cultural, ethnic, occupational, recreational, religious and artistic clothing and body adornment representative of Michigan.
• Tibbits Opera Foundation and Arts Council of Coldwater to use summer theatrical productions at the Tibbits Opera House as vehicles for community discussion of social issues in their "Exposing and Addressing Community Issues Through Theatre" project. Current and historical perspectives on topics such as compassion and generosity, cultural diversity, human relations, power and dominance and equality of the sexes will be explored in conjunction with four plays and in fall play-writing workshops.
• Walter Reuther Library's Detroit Latino Humanities Project for a two-year documentary video production, "Los Repatriados: A History of Mexican Repatriation in Michigan." It will explore the expulsion of thousands of Mexican immigrants from Detroit in the early 1930s, their resettlement in Mexico and eventual return to the Motor City and other Michigan communities. Public screenings and discussions are planned for 2002.

The next deadline for Collaborative Projects in Communities grant applications is Sept. 1. The grants offer support of up to $12,000 for projects that draw on the resources of at least three cooperating community organizations and have potential for significant third-party funding.

For more information, contact the Council's Lansing office at 800/837-4532 or by e-mail (mihum@voyager.net) or consult the Grant Opportunities section on the Council's web site (http://mihumanities.h-net.msu.edu) for grant guidelines and a downloadable application form.

Resource Center News

Summer Themes: From barbecues and fireworks to weekend getaways along the lakeshore, summer is the time to celebrate our national heritage and enjoy our regional splendors. Plan a program exploring the American experience; Michigan's lakeshore, history and people, and how to conserve our cherished cultural heritage.

The Resource Center Media Guide lists more than 500 titles in various formats (video, audio, film, print, exhibit materials) on-line at http://mihumanities.h-net.msu.edu/resources. High quality and low cost make for special savings with resource rentals related to these summer themes:

• June: Preservation II: Conserving Our Cultural Heritage
• July: The American Experience
• August: Impressions of Michigan & the Great Lakes

Directory of Scholars: The Council seeks scholars and other qualified professionals to participate in public humanities programs as consultants, discussion leaders, evaluators, facilitators, lecturers, panelists, planners, presenters, researchers, speakers and humanities technology consultants.

Visit the Directory of Scholars page in the Resource Center section of our web site (http://mihumanities.h-net.msu.edu/scholars) for information and to apply for inclusion.

Barn Again: From June, 1999, through April, 2000, the Council was among three state humanities councils to sponsor the Smithsonian Institution's Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) "Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon" traveling exhibit that explored the history of barns in America and the evolution of American agriculture.

Visit Michigan's "Barn Again!" web pages, which have moved to the Resource Center section of our web site (http://mihumanities.h-net.msu.edu/barnexhibit). They offer a look at some of the Michigan "Barn Again!" activities as well as a Michigan barn tour and slide exhibit, children's activities, barn lore and lists of suggested readings.

Culture Kits 'Star' in Creative Youth Programs

Ethnic studies of the Detroit community using the ROADS Culture Kits are underway this summer as part of a "Summer 2000 History Comes Alive" adventure day camp for children ages 9-12. The Detroit Historical Museum, in collaboration with the Detroit Public Library, is integrating five different kits (African-American Heritage, The Americas: Hispanic History & Cultures, German Heritage, Middle Eastern History & Cultures and Native Peoples: Indians of the Great Lakes) into the camp schedule.

Students from surrounding neighborhoods will participate in week-long programs using the kits to teach about Detroit's rich and diverse history and various ethnic communities through hands-on learning activities as well as field trips and projects. Amy J. DeWys Van Hecke, curator of education for the museum, can be reached for information about the camp program, at 313/833-9720.

In another creative use of the multicultural resource units during the 1999-2000 school year, Focus: HOPE, a non-profit organization, initiated "Arts & Letters: The Pen Pal Program at Focus: HOPE," a two-year collaboration between six public elementary schools in Detroit and six elementary schools from Detroit suburbs. Focus: HOPE seeks to unite multicultural communities in common efforts to overcome injustice and build racial harmony.

This initiative used four different Culture Kits (African-American Heritage, The Americas: Hispanic History & Cultures, Middle Eastern History & Cultures and Native Peoples: Indians of the Great Lakes) to educate youth about multiculturalism, cross-cultural perspectives and the need to celebrate diversity as well as to introduce students to other students from dissimilar backgrounds (different cities, ethnicities, races, socio-economic levels) and help them find commonalties and positive differences. After studying each cultural group in the classroom, students exchanged letters between pen pals from different schools, sharing both personal information and thoughts on the culture they were studying. The Pen Pal Program also provided opportunity for a field trip to Focus: HOPE where students attended an interactive and educational performance, met their pen pals and discussed what they have learned.

Focus: HOPE will sponsor the Pen Pal Program again during the 2000-01 school year. For more information on the program, contact project director Annette Vanover at 313/494-4376.

Culture Kits for both elementary and secondary school levels circulate through the Resource Center, offering multi-media educational curriculum units on "African-American Heritage," "African History & Cultures," "The Americas: Hispanic History & Cultures," "Middle Eastern Cultures" and "Native Peoples: Indians of the Great Lakes"; the "German Heritage" kit is available from the Frankenmuth Historical Association (517/652-9701). Kits are rented for $50 per month plus a $25 refundable security deposit; arrange to pick up kits at the Council's Lansing office and save $15 on rental fees.

Culture Kits contain a variety of cultural resources, information and lesson plans, which include videos, audiocassettes, literature, history, maps, posters, cultural artifacts and a curriculum manual. The Council's on-line guide to these resource units (http://mihumanities.h-net.msu.edu/roads) includes teachers' comments about the quality and educational value of the Culture Kits.

Since January, 2000, 59 Culture Kit rentals through the Resource Center have served 20 Michigan counties, reaching approximately 1,800 students.

Culture Kit Updates: Ready for Fall, 2000

Teams of teachers and scholars have been meeting for several months reviewing and

revising the Council's ROADS Culture Kit resources on Middle East and African heritage, according to LuAnn Kern, director of grants and education.

The updated Middle East Culture Kit -- expected to be ready in October -- will include new resources and lesson plans on "Norooz," the Iranian New Year; a pilgrimage to Mecca; the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as seen through the eyes of two teenage girls, and an on-line Internet scavenger hunt introducing students to the history and culture of the Middle East. The Council extends its thanks to Kerry Segel of Saginaw Valley State University, Cindy Scarlett of Okemos Public Schools, Catherine Bilow of Jackson, and Bushra Karaman of Ann Arbor for their help and hard work on this project.

The revised African Culture Kit is expected to be ready in December, 2000, and will include new lessons and resources organized around regional units that explore the influences of the ancient African kingdoms on contemporary Africa. Our thanks for working to update this kit go to Council member Maureen Eke and Aya Fubari Eneli, both of Central Michigan University; Cynthia Ann Spencer of Detroit Public Schools; Barb Harte of Birmingham Public Schools, and Cathy Johnson of the Greater Flint Arts Council.

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