Nearly $200,000 Available in Grants to Fund
The Great Michigan Read Community Programs

(LANSING)---The Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) is making nearly $200,000 available in grants for The Great Michigan Read public humanities programs. This grant program is a funding priority at this time. The MHC will award up to $7,500 for each proposal in support of programs relating to Ernest Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories. The postmark deadline to submit major grants is September 17, 2007. The Council will review draft proposals if submitted prior to August 25, 2007. In addition, quick grants of up to $500 are available to nonprofit organizations in support of infrastructure and programs relating to The Great Michigan Read. This program will award grants until all allotted funds are exhausted. There is no deadline for quick grants, but applications must be at least four weeks prior to the start of the program. Applications and guidelines for both major ($7,500) and quick ($500) grants are available on the MHC website. For more information on The Great Michigan Read grants, please contact the Cynthia Dimitrijevic, Grants Director, at 517-372-7770 or cdimitrijevic [at] mihumanities.org.

The Nick Adams Stories chronicles a young man’s coming of age in a series of linked short stories, most of which are set in Michigan. The MHC is the first organization to implement a program for an entire state to read one of Hemingway’s works. To date, more than 100 communities across the state are participating in The Great Michigan Read. Reader’s guides, bookmarks, posters, and other opportunities are available to participating cultural organizations. Additional activities include traveling exhibits, radio and television features, a website resource (www.greatmichiganread.org), and grant programs to help engage communities in literature.

Examples of The Great Michigan Read programs available for MHC funding support may include:

• Related arts projects: Creative writing, poetry, visual arts inspired by Nick Adams, Michigan as “place,” or other themes in the title.
• Film: Explore Hemingway, Nick Adams, or related themes in a film series and discussion.
• Read-a-thons: Celebrate Nick Adams, Hemingway, and Michigan with a read-a-thon.
• Speakers/Chautauqua: Choose from the MHC’s speakers list or find other humanities professionals to present on related topics. Or, bring in a Hemingway reenactor for a unique, firsthand experience.
• School/College projects: An interpretive drama written by students collaborating with a drama or theatre group, inspired by The Nick Adams Stories. Or, teachers and students from two or more school districts or college literature courses read one of The Nick Adams Stories and participate in a creative writing contest featuring their own works which are shared with community.
• Documentary: video, audio, photo projects, or oral history programs inspired by Nick Adams, Michigan as “place,” or other themes in the title.
• Discussion group: Public libraries, museums, colleges and authors collaborate to provide reading and discussion programs for community members centered on The Nick Adams Stories. This could include small groups moderated by humanities professionals or by peers; adultled teen groups, etc.

Grants for the The Great Michigan Read are primarily made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is the state's nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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