MichiganStories June 2012

MHC Awards $350,850 in Grants to 30 Michigan Nonprofits

The Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, in Grosse Pointe Shores, was awarded $7,500 for their project “Fairy Tales at Ford House: A Grimm Celebration.” The project builds on their major grant event from last year, “Multi-Cultural Fairy Tale – Exhibit and Festival.” Credit: Edsel & Eleanor Ford House. On May 16, the Michigan Humanities Council had the pleasure to announce that for its spring grant cycle, 30 Michigan nonprofits would be the recipients of nearly $360,000 in major grant funds. The MHC received an astounding 51 applications – 31 more than the previous grant cycle – for review.

“We received an extraordinary number of very exciting, high-quality grant applications this spring and the Michigan Humanities Council has made the very bold decision to fund twice the number of grants we usually fund this time of year as a result,” said MHC Board Chair Timothy Chester in a press release. “This is more than double the amount of grant dollars we awarded in the fall cycle, but with such a large number of great projects on the table, we decided to get the funds out into the communities now, when the need is so great.”

The grants provide Michigan nonprofit organizations with the funds needed to host cultural programming in their communities through exhibits, lectures, writing program, literacy projects, festivals and more.

The latest round of grants was submitted partially through MHC’s new online granting system. To ensure a complete transition to online granting and to provide substantial time to update and re-align grant criteria with the new system, the MHC does not currently plan on offering a fall major grant cycle for 2012. However, stay posted through the MHC website, www.michiganhumanities.org for updates as we explore funding sources that would allow for additional granting opportunities in 2012.

Organization grantees are listed below by county:

Chippewa
Lake Superior State University - $2,930
Opening a Literary Dialogue in the Eastern Upper Peninsula

Emmet
Emmet County - $12,500
Dark Sky Discovery Trail at the Headlands International Dark Sky Park

Grand Traverse
Traverse City Area Public Schools - $14,500
Front Street Writers Program (FSW)

History Center of Traverse City - $14,746
Legends of the Grand Traverse Region: Community Out of Diversity

More Counties

Houghton
Michigan Tech Archives - $14,500
Turning Point in History: The 1913 Copper Miners’ Strike

Ingham
Michigan State University - $13,481
Hearing Voices: The Art and Application of Story and Storytelling

Michigan Historical Center, DNR - $14,500
Put it on Paper

Library of Michigan - $15,000
Michigan Notable Books Program

Kalamazoo
Western Michigan University - $10,000
A Colonial Militia Muster on the Eve of Revolution

Kent
Grand Valley State University - $14,500
Michigan Hometown Stories: Saugatuck / Douglas

Macomb
Edsel & Eleanor Ford House - $7,500
Fairy Tales at Ford House: A Grimm Celebration

Marquette
Marquette Regional History Center - $3,714
From One World to Another: The History of the Canoe

Muskegon
White Lake Community Library - $14,500
Exploring and Documenting the Community Impact of White Lake’s Environmental History

Presque Isle
Presque Isle District Library - $14,907
Calcite Centennial: A Century in Stone and the Centennial Landmark

Saginaw
Saginaw Valley State University - $12,500
Memories of World War II Exhibition (Marshall M. Frederick’s Sculpture Museum)

Friends of Theodore Roethke - $11,981
A Saginaw Celebration: The Life and Work of Theodore Roethke

St. Clair

Port Huron Area School District - $15,000
Michigan Great Lakes Shipwreck Film Project

Van Buren
Michigan Maritime Museum - $4,032
War on the Great Lakes! Exhibit Lecture Series

Washtenaw
Wild Swan Theater - $14,500
Shipwrecked!: A Michigan Maritime Adventures on the High Inland Seas

University Musical Society - $14,500
100 Years of Hill Auditorium: The Role of the Concert Hall in Community Life

Eastern Michigan University - $14,909
For the Love of this Place: Interpreting the Campbell-DeYoung Farmstead

Neutral Zone - $10,000
S.E.E.D. (Students Educating Each Other about Discrimination) Project

Fiction Writers Review - $14,980
The State of the Book: A Celebration of Michigan Writers and Writing

Kerrytown BookFest - $4,125
The Circle of the Book

Wayne
InsideOut Literary Arts Project - $14,500
Women Influence Words, II

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History - $14,500
Visions of the 44th – African American Voting Rights and Michigan’s Ballot

Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion - $8,500
We Don’t Want Them Exhibit (expanded)

John Glenn High School - $6,545
Wayne Westland WWII USO Dance

City of Wyandotte - $14,500
Wyandotte Museums Local History Gallery Exhibit Installation

Pewabic Society, Inc. - $8,500
Pewabic Pottery Fun Facts: Didactic Labels in our Historic Studio Building & Continuation of
Traveling Exhibit

For more information on the Michigan Humanities Council, its programs and granting opportunities, visit www.michiganhumanities.org.

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MHC Awards $350,850 in Grants to 30 Michigan Nonprofits