(Trenton, NJ) – The New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH) recently awarded $60,678 in Incubation Grant funding to thirteen organizations. Incubation Grants help organizations plan, research, develop, and prototype public humanities projects and events. From investigating potential components of a new program to learning more about audiences, NJCH funding supports projects in early stages of development.
Public humanities programming allows individuals to engage in lifelong learning and share in the exploration of history, values, cultures, and beliefs. NJCH supports and acts as a resource for cultural and service-oriented nonprofit partners as they bring the public humanities to the residents of New Jersey, harnessing the power of the humanities to strengthen communities.
Grants were awarded to:
- 6th Regiment US Colored Troops, Trenton ($5,000) to conduct the architectural and programmatic planning and design for the Locust Hill African Cemetery and Interpretive Center.
- Bayshore Center at Bivalve, Port Norris ($5,000) to create an action plan for a video and book about the demographic shift of oyster shuckers in the Delaware Bay oyster industry.
- Free Public Library of Audubon, Audubon ($1,500) to develop a Teen Advisory Board consisting of adolescents in the 7th to 12th grades to determine how to better engage that student population.
- Historical Society of Hamilton Township, Hamilton ($5,000) to develop an annotated bibliography of best practices for working with diverse audiences and host a series of focus groups with these target audiences.
- Ironbound Community Corporation, Newark ($5,000) to convene scholars, archivists, witnesses to the history, community and staff members to develop a plan for the creation of a digital and physical archive for the city of Newark.
- Piscataway Public Library, Piscataway ($5,000) to conceptualize and develop their local history collection in a manner that is reflective and inclusive of the diverse community the library serves.
- Seabrook Education and Cultural Center, Bridgeton ($5,000) to rewrite the Seabrook Farms narrative as a first step in redesigning the museum.
- Tuckerton Seaport and Baymen’s Museum, Tuckerton ($5,000) to enhance and expand the curriculum of their “Floating Classroom” tour along Tuckerton Creek that illuminates the art, history, and environment of Barnegat Bay and the Pinelands.
- The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick ($5,000) to continue their work on a memorial to nearly 200 New Jersey people who were illegally sent into slavery in the South in 1818 and an educational program about the slave ring for schools.
- Vietnamese Boat People, Montclair ($4,850) to develop materials that will help members of the Vietnamese diaspora – and their family, friends, and neighbors – to collect and preserve stories of the Vietnamese-American community in New Jersey.
- Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit ($4,338) to research and develop humanities programs to expand the public’s understanding of the contemporary world of NJ/NY’s Native American communities in connection with its fall 2020 exhibition of Native American women artists.
- William Trent House Association, Trenton ($5,000) to reach and engage teenagers and young adults with historical content through digital media, drawing upon experiences in other historic sites and engaging youth in pilot design and feedback.
- Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center, Montclair ($5,000) to support testing and refinement of a middle and high school field trip curriculum that connects the history of the Negro Leagues to contemporary issues of racial equity and social justice.
“There is very little funding available for experimentation, and yet sometimes what cultural institutions and other nonprofits need most is the ability to explore high stakes questions to which the answers are unknown,” said Executive Director Carin Berkowitz, Ph.D. “That is why our Incubation Grant exists; it has the capacity to launch transformational projects whose outcomes cannot be known beforehand but whose results are incredibly impactful in their communities and in the public humanities more broadly.”
As a humanities-focused nonprofit re-granting organization, NJCH awards Incubation Grants to experiment, research, prototype, and consider new models and topics for public humanities programs. As of August 2019, both Incubation and Action Grant funding can range from $2,000 to $20,000. Organizations interested in learning more about NJCH’s grant program should visit the website at http://njhumanities.org/grants/grants-overview/.
To download a PDF of this release, click here.
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About the New Jersey Council for the Humanities
The New Jersey Council for the Humanities is a nonprofit state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. NJCH harnesses the power of the humanities to strengthen our pluralistic society. We envision a New Jersey that delights in diversity, appreciates that there are no easy answers, and finds joy and understanding in the humanities. We work statewide with cultural and community organizations to bring dynamic programming to the local level.
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