Connecticut Humanities Announces more than $24,500 In Grants to Support Nine Nonprofit Organizations

Middletown, Conn. — Connecticut Humanities has announced that nine nonprofit organizations will share more than $24,500 in grant money to support humanities-based programming.

Each month, Connecticut Humanities distributes money, allocated by the Connecticut General Assembly, through a competitive, merit-based application process. Connecticut Humanities’ May Quick Grants will support programs ranging from a timely exploration of the media’s relationship with the president and presidential candidates over the last century to a program focusing on the role of children during the Civil Rights Movement.

New London’s Lyman Allyn Art Museum will use a grant of $3,275 to host “Children of Change: Kids and Civil Rights,” a public program featuring two award-winning children's authors who have written about children in the Civil Rights movement. The July 23 event will include presentations by authors Elizabeth Partridge (Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary) and Kekla Magoon (X: A Novel), an interactive discussion and a free writing workshop for children ages 10 and up. The program is free for New London residents and museum members or $10 for the general public.

The Keeler Tavern Museum in Ridgefield will use a $3,500 grant to present “The Media and the American Presidency” on September 25. The timely program will provide historical context for today’s media coverage of presidents and would-be presidents. Drawing on research from his 2016 book, Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency, Dr. David Greenberg discuss how and why presidents' relationships with and use of the mass media has evolved over the past 100 years. Tickets for the program at the Keeler Tavern Museum are $25 for general admission, $20 for members and $15 for students.

The Cheshire Historical Society will use an $800 grant to mark the 150th anniversary of the town's Civil War Monument -- one of the oldest in the nation. Throughout the day on July 9, guests will be able to interact with Company F, Fourteenth CT Volunteer Infantry re-enactors through an encampment, drills, and discussions. They’ll also hear from President Abraham Lincoln, as portrayed by Howard White, who will read the Gettysburg Address. The event is free and open to the general public.

A grant of $3,619 will allow the New Britain Museum of American Art to host author and oral historian Michael Takiff on August 7 from 3:30-5pm. Takiff, the author of Brave Men, Gentle Heroes: American Fathers and Sons in WWII and Vietnam, will explore the side-by-side accounts of two generations of warriors, fathers and sons, and compare and contrast the similarities and differences of their war experiences. The talk, which explores themes of combat, service, country and family, will complement the NBMAA's exhibitions: “Eric Aho: An Unfinished Point in a Vast Surrounding and Masterpieces of the Low Illustration Collection.” The lecture is free with museum admission.

This summer, the Stamford Historical Society will move its 1699 Hoyt Barnum House to a different location in town. The historical society will use a $4,999 grant from Connecticut Humanities to record this important milestone in the organization’s history by videotaping the move and incorporating the footage into a short video exhibit about the house and its more than 300-year history. The video, which will premiere on October 23, will be available on the organization’s website and featured in an introductory exhibit room at the house when it reopens at its new location in the spring of 2017.

Waterbury’s Mattatuck Museum will use a $4,279 grant to present “Edwin Moore: Out of the Shadow.” The exhibition, on display from July 30-August 28, includes dozens of works featuring a mix of paintings and works on paper, photographs, drawings, and family diaries and papers from the Connecticut artist. Admission is $7 adults, $6 seniors and students, and free for museum members and children under 16.

On Saturday, June 25, The Children's Museum in West Hartford will celebrate their iconic mascot Conny the Whale’s 40th birthday. A $2,006 grant from Connecticut Humanities will support a full day of activities, including two classes for children led by educators from the Mystic Seaport, sea shanties sung by local songwriter and cetacean expert Don Sineti and a performance by local bluegrass and folk band, the CT River Ramblers. Free with museum admission.

The Windham Textile & History Museum will use a $764 grant to host two musical history programs at their Mill Museum to accompany an exhibit based on Irish migration and Irish people working in textile mills in Connecticut. In July, the Quiet Corner Fiddlers will play traditional Irish music, with historical commentary about the importance of music as cultural expression. In September, The Band of Steady Habits, led by State Historian Walter Woodward, will present a program about the Irish immigrant experience interspersed with musical performances.

This summer, the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Historical Society will use a $1,297 grant from Connecticut Humanities to update its permanent exhibit in the museum's tobacco shed and make the experience a self-guided one. The exhibit looks at the history of tobacco farming in the Connecticut Valley, including the growing, harvesting, and processing of cigar tobacco as well as the social, cultural, and environmental shifts of the industry. The grand opening of the new exhibit is planned for early fall 2016.

Editor’s note: Funding for these grants is provided by money allocated to Connecticut Humanities in the state budget. This funding has been eliminated for the upcoming 2016-17 fiscal year, resulting in the suspension of the Connecticut Humanities Fund granting program effective July 1, 2016. For additional details, please visit cthumanities.org.