Illinois Humanities Awards 21 New Grants Across the State

This fall, Illinois Humanities awarded 21 grants across three funding categories, Multiplier, Action, and Activate History Microgrants. Grants will support a diverse group of organizations and individuals from literacy and community language programs to documentary projects and historians across the state.

Through the Grants program Vision, Action, and Multiplier grants have been made three times annually to support public humanities projects that strengthen community resilience by bringing people together for inquiry and conversation, engaging new audiences, and exploring more interactive programming techniques, such as digital humanities tools.

The latest funding cycle includes 13 grants, totaling $58,400, to support public humanities projects across the state. Among the projects funded is “Exhibit B” from the Guild Literary Complex, a grassroots literary arts organization that creates performance-based events in and around Chicagoland centering on social and restorative justice issues and providing arts and advocacy programming for marginalized voices. Each “Exhibit B” event will bring together a handful of artists to present their work, give a performance, and engage in discussions that connect to the current moment.

“One of the goals of the Guild has always been to support new, up-and-coming artists,” says the Guild’s Executive Director Andrea Change. 

“This series was planned as live programming but because of the pandemic lockdown, launched virtually. Almost immediately, the program became one incorporating film, visual art, and music, along with poetry and prose work. The pandemic and current economic climate have impacted nonprofits like the Guild due to inflation and increased production and venue costs. Support from Illinois Humanities helps us significantly in covering these additional costs.”

MEET THE GRANTEES

Of the 13 projects, seven feature activity in Chicago, three in Chicago suburbs, and three outside the Chicago area. They include:

• Chicago Poetry Center: Critical Conversations Continuing Practice – Chicago (Action Grant)
• Chicago Video Project: “Shame of Chicago” documentary – Evanston (Multiplier Grant)
• Evanston Public Library: Grow, Share, Belong: Art & Reading for Adults – Evanston (Action Grant)
• Fourth Wall Films: “The Last to Fall from Hero Street” documentary – Moline (Action Grant)
• Gilloury Institute DBA Silk Road Rising: Black Teens Lives Matter Discussion Circles – Chicago (Action Grant)
• Guild Literary Complex: Exhibit B – Chicago (Action Grant)
• International Documentary Association: “Teaching About Religion” documentary – Los Angeles (Action Grant)
• MAKE Literary Productions: “2022 Lit & Luz Festival” – Chicago (Action Grant)
• People Matter: Community Language Program – Chicago (Action Grant)
• Red Line Service: Monthly Lunch & Learn – Chicago (Action Grant)
• Serendipity Theatre Company DBA 2nd Story: Every Story Matters: A partnership with the Illinois Prison Project – Chicago (Action Grant)
• Springfield Art Association: “Our Footprints, Our Stories” – Springfield (Multiplier Grant)
• Waukegan Arts Council: Media is Magic – Waukegan (Action Grant)

Now in its sixth grant cycle, Activate History Microgrants of $500 allow groups and individuals with important and diverse local archives or collections to host creative exhibits that engage audiences with their content. Microgrants are accessible to amateur local historians and take a decidedly wide approach to defining what an archive might consist of.

MEET THE GRANTEES

Of the eight projects, two are in Cook County and six are based throughout Illinois.

• City of Atlanta: “Wooden Grain Elevators and Their Legacy – A Case Study” – Logan County
• Forest Preserve Friends Foundation: “A History of Healing Virtual Speaker Series” – Champaign County
• Fourtunehouse Creative Company: “Activate History at Fourtunehouse Art Center” – Cook County
• Geneseo Public Library: “The Underground Railroad” – Henry County
• History on Wheels: “From Slavery to Soldier / 29th USCT” – Will County
• Sesser Public Library: “Sesser Valier History Project” – Franklin County
• Springdale Historic Preservation Foundation: “Honoring Notables of Springdale Cemetery” – Peoria County
• Village of Berkeley: “Berkeley Centennial” – Cook County