Illinois Humanities Awards Over $80,000 in Grants to 14 Organizations

Illinois Humanities is honored to award $82,250 in grants to fourteen organizations across nine counties in Illinois. 

Nine organizations received Action and Vision Grants for their humanities-driven projects and programs. These grants reward initiatives that reach beyond conventional boundaries and redefine what the public humanities can achieve. This funding also champions the vital research and evaluation required to serve organizations’ communities with equity and intention. 

Our latest grantee partners demonstrate a firm commitment to uplifting and deepening connections with their communities of educators, urban farmers, caretakers, and more.

Multiple organizations in this cohort utilize film to share stories and educate audiences on issues like health disparities for older adults, representation of Black artists throughout the history of classical music, and Illinois’ role in the Underground Railroad. Others seek to uncover stories of under-documented towns, neighborhoods, and populations in Illinois.

Meet the Grantees

• D-Composed* (Chicago) for “A Celebration of Black Composers,” a live classical music performance devoted to the works of Black film composers. ($4,000)  
• Dream Seeding, Inc* (Caseyville) for “The Mama Joe Project,” a film screening series addressing culturally mindful healthcare and wellness issues relating to aging and memory care. ($4,000) 
• Governors State University* (University Park) for “Southland History Collective,” which researches and archives under-represented histories in the Chicago-area south lands. ($4,000) 
• Madison County Historical Society** (Edwardsville) for “Family History Walk,” a history reenactment tour through the Leclaire National Historic District. ($2,700) 
• Paramount Arts Centre** (Aurora) for “Hispanic Heritage Training,” an internal inclusivity training workshop. ($2,100) 
• Peoria Historical Society* (Peoria) for “Memories of Monson, Memories of Globe,” a traveling exhibition on the history of Southtown, a vanished Black neighborhood. ($4,100)  
• Raices Chicago Story Coalition** (Chicago) for “Voices of Resilience,” a creative initiative honoring the stories of Latinas’ postpartum journeys. ($2,000) 
• Ten Thirty-One Pictures Foundation* (Metamora) for “The Underground Railroad in Metamora,” a documentary film. ($4,250) 
• Umuwi Ethnic Studies* (Chicago) for “Building Home Places for Ethnic Studies,” which protects and sustains teaching and teachers of Ethnic Studies in Chicago Public Schools. ($4,250) 

(Action Grantees denoted by * | Vision Grantees denoted by **) 

Multiplier Grants fund large-scale projects rooted in collaboration with partner organizations, like-minded institutions, or directly with community members themselves. These ambitious projects—ranging from capturing cultural storytelling to building statewide networks of museums—will ultimately produce archives, publications, and training materials accessible to their communities and the public. 

Meet the Grantees

• Public Media Institute (Chicago) for “Exodo,” a Spanish-language media and culture project documenting oral histories of new arrivals seeking refuge in Chicago, for publication in Contratiempo Magazine ($10,250) 
• Illinois Association of Museums (Chicago; Statewide) for “Assessing Impact of Museums in Illinois,” to conduct a comprehensive survey of 1,000+ statewide museums. ($10,000)  
• Community Food Navigator (Chicago) for “Resource Story Guides,” to document and share stories from individuals and organizations in the urban growing community dedicated to food justice. ($10,100) 
• South Asia Institute (Chicago) for “Ghar Sweet Home,” a series of community story circle workshops exploring the South Asian immigrant experience in Chicago, in partnership with artists Tazeen Qayyum and Jitesh Gaggi. ($10,250) 
• University of Illinois Springfield History Department (Springfield) for “Journeys to Justice: Reckoning with Illinois History,” to launch a statewide network, platform, and collaborative programming on the history of anti-Black violence in Illinois. ($10,250)