Carousel Museum one of CT Humanities grant awardees for lecture series

Posted By: David Fortier September 12, 2024

A local museum is among the latest grant recipients of the CT Humanities for civics, ecology and cultural humanities project, the organization announced in a release earlier this week.

The New England Carousel Museum received $4,481) for a lecture series that will feature authors historians and experts, telling inclusive stories of immigrants and how they carved their place in American culture. The series, beginning in this fall, will unfold over 12 months.

Thirteen nonprofits and institutions of higher education received a total of $44,920 in project grants. The grants covered lectures and exhibits on civics and democracy as well as oral history, poetry, art and activism and under-told narratives from Connecticut’s indigenous, African American and Puerto Rican communities.

“Overall, this was an extremely competitive grant deadline as we received 35 applications requesting over $153,000,” Scott Wands, CT Humanities deputy director of grants and programs, said in the release announcing the awards.

Among those receiving awards are the following:

Central Connecticut State University, $4,999, for a poetry project by its Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Center in collaboration with community partners in New Britain, Meriden, and Wallingford, to host a community reads project around the Library of America’s new Latino poetry anthology, “Places We Call Home,” from October 2024 to April 2025

Connecticut Democracy Center, $4,232, for the seventh consecutive Hartford History Lecture Series, “New Histories of Hartford,” bringing neglected or forgotten histories of Hartford, to the Old State House Thursdays in October, from 5:45 to 7 p.m. A walking tour meets at Center Church, on Oct.12, at 10 a.m.
 
The Connecticut Forum, $4,220, for a public discussion, “Reflections on a Complex Connecticut,” featuring Andrew Horowitz, state historian; Christopher Newell, tribal community member-in-residence at UConn and director of the Akomawt Education Initiative; Fiona Vernal, associate professor of history at UConn; and Akeia de Barros Gomes, senior curator at Mystic Museum, at the Hartford Public Library Main Branch on Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
 
Everyday Democracy, $1,000, for two immersive Dinner + Dialogue programs hosted by Everyday Democracy and the Westport Museum for History and Culture, at the Museum, exploring the links between local food, historical harms and contemporary culture, in November 2024 and February 2025.
 
Fairfield Museum and History Center, $4,925), for “Building an American Voice, an exhibition featuring objects and original documents highlighting how freedom of assembly, speech, petition and voting helped achieve key victories in civil rights, at the Fairfield Museum, from Sept. 13, this year, to Feb. 28, 2025.
 
Florence Griswold Museum, $4,999, to support a collaboration of members of Connecticut’s five recognized tribes for “Giving Voice to Indigenous Perspectives in Connecticut – A Series of Educational Programs at the FloGris Museum,” as part of a juried exhibition of original Native American art and culture to be on view at the FloGris Museum, “Native Prospects: Indigeneity and Landscape,” from Nov. 6, 2024, through Feb. 9, 2025.
 
Friends of the Office of State Archaeology, $2,000, for the Council for Northeastern Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, in New Haven, Oct. 17-20, marking the first time in 40 years that the conference will be hosted in Connecticut.
 
Long Wharf Theatre, $1,500, for the Long Wharf Theatre’s Artistic Congress, a weekend of panel discussions about the intersections of art and activism, to take place at various location in New Haven, from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27.
 
National Puerto Rican Diaspora Museum, $4,950, for “Diasporican: From Dispersion to Integration,” an exhibit covering the diverse Puerto Rican identities within the diaspora and document diasporic experiences related to Puerto Rico, at Eastern Connecticut State University Art Gallery, from Oct. 24, 2024 through Feb. 13, 2025.
 
Portland Historical Society, $2,300, for “Voices of Portland,” an Oral History series focused on the stories of Black Americans living and working in Portland, including four podcast episodes recorded in fall 2024, and spring 2025, and a live panel presentation in February 2025 for Black History Month which will include a “memory recording booth.”
 
The Salisbury Forum, $2,314, for “Exploring the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Three Local High Schools,” on how AI has been adapted in the curricula, on Sept. 27.
 
Southern Connecticut State University Foundation, $3,000, for “Parks, Pedagogy, and Policy: Ecology as Catalyst for Public Good in the Career of Stephen Collins,” taking place in mid-April 2025, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of West Rock Ridge State Park and honor one of its founders.
 
For information on Quick Grants eligibility and application due dates, visit cthumanities.org/grants/quick-grants

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