Oregon Humanities Grants support public programs designed to explore the humanities in participatory and dynamic ways. We encourage applications from a broad range of nonprofit organizations in Oregon, including those that may not define their work as being based in the humanities. We especially welcome inquiries for projects that will attract diverse audiences, engage minds, and stimulate meaningful community dialogue.
Grant Guidelines
In 2012, Oregon Humanities Public Program Grants funded programs that brought together returning veterans and civilians to better understand life after war, engaged rural Oregonians in discussions about the history of local social movements, explored the connections between classic Greek mythology and gang violence in today’s society, and sent Oregon Book Award finalists and winners to read at libraries and community centers across the state.
In the last year, Responsive Program Grant recipients led public programs about cultural diversity in Portland, political conflict in North Korea, shifting downtown development challenges, and the effect of a decade of war on American soldiers’ families and homes. Grant-funded programs ranged from community conversations to educational conferences to classes open to the general public.
Grantees include libraries, community colleges, historical societies, civic groups, and other nonprofits working not only in humanities fields like history, philosophy, or literature, but also in the areas of the arts, public policy, and natural resources. While the formats and topics of the public programs we fund may vary, all share a goal of connect Oregonians to ideas and providing them with opportunities to learn about and discuss historical, cultural, and political issues.
Oregon Humanities is pleased to announce the guidelines for 2013 Public Program Grants. Oregon Humanities believes the humanities help build healthy communities where citizens think, learn, and talk together about important ideas. Our grants support humanities-based programs that are open to the general public and that help to create informed, engaged communities in Oregon. We are particularly interested in public programs that bring together diverse groups of Oregonians and reflect collaboration between organizations within a community.
Public Program Grants
Once a year, Oregon Humanities’ volunteer board of directors awards Public Program Grants between $1,000 and $10,000 to nonprofit organizations across Oregon’s thirty-six counties to support programs that make use of one or more of the disciplines of the humanities to connect Oregonians with timely and relevant ideas and insights that shape our daily lives. Oregon Humanities welcomes proposals for programs that use the humanities in the public sphere to meet our core mission of connecting Oregonians to ideas that change lives and transform communities. Programs must begin after April 1, 2013. Letters of Interest must be postmarked by October 31, 2012. Please do not include the 2013 Public Program Grants Cover Sheet with your letter of interest; the cover sheet is only required when submitting a full proposal. Sample successful proposals are available for download below.
Please download and review Oregon Humanities Grants Guidelines for more information. These documents also include applications. If you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer, you may fill out and submit them electronically via e-mail.
If you have questions, please contact Director of Programs Jennifer Allen at (503) 241-0543 or (800) 735-0543, ext. 118, or by e-mail..
Responsive Program Grants
As of November 2012, Oregon Humanities no longer awards Responsive Program Grants.
Downloads
03 September 2009 | Permalink |
Public Program Grants
A Conversation Between the Lens and the Stage: Interactive Public Events with Jim Lommasson and Andrea Stolowitz
Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland
$2,000
In conjunction with the company’s production of Ithaka and to engage its community in examining the issues facing veterans, Artists Repertory Theatre will exhibit a photography installation by Jim Lommasson, using media and quotes from his interviews with veterans. Artists Rep will present multidisciplinary, interactive events with Lommasson and playwright Andrea Stolowitz, consisting of a ninety-minute presentation/discussion focusing on Stolowitz’s and Lommasson’s extensive interviews with veterans, and a curated tour of the installation guided by Lommasson.
The Geography of We
Caldera, Portland
$2,000
Caldera will facilitate community conversations on the issues of race, identity, and place amid rapidly changing demographics in traditionally African American neighborhoods in North and Northeast Portland and in increasingly African American neighborhoods in East Portland and Gresham. These conversations will stem from the artwork created in response to the Portland Art Museum’s major retrospective of the art of Carrie Mae Weems, who grew up in North Portland, by seventy-five youth from these underrepresented neighborhoods. Caldera will present students’ work at three free public events at the NW Film Center, the White Stag Building, and the Wieden+Kennedy Building.
Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholars Program of Central Oregon Community College
Central Oregon Community College Foundation, Bend
$4,095
Central Oregon Community College will present three lectures by visiting scholars on the subject of fostering a greater appreciation for the depth, richness, and diversity of the Muslim experience. These speakers will be part of a greater community collaboration that includes film screenings and book readings, each with discussion groups. A fourth speaker will challenge participants to consider how current culture and politics shape end-of-life care and to imagine better possibilities. The lecture coincides with a larger initiative in the community to change palliative care in Bend.
Chautauqua Poets and Writers
Chautauqua Poets & Writers, Ashland
$5,000
Chautauqua Poets & Writers hosts two of the country’s most respected writers—novelist Francine Prose on April 19 and a soon-to-be-confirmed poet in October—for five events each that focus on themes in their writings and generate conversations about the power and importance language and literature play in the lives of Rogue Valley residents. Public readings include a Q & A with the audience and a live radio broadcast with listener exchange.
2013 Spring Humanities Series: Retrospective
Columbia Gorge Community College, The Dalles
$2,500
Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the 2013 Spring Humanities Series: Retrospective looks back, inviting some of favorite speakers from the past decade to return and update audiences on their lives, work, and perspectives. To ask, “What change or progress related to your Series’ theme has occurred since we last met?” in four public lectures, Columbia Gorge Community College revisits past thematic discussions that are still relevant today: cultural understanding and acceptance, social justice, and active, open communication. The Series endeavors to help build understanding and balance within The Dalles community.
Sharing the Legends of the Oregon Caves
Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau, Grants Pass
$6,000
Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau will gather stories and insights from the visionary individuals who developed he Oregon Caves National Monument (OCNM) and the Oregon Caves Chateau, and create a community dialogue on the many transformations that have taken place at the site. The Friends will host programs at the OCNM, in Southern Oregon communities, and in Portland, and create an online exhibit.
A Novel Idea ... Read Together
Deschutes Public Library, Bend
$5,000
Deschutes Public Library‘s annual “A Novel Idea” program encourages Bend residents read, discuss, and discover one book together. The themes of the selected book are explored through twenty-five cultural programs and two author presentations. These programs are free and fully accessible for all ages. “A Novel Idea” brings more than six thousand community members together and connects them through the sharing of ideas, while highlighting the importance of literature in our lives. This year’s program will have residents read The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.
Social Change: Dialogues in Portland's Changing Neighborhoods
Know Your City, Portland
$4,625
Know Your City will hold a series of free neighborhood-based presentations to examine Portland’s urban development, in late spring to early summer of 2013. Presentations will focus on and be held in the Cully, Madison South, and Parkrose neighborhoods in Northeast and outer Southeast Portland. The aim of the series is to address and make accessible the Portland Plan, the city’s twenty-five-year strategic plan.
Dance for a Dollar: Across Borders
Miracle Theatre Group, Portland
$3,400
In May 2013, Miracle Theatre Group will produce the world premiere of Dance for a Dollar by Daniel Jáquez and Mariana Carreño King, a unique dance/theater piece about a night club in Queens, New York, run by immigrants for (mostly) immigrants. Dance for a Dollar: Across Borders will be a series of free post-play conversations with audiences, scholars, and local experts that will illuminate the immigrant experience from the immigrant perspective, explore how arts and culture can positively affect those experiences, and examine the genre-crossing fusion of dance and theater that frames this production.
A Century of Oregon History: Exploring the Untold History of Portland from One Hundred, Fifty, and Twenty-Five Years Ago
Oregon Council of Teachers of English, Portland
$2,500
Oregon Council of Teachers of English will explore historical events and issues that Oregonians struggle with today, including racial discrimination, political corruption, and gay rights, through programs presented by humanities experts. A panel of community experts will help guide discussions with audience members and provide feedback on the issues examined in the programs. The programs help audience members understand past events and how we might approach these issues in the future.
Dis/representation: Reading into Disability
Oregon Cultural Access, Portland
$6,400
A monthly reading group, online discussion blog and disability literature roundtable, presented by Oregon Cultural Access, will use past and contemporary literature to identify and grapple with the cultural and historical context in which disability is defined and how diverse disability identities and cultures develop. The conversations will also address disability as a concept and the voices of disabled people.
Oregon Black History Series Public Conversation Project
Oregon Historical Society, Portland
$5,000
Oregon Historical Society will present four public conversations about black history in Oregon, facilitated by historians and scholars and held in Portland, Eugene, and Salem. These conversations will foster greater understanding and discussion about the often-complicated history of African Americans in Oregon, and about issues and challenges that continue to this day.
Settling In
Oregon Jewish Museum, Portland
$5,000
An expansive exhibit and oral history project at Oregon Jewish Museum, created in partnership with the Immigration Refugee Community Organization in Southeast Portland, that reflects on the role that immigration plays in creating and refashioning cultural and regional identities. Settling In contrasts the Russian Jewish experience in Americanizing through the Neighborhood House, founded in Portland in 1905, with the much more complex experience of acculturation by current immigrant populations. Settling In stimulates dialogue between past and present tales of immigration, focusing on shared issues of movement, resettlement, and the human experience.
2013-14 Humanities Events: The Left Hand of Darkness and The Ashes
Portland Playhouse, Portland
$5,000
Portland Playhouse will present humanities events, intended to stimulate meaningful dialogue about salient issues, to complement the company’s productions The Left Hand of Darkness (May 2013) and The Ashes.
A Day in the Life: Memoirs from the Middle East Book Club
Portland State University and Multnomah County Library, Portland
$7,200
The Portland State University Middle East Studies Center, in partnership with with Multnomah County Library, the Portland Center for Public Humanities, and the PSU English Department, will host a book club that aims to dispel common stereotypes of people of the Middle East by exploring literature from the region.
Celtic Culture Festival
South Coast Folk Society/Coastal Celtic Society, Coos Bay
$1,000
South Coast Folk Society’s Celtic Culture Festival will present a series of six to eight workshops on Celtic cultural and historical subjects such as the historical and evolving use of Welsh love spoons and community organizing in Belfast during The Troubles in the 1970s.
Sinners and Saints: Indelicate Stories of Emigrants in the West
Trail Tenders, Baker City
$3,650
Trail Tenders will present a self-guided exhibit that explores concepts of diversity and tolerance in the context of western emigration and settlement. Stories drawn from first-person accounts will highlight the morals and values of pioneers, early settlers, and Native Americans. Related programs will be presented by paid and volunteer interpreters in the adjacent theater.
Humanity Walking
United Way of Jackson County, Medford
$7,500
United Way of Jackson County will offer a series of six cultural events and companion walks that explore the place of walking in culture. Each walk/lecture invites participants into a “moving conversation,” involving both literal movement and capacity to move participants intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. The program will initiate conversations about public space, education, faith, immigration, returning veterans, recovery from addiction, and community building.
Mexico Looks at the Braceros: The Migrant Labor Experience in Mexican Film
Washington County Museum, Hillsboro
$6,000
The Washington Couny Museum seeks to bring a Mexican perspective to the “guestworker” Bracero Program (1943-64) by looking at depictions of Mexican migrants in popular 1940s and 50s Mexican films. With multiple screenings, audience discussions, talks by humanities experts, history presentations, and other activities, this program will educate the community about major cultural icons of twentieth-century Mexico while promoting understanding of the Bracero Program’s effect on Mexico and of Mexican and US societies’ different views of a shared history.
Into the Wallowa Summer Outings and Evening Lectures
Wallowa Land Trust, Joseph
$4,000
Wallowa Land Trust’s Into The Wallowa Summer Outings and Evening Lectures comprise at least five half-day outings and two lectures during the summer of 2013. All events are free and open to the public and led by local humanities and natural history experts with the goal of introducing participants to Wallowa County’s significant landscapes, highlighting the area’s rural culture, farming and ranching, and Nez Perce history.
