Idaho Humanities Council Awards $57,102 in Grants in Fall 2022 Major Grant Round
Nov. 18, 2022: The Idaho Humanities Council (IHC) recently awarded $57, 102 in grants to organizations and individuals. Twenty-three awards include thirteen major grants for public humanities programs, two Research Fellowships, four Opportunity Grants, and four Teacher Incentive grants. The grants were supported in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Idaho Humanities Council’s Endowment for Humanities Education.
Major Grants:($43,332)
College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls, was awarded $1,000 to support the fifth year of History at the Barn. Events include dinners at the historic Mountain View Barn in Jerome, presentations by a humanities scholar, and conversations with those in attendance. The Project Director is Russ Tremayne.
Museum of Idaho, Idaho Falls, was awarded $5,719 to purchase an archeological-grade steel cabinet and several steel shelves. The additional cabinet and shelves will be used to house the overflow of the historically significant Wasden Archeological collection that is presently being processed and rehoused by the Museum of Idaho (MOI). The Project Director is Kristina Fransden.
Ada Community Library, Boise, was awarded $4,000 to support Treasure Valley Reads. The selected book for the upcoming program is Khabaar by Madhushree Ghosh. The program will explore immigrant and refugee journeys, identities, and culinary traditions. The Project Director is Molly Nota.
Latah County Historical Society, Moscow, was awarded $1,500 to obtain and preserve objects, photos, oral histories, and documents related to the queer history of Latah County. Additionally, LCHS is currently planning to offer two free, public programs hosted at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in Moscow. One will be a screening of the 2005 documentary, Bachelor Farmer, while the other is a lecture on the history of hate groups in Idaho. Both are tentatively slated for March or April 2023. The Project Director is Hayley Noble.
Sawtooth Interpretive & Historical Association, Stanley, was awarded $5,550 to develop and install panels to more accurately tell the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ history with the land, including cultural uses & the attachment to the land. In working with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' Language and Cultural Preservation Department (LCPD), the Stanley Museum will have panels on the general tribal lifeways and history, including the Sheepeater resistance of 1879. The Redfish Visitor Center will have panels on the Tribe's historic use of, and connection to, salmon and their work over the last several decades in sockeye salmon conservation and recovery efforts. The Project Director is Lin Gray.
Boise Art Museum, Boise, was awarded $5,000 to bring in an exhibit of Jean LaMarr. Her work focuses on American history, Indigenous perspectives, and racist stereotypes of Indigenous peoples. Jean LaMarr will also be presenting at the Boise Art Museum. The Project Director is Melanie Fales.
The Cabin, Boise, was awarded $2,000 to support their Readings & Conversations lecture series. Each year, their reading, lecture, and discussion series brings five high-profile authors to the Morrison Center and the historic Egyptian Theatre to share their work, personal stories, and commentary on current events and culture. Featured authors include:
Rez Aslan & Rainn Wilson: November 9, 2022 Amor Towles: February 7, 2023
Joy Harjo: March 9, 2023
Ruth Ozeki: April 14, 2023
Patrick Radden Keefe: May 15, 2023
The Project Director is Kurt Zwolfer.
The Salvation Army Boise, Boise, was awarded $3,500 to continue The Cabin’s “Writers in the School” program for 75 young parents (ages 15-21) enrolled in the Booth Program and attending Cardinal Academy during three school years. The Cabin’s Writers in the Schools program places professional writing teachers in classrooms to lead weekly creative writing lessons over the course of a residency. Students will have the opportunity to have their work published in the Cabin's publication, Cambia. The Project Director is Major Thomas Stambaugh.
The Cabin, Boise, was awarded $2,500 for the Ghosts & Projectors series, which is a reading series that pairs emerging, innovative, and experimental writers with writers from the Treasure Valley. Since its founding in 2011, Ghosts & Projectors has welcomed poets such as Eileen Myles, Kate Greenstreet, CA Conrad, Cathy Park Hong, and Bhanu Kapil to Boise and has challenged and amused audiences with events like the Poetry Speakeasy, a Bad Poetry Reading, and Belated Book Launch. The Project Director is Kurt Zwolfer.
Caldwell Fine Arts Series, Caldwell, was awarded $3,000 to bring living history actor Randy Otto to Caldwell to invite audiences to experience one night on a London rooftop with Winston Churchill during The Blitz. The Project Director is Alison Moulton.
City Club of Boise, Boise, was awarded $4,563 to support the 2023 year of the Forum Series program. Forums are also broadcast to radio listeners through a partnership with Boise State Public Radio. City Club of Boise is planning to explore the histories of nonwhite people in Idaho and the impacts of infrastructure. The Project Director is Neva Geisler.
Death Rattle Writers Festival, Nampa, was awarded $2,500 to assist Death Rattle's yearly programming for the 2023 year. Programs include the bi-annual publication of Oroboro, The Spill, quarterly educational workshops for adults and children, and multiple live readings with nationally recognized keynote poets alongside established and emerging local artists. The Project Director is Diana Forgione.
Lewis-Clark State College Native American Club, Lewiston, was awarded $2,500 to support Lewis-Clark State College's Native American Awareness Week. LCSC is planning to bring Nez Perce Tribal Elder and Retired National Park Service interpreter, Otis Halfmoon, to present on Sharing Tribal Perspectives of the Nez Perce War of 1877 & Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail with a special emphasis on the importance of participating in and presenting tribal voices in the retelling of history. The Project Director is Bob Sobotta.
Research Fellowships ($7,000)
Jonathan Fardy was awarded $3,500 to support research for a book on Arte Povera by situating it within the profound political shifts and crises that marked Italy in the 1960s and 1970s in Italy. The project aims to resituate the history of aesthetics and politics in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s within the context of the politics of decommodification, which once again is on the political and aesthetic agenda.
Sarah Robey was awarded $3,500 to fund research and travel for an upcoming book project titled Nuclear Idaho. The project will explore the establishment of Idaho National Laboratory in 1949, and argue that it fundamentally altered the course of Idaho’s history. Nuclear Idaho will explore how various communities in eastern Idaho understood the significance of INL: a legacy of scientific achievement, local prosperity, and national prestige, alongside concerns about risk, secrecy, and human and environmental costs.
Opportunity Grants ($3,495)
Appaloosa Museum, Moscow, was awarded $1,000 for an event to explore the history and meaning behind barn quilts, and their importance to American folk culture. The project includes a hands-on activity with making the barn quilts, and a showcase of the barn quilts afterward. The Project Director is Crystal White.
White Spring Ranch Museum/Archive Library, Genesee, was awarded $500 to support their Pioneer Interpretive Day. This Event includes a wide variety of activities showing what life was like during the pioneer time period in US History. Activities include a reading in the Historical Farmhouse which explains the use of the early artifacts and a Nez Perce Historical Park Museum exhibition of Native American stories and a Tipi demonstration. The Project Director is Diane Conroy.
Alturas Institute, Idaho Falls, was awarded $1,000 for its annual event, Conversations with Exceptional Women, a two-day conference held in the Sun Valley, Idaho area, that features live interviews with exceptional women from across the country. The Project Director is David Adler.
Boundary County Historical Society, Bonners Ferry, was awarded $995 to bring Gary Eller to North Idaho to Bonners Ferry, Potlatch, Hayden, Harrison, and Orofino for a series of programs focused on folk music in Northern Idaho. The Project Director is Gary Eller.
Teacher Incentive Grants ($3,275)
McCall Arts & Humanities Council, McCall, was awarded $1,000 to help bring Guest Director Missouri Smyth to direct Disney's Moana Jr. Missouri, born and raised in New Zealand to immigrant parents from the South Pacific, helped lead a musical theater summer camp for children focused on Moana. The camp included cultural & educational components. The Project Director is Dawn Kolden.
Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology, Boise, was awarded $300 to support a family-friendly event focused on geology. The event included a guided 30-minute geology hike, hands-on activities, and interaction with the various exhibits the museum offers. The Project Director is Shirley Ewing.
Pend Oreille Arts Council, Sandpoint, was awarded $975 to bring the Living Voices' history program "Within the Silence" to Sandpoint. The program explores the impact of Executive Order 9066, which imprisoned thousands of innocent Japanese-American citizens during World War II, through the experiences of a teenage girl, Emiko. Through the viewing of and participation in the live presentation of “Within the Silence,” students will gain a greater understanding of the history of anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. The Project Director is Tone Lund.
Nerissa Armstrong, Meridian, was awarded $1,000 to assist humanities teachers from both West Ada and Boise School Districts to attend the Alturas Institute Annual conference, "Conversations with Exceptional Women." Teachers had the opportunity to grow classroom resources and pedagogy from some of the foremost humanities scholars in the nation.