The New Jersey Council for the Humanities has awarded 18 grants totaling $216,319 in its most recent grant round. These funds will support a diverse array of projects in nine counties across the Garden State, highlighting NJCH’s ongoing commitment to fostering the public humanities.
Of the 18 awarded projects, five had their beginnings in prior NJCH grants or programs.
Two organizations, the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children and the Hispanic Family Center of Southern NJ, received funding for projects that expand upon the Dear Rosa Project, an oral history initiative amplifying the voices of women living with HIV/AIDS that was funded by a prior NJCH grant.
Additionally, Clinton Hill Community Action and Raíces Cultural both received funding to extend projects initially developed in NJCH’s Community History Program. And Truehart Productions received funding to produce a new episode of the PBS documentary series “The Price of Freedom,” which previously received developmental funding from an NJCH incubation grant.
“We are thrilled to see the continued impact and evolution of projects that have received our support in the past. Their success demonstrates the profound influence of our programs on the public humanities in New Jersey,” NJCH Executive Director Carin Berkowitz said. “The diverse and dynamic projects funded in this round will significantly contribute to the understanding and appreciation of our state’s rich cultural heritage.”
All awarded projects
Incubation Grants supported the planning and development of public humanities projects:
- Hispanic Family Center of Southern NJ Inc., Camden, “Querida Rosa/Dear Rosa” ($15,000);
- Trent House Association, Trenton, “Intimate Portraits of Domestic Servants in the Gilded Age” ($15,000);
- Montclair State University Native American and Indigenous Studies Program, Montclair, “The Lessons Are to Give Away: Exploring Indigenous Women’s Stories” ($14,943);
- Ubuntu Cultural Pavilion Inc., Somerville/Piscataway, “Ubuntu Cultural Pavilion — Citizen Archivists” ($9,280);
- Fanwood Memorial Library, Fanwood, “What the Holocaust Taught Us: Save One Life, Save the World” ($3,000);
- The Briar Patch Collaboratory, Westfield, “MATI’s Black Her-story Curriculum: An Arts-Based Exploration of Black Feminists’ Historical Writings” (amount undisclosed).
Action Grants supporting the implementation or continuation of public humanities projects:
- AAPI Montclair, Montclair, “Roots and Routes: An Illustrated Map of Asian American History in New Jersey” ($15,000);
- AIDS Resource Foundation for Children, Newark, “The Rosa Logues” ($15,000);
- Clinton Hill Community Action, Newark, “Newark’s Clinton Hill Neighborhood History Project” ($15,000);
- Elizabeth Youth Theater Ensemble, Elizabeth, “Walking the Beat’s Community Safety Podcast” ($15,000);
- Rutgers University – Newark, “SOMOS NJ Poetry & Culture Festival” ($15,000);
- Stockton University, Galloway, “Generations: An Oral History of Jewish Farming in Southern New Jersey” ($15,000);
- Truehart Productions, Lambertville, “The Price of Silence, the Search for Freedom in New Jersey” ($15,000);
- Whitesbog Preservation Trust, Browns Mills, “Harvesting Stories” ($15,000);
- Millville Army Air Field Museum, Millville, “Veteran Interview Project” ($13,074);
- Raíces Cultural Center, Highland Park, “Family Ties Digital Project Portal & Exhibit Development” ($10,000);
- Writers House, Rutgers University – Camden, “Outside the Wire: Writing Grief” ($7,272);
- The Theater Project, Union, for “The Interpreter — What the Nuremberg Trials Can Teach Us About Antisemitism” ($3,750).
