Indiana Humanities awards 15 nonprofits with more than $67,000 in grants

Grants provide Hoosiers with access to humanities programs, including culture, history and literature projects

More than a dozen museums, libraries and other organizations throughout the Hoosier State have received grants from Indiana Humanities to provide public humanities programs in their communities. Projects supported with Indiana Humanities grants include a reading-and-discussion program that engages northwest Indiana audiences in the story of civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin; an augmented reality program aimed at teaching visitors about a 1,000-year-old Fort Ancient village site in Dearborn County; a discussion series in Vincennes featuring screenings of classic comedy films; and more. 

From May through August 2022, Indiana Humanities awarded 14 Action Grants, one Innovation Grant and one Collaboration Grant totaling nearly $68,000.

Action Grants (up to $3,000) support nonprofit organizations that sponsor public humanities programs such as exhibitions, workshops, lectures and reading and discussion programs.

Innovation Grants (up to $10,000) provide tax-exempt organizations with funds to develop and implement bold and creative public humanities programs that introduce new ideas, utilize unique approaches and/or reach underserved audiences.

Collaboration Grants (up to $20,000) support nonprofits to partner with other community groups to deliver in-depth public humanities programming built around a core idea or theme.

Indiana Humanities accepts applications for its grants at various times throughout the year. It will continue to award Action Grants through the remainder of the year and will announce 2023 grant offerings and deadlines before the end of December. Guidelines and application deadlines are available at www.indianahumanities.org/grants.

“We’re proud to support Indiana nonprofits in promoting the humanities across the state,” said Keira Amstutz, president and CEO of Indiana Humanities. “The work they do in their communities is vital as we continue to recover from the pandemic.”  

The following organizations received grants from May through August 2022 (full descriptions of the projects follow):

Action Grants

• Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative, Whiting 
• Harrison Center, Indianapolis 
• Otterbein Public Library, Otterbein 
• Wayne County Historical Museum, Richmond 
• Morning Bishop Theatre Playhouse, Gary 
• Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, Indianapolis 
• Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis 
• Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, Indianapolis 
• Seymour Municipal Airport Authority, Seymour 
• Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council, Indianapolis 
• Landmark Columbus Foundation, Columbus 
• Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy, Vincennes 
• Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Lafayette 
• Ray Bradbury Center, Indianapolis

Innovation Grants

• Archaeological Research Institute, Lawrenceburg

Collaboration Grants  

• Landmark Columbus Foundation, Columbus 

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Here are descriptions of the projects:

Action Grants  

Calumet Revisited: A Monthly Forum on the Calumet Region 

• Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative, Whiting 
• Awarded: $2,025 
• The Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative will plan and host Calumet Revisited, a monthly discussion led by a guest speaker that sheds light on the region’s rich cultural and environmental history. The program will run from September 2022 through May 2023. 

Contextualized Conversations 

• Harrison Center, Indianapolis 
• Awarded: $3,000
• The Harrison Center will host a workshop for writers, preparing them to compose essays that provide historical and cultural context to the art pieces exhibited monthly in the center’s galleries. The essays will expand the audience’s knowledge of the subject matter, strengthen community artistic and historical context literacy and stimulate conversation. The writers will share more about their ideas in monthly discussion programs. 

The Otterbein 150 Project 

• Otterbein Public Library, Otterbein 
• Awarded: $3,000 
• In honor of the town of Otterbein’s 150th anniversary, the Otterbein Public Library is overseeing the Otterbein 150 Project, a historical preservation project aimed at showcasing the town’s history. Grant funds supported one of the project’s activities, an exhibition called Otterbein Artifacts featuringmore than 2,500 resident-donated items that provided insight into life in the town during the past century and a half.  

Gennett Records Programming Series

• Wayne County Historical Museum, Richmond 
• Awarded: $2,500 
• The Wayne County Historical Museum offered a series of public programs to accompany its exhibition Gennett Records: The Birthplace of American Recorded Music. These included the development and screening of a documentary on the far-reaching history of Richmond’s Gennett Recording Company; an afternoon at the museum featuring author talks, historical reenactors and hands-on activities; and a murder-mystery evening at the historic Gennett mansion.  

Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice Marathon Reading Discussion Program 

• Morning Bishop Theatre Playhouse, Gary 
• Awarded: $3,000 
• The Morning Bishop Theatre Playhouse’s Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice Marathon Reading Discussion Program engaged audiences and participants in the reading of the story of a lesser-known civil rights pioneer. The marathon reading united diverse participants throughout the community in learning about Claudette Colvin and her contributions to the civil rights movement. 

Panther Women Trail Talk Series

• Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, Indianapolis 
• Awarded: $1,172 
• The Phoenix Theater Cultural Center hosted the Panther Women Trail Talk Series in conjunction with its stage production Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation. The series included two town-hall-style public events featuring a panel of scholars from IUPUI’s Africana Studies department and other organizations. The scholars discussed the history of the Black Panther movement, including the women who were involved, and provided context around the production.  

Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival: Adding Color to the Silver Screen

• Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis 
• Awarded: $3,000 
• The Indianapolis Art Center hosted the Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival, which presented films exploring the experiences and perspectives of African Americans and those in the Black diaspora. Grant funds helped support the opening-night program, which included the screening of the documentary The Glories of Our Journey and a discussion with its producer, Jerald Harkness. 

Banned Books Week 2022: Vonnegut and Banned Stories 

• Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, Indianapolis 
• Awarded: $3,000 
• The Kurt Vonnegut Museum will host its annual Banned Books Week, designed to raise awareness of issues of censorship through American history and literature and to highlight relevant individuals, such as Kurt Vonnegut, who used the power of literature to further social justice. Grant funds will support two programs in particular: “Can’t Stop the Music,” which will explore the history of jazz, its role as a change agent and efforts to censor it, and “Vonnegut and Banned Stories: Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which will examine the famous novel and the connection between writing and social justice. 

Tuskegee Airmen Evening Speakers Series 

• Seymour Municipal Airport Authority, Seymour 
• Awarded: $3,000 
• In the fall of 2022, the Freeman Army Airfield Museum and the citizens of Seymour will dedicate a memorial honoring Black servicemen who protested segregation at Freeman Field during World War II. As part of the week’s events, the Seymour Municipal Airport Authority will sponsor three speakers who will discuss the background of the Freeman Field Mutiny, the story of a well-known photograph that documented the servicemen’s arrest and the design of the new memorial.  

Sweet Lorraine in Auschwitz: The Life of Frank Grunwald 

• Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council, Indianapolis 
• Awarded: $3,000 
• The Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council will produce Sweet Lorraine in Auschwitz: The Life of Frank Grunwald, a documentary that uses 1930s American jazz to depict Holocaust survivor Frank Grunwald’s journey through concentration camps and death marches. Grant funds will support the recording of interviews with Grunwald, as well as a prerelease talkback session that features interview clips and a conversation with Grunwald and Holocaust scholars. 

All or Nothing Series

• Landmark Columbus Foundation, Columbus 
• Awarded: $2,950 
• Landmark Columbus Foundation will host an “All or Nothing Series” for the community. The series will include two programming components: “local-social design trips” and “do-nothings.” The four “local-social design trips” will feature scholar-led readings, tours of downtown Columbus and discussions, and the two “do-nothings” will feature readings, contemplation in outdoor public spaces and discussions. 

Red Skelton Comedy Film and Discussion Series 

• Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy, Vincennes 
• Awarded: $2,300 
• The Red Skelton Museum will screen a series of ten classic comedy films over the course of a year. After each screening, scholars and other experts will lead a discussion of the films, helping to put them in cultural context and to illustrate the role that comedy and humor play in our society. 

Miami Tribe of Oklahoma at the 2022 Feast of the Hunters’ Moon

• Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Lafayette 
• Awarded: $2,955 
• The Tippecanoe County Historical Association will use grant funds to hire members of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to share their community cultural history at the annual Feast of the Hunters’ Moon. The Feast reenacts 18th-century life near the site of Fort Ouiatenon, the first European settlement in Indiana, and surrounding Native villages. It draws more than 40,000 visitors each year. 

Festival 451 Indy 

• Ray Bradbury Center, Indianapolis 
• Awarded: $2,954 
• The Ray Bradbury Center will host its inaugural Festival 451 Indy, which will celebrate the work of Ray Bradbury though an exhibition, readings, writing workshops and more. Grant funds will support the screening of the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney. The movie was one of Bradbury’s favorites from childhood, and it influenced his work and his passion for film. After the screening, a panel of scholars will discuss the influence that both Bradbury and Chaney had on American culture. 

Innovation Grants  

ARI Augmented Reality Trails

• Archaeological Research Institute, Lawrenceburg 
• Awarded: $10,000 
• The Archaeological Research Institute will use grant funds to combine educational narrative with augmented reality to teach visitors about a 1,000-year-old Fort Ancient village site in Dearborn County, Indiana. At 12 stops along a trail through the Guard archeological site, guests will use iPads to engage with multimedia, educational games and other tools to learn about the prehistoric Native people who lived on the site and to gain a better understanding about preservation, land stewardship and archaeology. 

Collaboration Grants  

Connecting Communities and Places: Bloomington and Columbus 

Landmark Columbus Foundation, Columbus 

Requested and Recommended: $20,000 

Landmark Columbus Foundation (LCF) will collaborate with the City of Bloomington (CoB) to produce a series of events featuring humanities-based discussions, film screenings and guided tours. LCF’s events will take place in Columbus as part of the 2022 Exhibit Columbus Symposium in October 2022, and the CoB events will take place in Bloomington in late April 2023. Highlights include conversations with Roman Mars (host and producer of the podcast 99% Invisible), Koganada (director of the internationally celebrated film Columbus) and Ross Gay (best-selling author of The Book of Delights).