Per Minnesota Law, the Minnesota Humanities Center administers the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities Grant. The Humanities Center uses a portion of the funds to provide grants administration, including overseeing the proposal process, agreement drafting, financial and program monitoring, and reporting.
This Project that i will be leading among other supporting staff will be to emulate the African American documentary High On The Hog off of Netflix however this project will be led by youth. They will be learning there African American heritage through the historical backgrounds of Cuisine and culture. The Youth will have an opportunity to learn the why behind "comfort food." They will have an opportunity to cook fine cuisine and learn from some of the best chefs in the Twin Cities how to cook.
Project Reclaim will transmit the Ojibwe language and relationship to the land through an augmented reality (AR) experience so as to reawaken Ojibwe language and culture in Minnesota. For this stage of the project, GIM will hold a Community Analog Prototype Workshop and design Reclaim, an interactive mobile app that will simulate the experience of walking in the woods with Ojibwe Elders, exploring Ojibwe ancestral lands while learning the Ojibwe language.
This project will produce content for the Headwaters exhibit including: 1) creation and content development of Meet Your Neighbor stations; 2) creation of two murals and a sculpture celebrating diversity; 3) new exhibit design in partnership with Stearns County History Museum; 4) design an art fence for the Outdoor Adventures exhibit.
In 2018 the Great River Children's Museum, (GRCM) received a building worth $1,500,000 from Liberty Bank. Since receiving this gift, the Board of Directors has completed a Museum Strategic Master Plan with Vergeront Museum Planning, a predesign plan and building condition assessment with JLG Architects, a hazardous building materials assessment with Braun Intertec, and a marketing plan with Gearbox Marketing.
Great River Children's Museum: Moving Forward Project encompasses the development of new exhibits & programs with and for the families of Central MN. We are expanding upon partnerships formed with community groups, developing exhibit areas that open doors to new experiences and cultures, and working to create program guides that will highlight some of the many informal learning opportunities to be found in our exhibit areas.
The grant will support the production of our first Children's Book created by immigrant youth for children ages K-4. Content will cover a wide range of topics: reasons for immigration, emotions and other aspects such as bullying, marginalization, transitions and loss. 3,000 copies will be produced and distributed along with accompanying events such as book readings. The goal is to build inclusive and integrated communities by sharing authentic first-person immigrant stories and building empathy.
Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society will create and promote a public garden as a multi-cultural learning experience to preserve and honor cultural heritage for all Minnesotans. The new pilot project will have two educational elements: 1) Partner with two public middle schools to develop curriculum materials, host field trips and design preparatory materials to help foster all of the state middle school students collective understanding of the diverse art, culture and heritage demonstrated in the garden.
This project will support new exhibit components, including an agriculture heritage exhibit, that will showcase the farming way of life and the importance of family farms for the country's food source. It includes workshops and hands-on learning in roles such as gardener, farmer, processor, seed agronomist, farmers market vendor, and consumer.
North Minneapolis has been dealing with a surge in gun violence and the devastating effects of the opioid epidemic, post pandemic. Three months ago, a tragic incident occurred when a community member was murdered on the Emerson sidewalk, right in front of Juxtaposition Arts' (JXTA) campus. This was the first murder on our campus in 20 years, marking a significant and distressing moment for our community.
The crisis is the consistent loss of life experienced in the Twin Cities due to gun violence, addiction and systemic oppression of marginalized people. Within the last few weeks, we've seen a Black police officer gunned down on the job and a non-verbal child found dead. The impact on the Black community is that we're hurting and normalizing the trauma because we see it so often. Many have become desensitized or seek substances to numb their pain.
Market Bucks is a nutrition incentive program designed to help SNAP customers increase their purchasing power at farmers markets, mobile markets, CSAs and with direct marketing farmers. SNAP customers can use their EBT card and receive a dollar-for-dollar match on all SNAP spending at farmers markets, up to $10 per visit. Customers also receive up to an additional $10 in federally funded Produce Market Bucks, further increasing their purchasing power specifically for fruits and vegetables.
Voices of Cultura, amplify arts, culture, and heritage through LatinX Arts In Minnesota. Murals are mirrors of community with imagery, traditions, and ceremonies embedded within the stories shared. Writing circles create spaces for underrepresented LatinX/BIPOC communities to experience an affirming space with LatinX-focused activities to increase connectivity with arts, culture, and heritage. LatinX and BIPOC communities' cultural pride and honor will be elevated and celebrated.
AICS is hosting "Hees iyo Fanka," a one-night event celebrating Somali music and culture through karaoke and live performances. The event aims to bring together the Somali community and broader Minneapolis public to foster pride in Somali heritage and promote cultural exchange. It will feature Somali karaoke and live performances by local artists and poets, showcasing the richness of Somali musical traditions. The event will encourage language preservation and provide an opportunity for community members to connect through the joy of music.
Telling Queer History will support the collection and preservation of personal oral histories from LGBTQIA+ communities in rural Minnesota; historical research for our archives and LGBTQ+ history walking tours; and community outreach in greater Minnesota. This grant will also support the early development of a series of supplemental curriculum products detailing Minnesota LGBTQ+ history, creating a potential new earned revenue stream for TQH.
Minnesota, home to the largest Somali population in the United States, lacks resources for students to access knowledge and representations of Somalia. The Somali Museum of Minnesota will offer students immersive field trips illuminating the history and arts of traditional Somali society by subsidizing admission fees, integrating elders as immersive guides on tours, and developing take-home curriculum materials.
This project will involve the creation of a new theater room to be included in the Hmong Cultural Center Museum and Library. The theater room will allow visiting groups and walk-in visitors to view clips of historical documentaries about the Hmong diaspora and Hmong American Experience as part of their museum experience.
The Hmong Cultural Heritage Initiative is intended to both preserve and spread awareness and knowledge of Hmong culture in a comprehensive and multifaceted manner by supporting several outreach initiatives of the Hmong Cultural Center Museum.
Hmong Museum proposes developing a 400 sq feet traveling exhibit around the importance of Hmong's oral culture. It will be a research phase with collaboration between Hmong Museum and community members. Topics would include Hmong stories that are passed on including history narratives, skills that are taught orally, and folktales. It will also provide an opportunity for visitors of all backgrounds to be inspired to share their own stories about their lives and experiences.
“Preserving Hmong Cultural Farming Traditions” is a project devoted to documenting, through photography, videography, and oral interviews, the unique agricultural practices, traditions, and stories of Hmong farmers. Farming is an intrinsic element of Hmong heritage and identity. But very little of the knowledge and experience of Hmong farmers is being passed down to Hmong youth. This project will document and preserve Hmong farming stories and agricultural traditions for future generations.
The Legacy of Hmong Immigrants: Wat Tham Krabok Project will encourage communications and understanding between generations and across cultures, specifically the legacy and experiences of the last wave of Hmong refugees, the Wat Tham Krabok immigrants. We hope that this new project will encourage communications and understanding between Hmong generations and across cultures; especially the project encompass the experiences of a minority within a minority.
Hmong Museum will develop and streamline its online educational offerings through a series of online web exhibitions, collections, and enhanced curriculum.
Photograph all items of the Martha Kaufman-Zimmerman Collection of needlework and four archival boxes of objects from ca. 2000 to 2019 of Wat Tham Krabok with accession information and several hundred digital photos, and post them on our website so they may be viewed at any time and place. Publish books in Hmong and English with selected images and texts from our accession record, with additional information about common design elements and audio-video interview information.
Hmong Museum will spearhead a new pilot program around lost arts and sharing stories and knowledge passed on through oral tradition. The project will be around the practice and teaching of Hmong elder’s knowledge and skill around a folk art activity, such as bamboo basket weaving.
The Hmong American Day non-profit would like to collaborate with Hmong for Native Speakers courses in the Osseo School District at Park Center Senior High and at Osseo Senior High to provide a culturally relevant education.
The New HCC Storefront Museum Implementation Project will involve the development of a guided tour app & new curriculum for school groups based on MN's K-12 standards. The project will also include a new strategic marketing plan to assist the museum in achieving future attendance & outreach goals. Finally, a new tour guide will be hired to meet public demand for tours in the new museum space which is intended to promote cross-cultural awareness and understanding of Hmong culture and history.
Filmmakers Kazua Melissa Vang, Yeej Moua, and May Lee-Yang will complete a documentary that look at how the pandemic transformed the way the Twin Cities Hmong community say goodbye to the dead.
This project is a workshop series project aimed to preserve cultural heritage by transferring knowledge on HMong batik and indigo textile art, a traditional practice lost to HMong Minnesotans. Workshops will be led by Artist Ka Oskar Ly, and include HMong elders, youth, families, educators, and broader community members, who will immerse in the HMong batik practice. These sessions will provide valuable insights into shared oral history, symbolism, and techniques, emphasizing comprehension of the entire process and its cultural significance.
This project will create and publish a Hmong Leng children's alphabet book and host a book release community event featuring traditional Hmong Leng music and clothes. The Hmong Leng dialect, also known as Moob Leeg, is an important branch of the Hmong language spoken by Hmong in the United States, Laos, Thailand, and China.
Our book titled Staring Down the Tiger: Stories of Hmong American Women, provides a platform to tell stories of Hmong women—stories that are often left unheard. The collection of the stories in the book were developed during a writing retreat that provided emotional and technical writing support to nearly 30 women. The writing retreat was invaluable in helping non writers uncover and creatively share their stories. We are requesting $5,000 to create a personal development workbook that will supplement the book offering readers their own virtual experience of the writing retreat.
In May of 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a surprise visit to Smith Foundry, located in the East Phillips neighborhood. The EPA found nine violations of the federal Clean Air Act, including emissions of PM 2.5 and lead at levels two times higher than the state allowed limits. Since the results of this report were uncovered, EPIC has been organizing with community members and a coalition of partners to galvanize the local vitriol in a productive way.
Adrian Holliday is creating a Black/BIPOC led program that shares outdoor and fishing fundamentals for Black, BIPOC and underserved youth through mini camps. The program will offer mini camps to teach outdoor education and safety, nature explorations, and provide an intro to learning how to fish for local kids. The program will offer a safe space for kids to learn from an experienced outdoor/fisherman and gain access to resources and tools that are not often available in these communities.
The Oshki-Filmmakers Project is a series of film workshops and opportunities for the White Earth Ojibwe Reservation. Focusing on Indigenous youth, these workshops bring established Indigenous filmmakers from across our region together with youth artists to share stories and knowledge as our young artists begin to shape their artistic craft. We provide work space and equipment to empower our youth to share their own stories and those of our community for many generations to come.
Our new project, Honor the Past, Preserve the Future: Hmong 18 Clans Custom and Cultural Preservation Project, is to preserve the history, traditional, and changing lives of the Hmong Minnesotans.
Red Wing Arts will facilitate a collaboration beginning the process of healing the historical trauma that
divides the Dakota and Red Wing residents. Leaders of the Prairie Island Indian Community, Goodhue County
and Red Wing Arts will use the power of the arts to host engagement and cultural education arts experiences
that provide space for healing, improved mental health and connection. A mural designed by tribal members
will be installed in downtown Red Wing will symbolize this initiative.
This project will support new, community-focused programming that expands our current work, and explores community desire for a future gathering space magnetized around the humanities. We're calling our project The Park-Lynn Community Archive and Reading Room,Parks-Lynn for short.
The goal of this project is to provide opportunities for India Association of Minnesota (IAM) to empower Asian Indian community in Minnesota to build intercultural identity amplify Asian Indian arts, culture, and heritage for benefit of all Minnesotans provide education and outreach to all Minnesotans so as to increase the depth and breadth of understanding about cultural diversity and inclusion in Minnesota.
StoryArk will hire nonprofit management experts who have a history of working with BIPOC led cultural organizations to develop new systems and processes and train Executive Director, Board, and staff, in 1) grant seeking, writing, and reporting; 2) creating strong evaluation measures; 3) building capacity and fundraising ability.
This project is for a new film initiative, "Images of Africa,", that will regularly feature films from African regions, particularly those with the most significant representation in Minnesota. Images of Africa will put a spotlight on the African experience, storytelling, and contributions of a range of artists, most especially filmmakers, from African communities. This series will be showcased at The Main Cinema in Minneapolis, MSP Film's home venue, as well as other Twin Cities locations, including the Capri Theater in North Minneapolis.
Urban Roots will 1) hire a consultant to build the fundraising knowledge and capabilities of Urban Root's staff and leadership; 2) strategize for individual and major donor cultivation; 3) build capacity for increasing revenue stream, compile research on donors to guide skill-building and engagement
