This project will be an exhibition that will present the work and perspectives of 20 Black and Indigenous women and femme artists through the lens of sovereignty and liberation at the Goldstein Museum of Design (GMD). Resist and Reclaim aims to amplify, expand, and add nuance to Minnesota's cultural heritage by exploring the contemporary and historical impacts of the built and visual environments.
A year-long series of gatherings in Rondo's community garden provides space to share cultural memory, empowering Rondo residents to imagine new futures through place-based revitalization in line with Rondo's racial and community histories. Gatherings foster dialogue, record and honor the past, and imagine new futures through art, learning and healing in green space. Together, we will build a future that is centered on Black land, liberation and self-determination.
On May 20,1863 in St Louis, Missouri the Union Army Special Agent of Contrabands sent 218 African Descendant persons to Ft Snelling on the Steamboat Davenport. The Steamboat Northerner towed a raft to Ft Snelling arriving on May 5, 1863. This project seeks to document the resettlement at Ft Snelling and how this group and Black Civil War Veterans changed the course of history in Minnesota by succeeding in amending the state Constitution to grant citizenship to African American men in 1869.
The Romanian Film Festival will provide an opportunity for Minnesota communities to gather in-person and experience art that speaks to the identity of Romanian and Eastern European communities.
Per Minnesota Law, the Minnesota Humanities Center administers the Arts and Cultural Heritage Rondo Commemorative Plaza 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.
Shanaya Dungey aka The Foolish Know It All will facilitate an artistic & cultural heritage preservation pilot project with five to ten Minnesota based descendants of enslaved African American ancestry to discover, collect, & document their family genealogy in a manner that is culturally relevant, preserves their family history, & honors their stories. The project will culminate with an exhibit capturing the process, participant thoughts throughout, & snippets of genealogy documents created.
The "Sabaidee Cultural Festival," spanning two days, addresses the marginalization of Laotian American communities by providing a platform for cultural expression, education, and community engagement. The festival will feature cultural activities, performances, and educational events showcasing Laotian heritage. Key components include traditional dance, art exhibitions, cooking demonstrations, and language workshops. A cultural village will allow attendees to explore and experience Laotian culture firsthand, creating an immersive cultural experience.
The Somali community in Rochester, MN, is one of the most connected cultural groups in the region.
Our project hopes to untangle the rich culture that is often hidden from the public sphere in Rochester,
Unity begins with knowing your neighbors. MN. Through the Humanities Center's Cultural Grant, we will
implement a program to inform and teach our fellow neighbors about the Somali culture. Our platform will be based on speakers, multimedia, tv
programming, and print.
Curated by Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, The Manual will contain ruminations from 9 Southeast Asian artists exploring themes like refugee identity formations, healing, trauma, (re)imaginings, cultural preservation, manifesting new identities, and decolonization. The Manual will combine short films and interactive elements like quizzes, reflective and creative writing prompts, poems, comics, tongue-in-cheek astrological readings, a map on how to find “home,” coloring pages, infographics, etc.
This Legacy grant will focus on the too-often neglected local school districts that have generally not participated in the CDM SSP at the same level as distant schools in surrounding counties. A new CDM interactive exhibit is badly needed to draw back visitors who have been looking for something new at the Museum for children.
This project, SEA Us Write & Design Fellowship, is an arts and cultural education program aimed at helping lower-income Minnesota Southeast Asian youth aged 16-18 develop as writers and artists. The program will provide creative writing classes and internships during summer breaks and after school, offering inclusive spaces and culturally relevant activities. Participants will have the opportunity to express themselves, develop leadership skills, and foster relationships with peers and positive adult mentors.
This project is a transformative initiative deeply rooted in values like curiosity, connection, and compassion. Storytelling Workshops will teach the art of storytelling emphasizing its role in cultural preservation and self-expression. Curriculum Development aims to create a comprehensive storytelling curriculum and integrate it into academic programs. Storytelling Events will provide a platform for participants to share narratives, fostering reflection and dialogue.
This project includes: 1) Storytelling through Identity Exploration and Narratives within a public sphere uses traditional methods of puppeteering and textile techniques to address contemporary issues; 2) Public Art On-Point On-Site is about transforming a public space to reflect community values; 3) The Power of Print uses innovative versatile contemporary print methods for making multiple statements; and 4) How to Navigate the Artworld even when you are in the Midwest. Each ENCUENTROS theme will have a series of three events.
The Children’s Discovery Museum (CDM) continued aggressive School Service Program (SSP) enrollment strategies to reach the seven new counties of Becker, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena. A new Wizard of Oz exhibit was mounted in time for the 75th Anniversary Celebration, June 10-14, 2014.
This project, Silsiladda Soomaaliyeed, which in the Somali language describes the interconnectivity of the Somali people and culture, is a comprehensive cultural project by The Qalanjo Project aimed at preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of the Somali community through various artistic expressions in Minnesota.
This project, entitled Sing Again, aims to preserve Somali lullabies, originally passed generation to generation through oral tradition, by transcribing them in children's lullaby book and creating website for resource-sharing and archival so that future generations of children can use them.
Through workshops, storytelling sessions, and community gatherings, the Siv Yig Culture Center will offer support for the elderly, Hmong language preservation classes, English classes, mentorship and leadership development, and cultural festivals and community events.
The Children's Discovery Museum in Grand Rapids will build on recent enrollment momentum and further increase participation with its School Service Program, which takes down the economic barriers for visiting school groups. The Legacy grant will fund more educators and facilitators, curriculum development, scholarship aid, transportation assistance, art and teaching supplies, and the addition of a new exhibit to the museum.
The Somali community in Rochester, MN is by far one of the most connected cultural groups in the region. Our project hopes to untangle the rich culture that is often hidden from the public sphere in Rochester, MN. Unity begins with knowing your neighbors. Through the Humanities Center's Cultural Grant we will implement a program to inform and teach our fellow neighbors about the Somali culture. Our platform will be based on speakers, multimedia, tv programming, and print.
This project will connect Somali youth to their rich cultural heritage through arts and language. The Somali Youth Cultural Empowerment project will ensure youth learn their native Somali language and culture through classes taught by Somali teachers and will participate in the cultural tradition of Danta Dance. A dance group will perform at cultural events, with music performed live from previous members of the Somali supergroup, Waaberi, and thus, share Somali art culture with Minnesotans.
The Somali Museum of Minnesota will curate and present two new monthly series of public programs designed to amplify, celebrate, and preserve Somali culture. The first series will be gallery-based and draw from the museum’s collection to offer Somali language, cultural and history instruction targeted to Somali families and school age youth. The second series, designed for a broader audience, will present artist talks and demonstrations, dance performances, exhibitions, and poetry readings.
The Somali Museum of Minnesota will develop a series of programs for Somali and non-Somali audiences for public viewing and education. All programs are designed to amplify, celebrate, and preserve Somali culture and will include activities such as artist talks, demonstrations, dance performances, exhibitions, and poetry readings. Some will be performed live; others will be recorded in studio, videographed and edited for viewing by an audience. A written text will accompany each performance.
The Somali Language and Culture Classes Project will honor and preserve Somali culture by first, connecting Somali youth to their rich cultural heritage through arts and language classes and second, by providing a class for others in the mainstream Minnesota community to learn about Somali language and culture. This project will pilot teaching Somali language and culture through utilizing taped sessions with an in-person bi-lingual facilitator in order to allow for future sustainability.
Unite Cloud will join with Farhiya Iman to host 12 Intro to Somali Language and Culture sessions. Also, Farhiya will develop a curriculum for a new class: Advanced Somali Language and Culture. Once the class is built, we will host 9 Advanced classes.
The goal is to develop a “Basic Somali Language and Culture Class” curriculum. This course will be a tailored 20 – 30-hour training for people in the business community as well as Somali youth. Each class session with have an element of language and an element of culture.
A project that helps families express their feelings through poetry, sharing historical perspectives on disability within the Somali Community. We will invite school administrators, teachers, and community members and discuss the social stigma of disabilities and mental health through innovative strategies. In our parent to parent peer support, we have event nights where parents gather informally and express their daily barriers for the first half of the session, and then we go through resource sharing the second half of the session.
The Minnesota State Legislature asked the Minnesota Humanities Center to award arts and cultural heritage grants to the Somali community through the competitive grant process. Legacy funds are appropriated to the Humanities Center to support such work. A small portion of each appropriation was reserved by the Humanities Center for direct expenses related to administering the grant. Should any portion of this reserve be unused, the difference will be awarded to the respective organizations.
This project will support the newly developed Somali Heritage Language Program. Somali has rich oral traditions as foundational elements of language usage and development. As a less commonly taught language, Somali often lacks accessible curricula within mainstream publishing companies. It will specifically support the development or continuation of projects at four school sites: Sullivan Steam Magnet, Lyndale Community School, Heritage Academy and South High.
The Somali Artifact and Cultural Museum will elevate board governance and staff development to ensure the museum's long-term sustainability, enriching the cultural landscape and fostering community engagement. This project has three key objectives: 1) stabilize operating revenue & financial systems; 2) develop a five-year strategic plan; 3) increase board governance and staff development.
The Thai Cultural Council seeks to host Songkran, or Thai New Year, at the Minnesota State Capitol. Songkran is an important festival in Thai culture as it symbolizes moving into the new year with community, family, and elders. Due to the separation caused by COVID-19, this Songkran festival will be our largest event yet with planned performances, bazaars, markets, and food stalls all curated with the aim of celebrating Thai and SE Asian culture together with our Minnesotan community.
Ka Joog requests funding from the Minnesota Humanities Center to offer songwriting and composition to Somali American youth enrolled in FANKA, our arts education program. We will contract with Nimcaan Hilaac, a renowned Somali American songwriter, singer, and composer. We will offer 210-300 Somali youth in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Saint Cloud songwriting workshops facilitated by Mr. Hilaac. Their learning will culminate in a community-wide event featuring performances by our youth.
Soomaal proposes to do Spearwave - a monthly intimate exhibition and gathering space for conversations about art and culture. We hope this gesture will foster interconnectedness, and, using Spearwave as a foil, allow these artists a fresh opportunity to experiment with new ways of bringing to you the fruits of their artistic conceptions. In this program 3 Somali emerging artists will get the opportunity to learn, explore and exhibit a concept from beginning to end product.
Soomaal House of Art (Soomaal) proposes an 8-month art residency project focused on supporting 4 contemporary Somali-American artists to create new work for a culminating exhibition. The artists will complete an 8-month long residency encompassing programs to share artists' work with the community through a group exhibition, artist talk, workshop at local schools, and webinar conversations with community members.
Ayeeyo Childcare Center is a Somali-American family’s business.Ayeeyo staff and students expressed a desire to work with Speaking Out to create workshops that use storytelling and acting to center Somali stories, language and culture.
Filmmaker Joua Lee Grande and her team will complete feature-length documentary Spirited, host feedback sessions and develop an Impact Campaign to create curriculum, community screenings and discussions that focus on the film's topic of Hmong shamanism, how it is changing in modern-day Minnesota, and how it exists alongside current issues.
Sprout's Growers and Makers Marketplace serves as a unique community engagement setting that creatively engages residents to design or attend projects and social programming at a regional space where art/culture/food increase cultural appreciation and increase economic impacts. Sprout's Growers & Makers Marketplaces enables economic opportunities for farmers, artists and creatives, provides access to cultural activities, and increases arts access to the general public.
Stories & Narratives of Lake Street is a collective hxstory project focused on Lake Street in South Minneapolis- documenting narratives that currently exist- but are not uplifted. It will document the impact of Lake Street on/of BIPOC & underrepresented groups along this notable corridor, involving both Public and Oral Hxstory. This youth-led project will provide empowerment, leadership and skill-development for youth to learn and understand the impact that Lake St. has on their communities.
The Children's Discovery Museum's (CDM) new 3,000 piece Wizard of Oz (WOZ) collection will be properly archived, conservation materials purchased, and exhibit concept and design drawings completed. CDM facilitators and educators will travel to other children's museums in Minnesota for staff enrichment and professional development.
Strive engages with the community in creating Black Joy Literary Clubs that empower voices from the Black community to rise above stereotypes, demographic disparities, and negative media portrayals. We provide a platform for communal work in taking control of the Black narrative and in educating with truth and lived experience. Joy comes from sharing authentic stories and power lies within the voices of everyday Black people to break down harmful stereotypes and strengthen our community.
