Crossing Mountains is a highly collaborative effort by a coalition of Hmong artists to create a sweeping story of two generations of Hmong women who escape Laos to Minnesota. Their story is one of sacrifice and hardship and ultimately hope and redemption. Inspired by the real story of an amazing Hmong woman from Minneapolis, this Hmong opus will use ballet to share the Hmong story of escape from Laos to acclimating in a strange new land.
The Center for Hmong Studies is seeking a $20,000 grant form the Hmong Cultural Grant program to acquire the Jason Schoonover Collection, to provide stipend for students to digitize and catalog the collection, and to organize a Hmong Textile exhibit to show the collection.
As an established Children's Museum, it is time to re-evaluate our policies, programs, displays, & activities. There will be financial support (scholarships) for classroom/community field trips and bussing which will allow children of all abilities and ethnicities to have a museum experience. Data and suggestions collected from the teachers or adult chaperones will be shared with the Grant Committee and Advisory Board for their work.
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.
Pangea World Theater’s Lake Street Arts!- Circling utilizes story circles, poetry, community conversations and site specific theater to deepen our engagement with stakeholders through the arts to create both a space for histories to be gathered and visions for a more just, sustainable and livable Minneapolis to emerge. Lake Street Arts!- Circling centers the realities and dreams of Dakota, Ojibwe, Latinx, Asian, Immigrant, Black and East African communities along Lake Street.
Weathering, a new play in-progress written by Harrison David Rivers and directed by Talvin Wilks, explores the histories and health outcomes for mothers of color in America. To generate authentic voice and representation, Penumbra’s developing deep engagement opportunities with Rivers and Minnesota’s healthcare professionals/caregivers with help from black doula/midwife circles, and from this commission’s two official sponsors, Regions Hospital and Healthpartners.
Ragamala Dance Company will develop a new, limited-series podcast entitled Subcontinuity: Voices from the South Asian-American Diaspora. Curated by Aparna and Ashwini Ramaswamy and developed with Public Radio Exchange (PRX), Subcontinuity will explore the significance of South Asian-Americans within the cultural landscape of Minnesota and the U.S. Subcontinuity will feature cross-disciplinary conversations between visionary South Asian-Americans doing vital work that speaks to the current moment.
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.
Our project aims to develop free online resources that teach Hmong language and culture to the public. First, printable literacy and cultural decks – for example, flashcards of the Hmong alphabet, or an overview of a prevalent Hmong tradition – available for download on our website. Our second resource include an interactive web app that teaches introductory Hmong language. Users gain literacy skills of consonants, vowels, and grammar, and can also engage in lessons that teach topics such as common greetings, introductions, survival phrases, pronouns, and more.
AC3 will create two art-building workshops for indigenous youth and their families. The work itself will focus on the lives and stories of missing or murdered indigenous women (MMIW) in Minnesota. The workshops will be co-hosted with Anishinaabe Academy (AA) and the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC). At both events, students, their parents, and their siblings will be trained in silk screening production, will manufacture printed fabric and paper arts together, and will be educated in Native American history, culture, and contemporary experiences.
IARP is proposing to form a traditional Iraqi dance troupe to study and perform traditional dances from different regions across Iraq and to perform for the general public of Minnesota. Iraqi Minnesotan youth and young adults will be trained by transitional dance instructor and musician Hisham Shallal.
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.
