Press Release

ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL AWARDS MAJOR GRANTS AT SPRING BOARD MEETING

CHICAGO – The Illinois Humanities Council Board of Directors has awarded a total of $224,355 to 28 nonprofit organizations for development and production of public humanities projects.

Funded programs include a 19-part radio series in Rock Island, Illinois, detailing the history and cultural implications of the frontier-opening Grand Excursion of 1854; a professional dance and music institute based on the groundbreaking dance anthropology technique of Katherine Dunham for children from Cabrini-Green in Chicago; and an exhibition presenting the people and events of southern Illinois history through the use of songs, musical instruments, and a variety of audiovisual displays.

Community support for these projects totaled $5,293,545. A list of grants and the organizations that are sponsoring these programs are listed below:


  • Gerber Hart Library, Chicago: Fashioning an Identity , $4,550
  • WTTW, Chicago: Lincoln For The Defense , $5,000
  • University Museum, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale: Words, Wood, and Wire: The History of Southern Illinois As Told Through Folk Songs and Musical Instruments , $8,355
  • The Newberry Library, Chicago: Outspoken: Public Programs to Accompany an Exhibition on Chicago’s Free Speech Tradition , $10,000
  • Chicago Palestine Film Festival (Chicago), $10,000
  • Islamic Thought & Science Institute, Forest Park: Intellectual Community Development , $10,000
  • artistic circles, Chicago: Ties That Bind , $10,000
  • WILL-TV, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: Ten Sisters: A True Story , $4,000
  • Cycle Wiz Factory of Learning, Chicago: Urban Anthropology Project , $10,000
  • Court Theatre, Chicago: We’re Talkin’ Classics , $2,500
  • Evanston Public Library, Evanston: Reeltime Independent Film and Video Forum , $10,000
  • Long Haul Productions, Chicago: Heartland Chronicles , $5,000
  • WSIU-TV, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale: Artifacts and Heavy Timber , $10,000
  • Columbia College Chicago, Chicago: Searching Identity in the Diaspora , $10,000
  • Video Machete, Chicago: Global Youth , $10,000
  • Mexican Fine Arts Center and Museum, Chicago: Mexicans in Chicago , $10,000
  • City Lit Theatre, Chicago: Talking Books with Mara Tapp , $5,000
  • WVIK Radio, Quad Cities: Celebrations and Reflections , $5,400
  • Morgan County Historical Society, Jacksonville: Prairieland Chautauqua 2004 , $9,700
  • Midway Village, Rockford: Adventures in History , $9,600
  • Calliope Creative Foundation, New York City: Embrace the Stars: Lorraine Hansberry , $4,000
  • Chicago Blues Museum, Chicago: The History of Bronzeville , $10,000
  • Center for Independent Documentary, Sharon, Mass: Jamsle: King of Scratch , $10,000
  • Shorefront, NFP, Evanston: The Legacy Project , $5,000
  • Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago: Gender, Multiculturalism, and Detective Fiction , $10,000
  • The Public Square, Chicago: Cafe Society , $10,000
  • Smart Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago: New Photography from China , $6,250
  • The HistoryMakers, Chicago: Movement in Motion , $10,000

July 15 is the next IHC deadline for both mini and major grant proposals . For a copy of the IHC’s grant guidelines, please visit www.prairie.org and click on “Funding Guidelines” under “Grants.” Applications are also available at that location. If you would like to speak to someone about applying for a grant, or would like an application mailed to you, please call (312) 422-5580. You may also e-mail the IHC at ihc@prairie.org.

For more information about the IHC, please visit www.prairie.org, send an email to ihc@prairie.org, or call 312.422.5580.

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