CHICAGO – The Illinois Humanities Council Board of Directors has awarded a total of $195,900 to 24 nonprofit organizations for development and production of public humanities projects.

Funded programs included a documentary film that chronicles the lives of residents of Devon Avenue, home to a number of Chicago’s immigrant populations; a comprehensive project by the Neighborhood Writing Alliance, consisting of workshops, seminars and readings, that seeks to explore the relationship between labor and literature; and a dramatic adaptation of “The Legend of Oedipus,” as well as an intensive summer Shakespeare seminar, presented by Genesius Theater Foundation of Rock Island. Community support for these projects totaled $2,539,165. A list of grants and the organizations that are sponsoring these programs are listed below:

• Neighborhood Writing Alliance, Chicago: Labor and Literature in Chicago, $6,500
  
• Hothouse, Chicago: Jazz Enclave Festival, $1,300
  
• Chicago Architecture Foundation, Chicago: Five Architects, $10,000
  
• WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, Chicago: Third Coast International Audio Festival, $10,000
  
• Illinois Center for the Book, Springfield: Illinois Authors Book Fair, $10,000
  
• About Face Theatre, Chicago: About Face Youth Theatre: Our City, Our Stories, $10,000
  
• Community Art Resource Tank, Davenport, IA: Community Visions, $9,300
  
• Knights of Peter Claver, Inc., New Orleans: Struggles for Environmental Justice and Health in Chicago, $10,000
  
• Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Champaign: WILL Brown v. Board Radio Project, Part 2, $10,000
  
• Nipundikan, Mascoutah: The Early Illiniwek, $4,000
  
• The University of Chicago: Feminism and Hip Hop, $10,000
  
• The Kindling Group, Chicago: Devon Avenue: An American Street, $10,000
  
• Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, Chicago: Adult Education Programming 2004-05, $10,000
  
• Elgin Symphony Orchestra Association, Elgin: 2005 Dvorak in America Festival, $10,000
  
• Free Street Programs, Chicago: Facing Extremism, $10,000
  
• Ethel Productions, Inc., Cambridge, MA: New Durango, $10,000
  
• Genesius Theatre Foundation, Rock Island: Legend of Oedipus and Summer Shakespeare Seminar, $8,000
  
• Groundswell Educational Films, Chicago: The Robben Island Singers, $10,000
  
• Marshall County Historical Society, Lacon: Watch the Ballino, $2,950
  
• Mary & Leigh Block Gallery Museum of Art, Evanston: Gene(sis): An Intersection of Art, Science, and Humanism, $5,000
  
• Young Chicago Authors, Chicago: Poetry of Witness, $10,000
  
• Kankakee Area YMCA, Kankakee: Living and Learning Lecture Series, $5,000
  
• Lake Land College, Mattoon: Lake Land College Arts and Humanities Series, $9,850
  
• Center for Independent Documentary, Sharon, MA: The Work of Art: Immigrant Youth and the Transformation Power of Theater, $4,000
  

October 15 is the next minigrant ($2,000) deadline, and February 15 is the next major grant ($10,000) deadline. 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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