New Grant Recipients

Congratulations to our recent awardees

Click here to read more about MHC's Grants Program.

OPPORTUNITY GRANTS, January 2013

Allegany Museum
Preserving Our Musical Heritage: From Britain to the Blue Ridge
$1,200
Allegany County
The Allegany Museum will trace the journey of early American music from the 17th and 18th century British Isles to the Appalachian Mountains through a museum exhibition of photographs, musical instruments, and historical recording equipment.  There will be activities for school age children that will accompany the exhibition.  Additionally, the project will include a symposium featuring presentations by folklorists and scholars of the music of the Appalachian Mountains.  The symposium will conclude with a concert of Appalachian ballads and dulcimer music. Lastly, there will be a film screening at the Allegany Museum of the movie “Song Catcher.”  

OPPORTUNITY GRANTS, November 2012

Little Patuxent Review
Fall Writers Festival/National Day of Writing
Award: $1,200
Howard County
Little Patuxent Review will bring visiting authors to participating middle school writing classes to prepare students for the Fall Writers’ Festival/National Day of Writing.  At the Fall Writers’ Festival students will work in small groups to practice integrative writing on a variety of topics.  The students will then meet again with visiting authors to work with the writers on editing and polishing their written pieces.  Lastly, the visiting authors will present readings of their works and students will have the opportunity to share their works during an Open Mic session.  


Julia A. Purnell Museum
Julia A. Purnell Museum Traveling Exhibit
Award: $400
Worcester County
The Julia A. Purnell Museum will create a double-fold display panel with introductory information on the Julia A. Purnell Museum and the history of Snow Hill, Worcester County, and the lower shore.  The panel will also feature the Museum’s Guess the Artifact game which museum educators will present alongside reproductions of artifacts.  Museum educators will use the traveling exhibit at regional events and schools to teach groups.  

MAJOR GRANT AWARDS, Fall 2012

Frostburg State University
Frederick Douglass, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Constitution:  1845 Workshop
Grant Category: Civic Engagement
Award - $6,276
Allegany County
Frostburg State University is organizing a 2-day workshop to introduce a pedagogical game called Frederick Douglass, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Constitution: 1845. This recently developed role-playing game is part of a program called Reacting to the Past, where students immerse themselves in a historical context by adopting roles, informed by classic texts, and acting out controversies of the past. The Frederick Douglass game introduces students to a time and place when advocating an end to slavery was far more controversial than supporting its perpetuation. Debates focus on the intellectual and cultural clashes between the Defenders of the Constitution and the Abolitionists.  FSU plans to expand the audience for this workshop to make it a public event that educates the community about the history of slavery in Maryland and fosters an ongoing dialogue about causes and effects of racism.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
State of the Oyster
Grant Category: Civic Engagement
Award - $6,286
Talbot County
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is planning a series of community conversations focused on the status of the Chesapeake oyster fisheries and their past, present, and future significance to Bay-area cultural groups. These conversations will pose the question of whether and how oyster production can continue as a significant part of the region’s culture and economy. Biological dimensions will be addressed, but the primary focus will be on the cultural and social dynamics of the issue. Four free dialogue-based programs will take place with each session focusing on a particular dimension of the topic.  Dialogues will use art, photography, video clips, films and panelists—humanities scholars, oyster researchers, and oyster harvesters and processors—to set the context and incorporate questions and comments from the audience and small-group, moderated discussions between the presenters and the public.

Civic Works
Revisiting 1812 at Captain Henry Thompson’s Clifton, Home of Service in Baltimore
Grant Category: Open
Award - $10,000
Baltimore City
 Civic Works plans to open Clifton Mansion as a cultural resource for the community and tell the story of Clifton's role as the Home of Service in Baltimore based on the histories of previous owners: militia captain in the War of 1812, Henry Thompson; philanthropist Johns Hopkins; recreation center for Baltimore City; and home of Civic Works. Civic Works is planning annual Defender’s Day events in October 2013 and 2014 on the lawn at Clifton Mansion. These events will include a living history presentation by “Captain Henry Thompson,” tours, food, games of the early 1800s, cavalry re-enactors, historical presentations by authors and period musicians. Preparations will include an April 2013 costume workshop as well as a cell-phone tour developed by students in the Public History class at UMBC. For the 2013 event, a public archaeological project will be developed in conjunction with the Archeological Society of Maryland.

Creative Alliance
Globe Poster:  Not To Be Missed!
Grant Category: Open
Award - $10,000
Baltimore City
The Globe Poster Printing Corp. was a family owned and operated company based in Baltimore from 1929 to 2010 that produced some of the most iconic posters for America’s most influential musical acts.  Globe Poster: Not To Be Missed!, at the Creative Alliance April 27 - June 8, 2013, is an exhibition of posters, printing tools and artifacts investigating Globe’s story through the lens of African-American music history from 1955-1998 supplemented with programming including art workshops, panel discussions, films, docent-led tours, and performances. Music history will serve as a point for visitors to participate in a dialogue about the language of music and its positive role in culture and community building. This project is a collaboration between the Creative Alliance and Maryland Institute College of Art.  

University of Maryland, Baltimore County - Department of American Studies
Looking Forward from the 45th Anniversary of the Catonsville Nine Actions
Grant Category: Civic Engagement
Award - $3,211
Baltimore County
This project, Looking Forward from the 45th Anniversary of the Catonsville Nine Actions, consists of classroom visits, a public tour of sites in the story of the Catonsville Nine, film screenings, a public dialogue, and the creation of mobile mapping software highlighting key sites. Two audiences serve as the initial base for this project—students and community-based activists—additionally the applicants seek to engage the general public and especially the community of Catonsville.  Humanities content includes panels of humanities scholars whose expertise is civil protest and Viet Nam; the book, The Catonsville Nine; two films “The Investigation of A Flame” and “Hit and Stay” and will engage audiences about not only the historical significance of the actions of the Catonsville Nine, but also how we think about social protest, civic duty, and citizenship for our time.

Learn about the Maryland Humanities Council's Grants Program on our about MHC GRANTS
and GRANT PROGRAMS webpages.  For questions, contact Lauren Ayers, Grants Assistant, at layers@mdhc.org.