Growing Resistance: Untold Stories of Milwaukee’s Community Guardians

$9,986 to UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE

Wisconsin Humanities has awarded the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee a grant in support of programs designed to accompany an exhibit called "Growing Resistance." The project highlights extraordinary accounts of ordinary people fighting systemic apathy and racism in connection to food, housing and land in four neighborhoods of Milwaukee. The exhibit is built around stories taken from research conducted over the past decade by professors, students, and community partners. A series of public programs will bring together neighborhood residents at pop-up events, community walks, story circles, repasts, and discussions.

Walking Wawa’ąįja

$5,251 to NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA - STATE OF WISCONSIN (HISTORIC INDIAN AGENCY HOUSE)

The Historic Indian Agency House was awarded a Wisconsin Humanities grant in support of a collaboration with the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center. The “Walking Wawa’ąįja” project includes the development of an outdoor exhibit and a community walk that traces the route of what was, for well over 1,000 Ho-Chunks, the beginning of a decades-long struggle. The Historic Indian Agency House was built in 1832 at the ancient portaging trail between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. During the 1830s, this site functioned as an Indian Agency—or embassy—between the Ho-Chunk Nation and the U.S. government. Today they work to foster a multi-dimensional understanding of the period that inspires and shapes the quality of civic responsibility among those who contemplate the lessons of history. The exhibit and program will segue into a vibrant Ho-Chunk cultural arts event, underscoring the key reflection that Ho-Chunks endure as a people today.

Living for the City: Stories from Black Milwaukee

$10,000 to MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR URBAN RESEARCH, TEACHING AND OUTREACH (CURTO)

Marquette University was awarded a Wisconsin Humanities grant in support of a collaborative project between the Center for Urban Research, Teaching and Outreach (CURTO) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Living for the City: Stories from Black Milwaukee” is an integrated oral history project that includes a traveling exhibit linked to a digital archive of interviews of middle-class and affluent African American residents of metropolitan Milwaukee representing the fields of academia, business, entrepreneurship, law, and other professional careers. The exhibition will travel to four Milwaukee public libraries and America's Black Holocaust Museum with an in-person community forum at each site. The project will broaden the narrative of Black Milwaukee by highlighting the lived experiences of Milwaukee’s Black middle class while also complicating existing narratives about Black Milwaukee that are focused primarily on poverty, residential segregation, criminalization rates, and educational achievement gaps.

Door County Reads 2024: Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults

$10,000 to DOOR COUNTY LIBRARY (on behalf of the Door County Reads Committee)

Door County Reads (DCR) has been Door County’s annual community read for the past 16 years, bringing multifaceted learning and literacy experiences to Door County. The DCR Committee was awarded a Wisconsin Humanities grant in support of the 2024 program for young adults. “Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, adapted by Monique Gray Smith, and illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt, focuses on the intersection of the natural environment and indigenous culture. The program will incorporate Indigenous voices and connect the themes in the book with the pre-contact history of Door County. Through this programming, the DCR Committee hopes to build relationships and foster listening, learning, and intergenerational and intercultural understanding in the community.

The Mariel Exodus & La Crosse: An online interactive exhibit

$10,000 to LA CROSSE PUBLIC LIBRARY

The La Crosse Public Library was awarded a Wisconsin Humanities grant in support of an interactive online exhibit to preserve cultural and historical artifacts surrounding the history of the 1980 Cuban migration crisis known as the Mariel Boatlift. The project will offer an educational exploration of this paramount moment of the Cold War when 125,000 Cubans fled to the US and nearly 15,000 Cuban refugees were brought to Fort McCoy near La Crosse, Wisconsin. The digital exhibit will be hosted by LPL Archives and created by a team of humanities experts alongside some of the protagonists of the Mariel exodus. It will be used as part of a larger conversation about the ways in which different generations of racially diverse migrants in Wisconsin have forged a collective identity of cultural exile under the shared experiences of detention and racial discrimination.

Northside Community History Collection

$10,000 to THE RACE AND PLACE COALITION

A Major Grant supports “Northside Community History Collection – A Visioning and Planning Project to support a Coalition of Neighborhood and Humanities Groups Devoted to Black Milwaukee History.” This long-term project brings together a citywide coalition of community stakeholders and local historians to envision and plan for a unified Northside-wide Black Archive of Lost Spaces available for public access.

Archiving Potawatomi Language Zoom Videos Project

$10,000 to BODWÉWADMIMWEN ĖTHË TÉK, INC.

A Major Grant supports “Archiving Potawatomi Language Zoom Videos Project.” With only a few fluent speakers remaining of the Bodéwadmimwen language, this critical project focuses on archiving recorded language lessons from the late Jim Thunder, a beloved Potawatomi elder, culture-bearer, and fluent speaker. The edited videos will be shared on social media to increase accessibility to the Potawatomi language and instill a sense of ownership and investment in the language and culture, while also promoting community building and discussion.

AfterDark: For the Culture

$10,000 to EX FABULA

A Major Grant supports “AfterDark: For the Culture," a project that centers personal storytelling of Black and Brown community members in Milwaukee and intentionally creates a BIPOC affinity space that brings together participants to connect and learn together. Ex Fabula is a community storytelling organization that celebrates the ways that stories both express our common humanity and honor differences because each individual is an expert on their own lived experience. The public slams will highlight the unique lived experiences of BIPOC individuals and affinity storytelling workshops will allow workshop participants to identify and shape their stories.

Ridgeland Area Library Historical Park

$10,000 to THE VILLAGE OF RIDGELAND

A Major Grant supports “Ridgeland Area Library Historical Park," an outdoor gathering space that will connect local, community history to larger historical narratives, like the women’s suffrage movement. Making use of QR codes, the exhibit will share links to interviews with community members. They will also partner with a tribal artist through the St. Croix Tribal Council. The rotating displays will be designed to engage a younger generation in local histories and draw people inside the library to their Historical Room.

The Stories of Waukesha County - Our Agricultural Legacies

$10,000 to THE WAUKESHA HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM

A Major Grant supports “The Stories of Waukesha County - Our Agricultural Legacies.” The exhibit will present the diverse stories of farmers past and present while also exploring the evolution of farming practices, the key crops and livestock that were grown and raised, the family members who farmed, those who worked on the farms and the industries and associations that supported the growth of agriculture in the county. There will be two interactive touchscreens for visitors to listen to oral histories, select and view photos, and watch archival and newly created videos that enhance the stories.

Mistakes Do Not Define Who You Are

$10,000 to MY WAY OUT, INC.

A Major Grant supports “Mistakes Do Not Define Who You Are,” a short documentary film to be used by justice-impacted individuals, second-chance employers, and others in order to counter the social biases and barriers that people face in reentering society and the workforce. Community stakeholders, business leaders, human resource executives, and civic organizations will gather for film viewings and discussions facilitated by justice-impacted individuals. My Way Out and its partners have found that hearing the stories and seeing the faces of those who have been impacted by the correctional system is a powerful and effective way to begin discussions about how to create more opportunities and a positive new path for each individual.

Mao Lor Hmong Textiles Exhibition

$10,000 to PAINE ART CENTER & GARDENS, INC.

A Major Grant supports “Mao Lor Hmong Textiles Exhibition,” a presentation of traditional paj ntaub and story cloths by the textile artist Mao Lor, co-curated by historian Chong Moua and artist Ger Xiong. Also on display will be works co-created by Lor and Xiong that demonstrate the innovative and intergenerational aspects of the paj ntaub artform. The interpretive and educational text for the exhibit will be derived from oral histories and programs for school groups and the public will offer insight into the artists’ lives and creative interpretations of personal stories in relation to Hmong history.

Ho-Chunk Nation Traveling Museum Exhibit

$9,000 to THE VILLAGE OF WAUNAKEE

A Major Grant supports “Ho-Chunk Nation Traveling Museum Exhibit.” The project brings together the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center with UW-Madison historians and students to create an exhibit focused on the true culture and diversity of the Ho-Chunk Nation, both locally and otherwise. Research completed by upper-level graduate students will be combined with replica artifacts, narrative text, and visual storytelling. It will first be on display at the Waunakee Public Library, with accompanying discussion programs, and then will travel to other libraries in the South Central system. The Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center will have eventual control over the exhibit.

Underground Railroad Heritage in Racine County

$10,000 to THE RACINE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM

A Major Grant supports the production of a free, web-based mobile tour of twenty-seven locations that share the history of the Underground Railroad and abolitionist activity in Racine County. The journey and story of one individual had a significant effect and ultimately led to Wisconsin ruling the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional. The web app tour will explore how residents of Racine - black and white, poor and wealthy, rural and urban - assisted fugitive enslaved persons to escape to safety and worked towards ending slavery despite personal risk. The mobile tour will establish each trail site as both a “classroom annex” for schoolchildren and a destination for families and growing numbers of Underground Railroad enthusiasts from across the nation.

Journey The Atlantic (Viajando el Atlántico)

$10,000 to BEMBE DRUM AND DANCE

A Major Grants supports “Viajando el Atlántico,” a series of immersive educational workshops for Milwaukee-area students. The program features music within a curriculum that explores the shared histories between Africa and Latinx regions. This program gives students the opportunity to explore their unique identities as Americans and as youth of color who are part of this diaspora. It culminates in community showcases in which guest artists perform with students. Bembe’s programming fills a void in cultural representation and provides targeted support designed to increase knowledge and awareness of African and Latinx cultures, work toward equity for students of color, and foster community engagement through music, drumming, and dance.

When Rubber Hit The Road: The Loss and Legacy of Uniroyal

$9,343 to UW-EAU CLAIRE

A Major Grant supports “When Rubber Hit The Road: The Loss and Legacy of Uniroyal,” a documentary film about the closing of the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company in Eau Claire in1992. The film explores how people worked together to save their city in the aftermath of the closure, which spelled the loss of thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs. Part history, part human-interest story, the documentary will use historical footage and photographs alongside new interviews with people involved. The story weaves together the city’s past and present in search of its economic and cultural future.

Cloth As Land: Hmong Indigeneity

$10,000 to JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER

A Major grant supports an exhibition at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center called "Cloth as Land: Hmong Indigeneity." Curated by Pachia Vang, a scholar and leader in the Hmong arts community, the exhibition will present Hmong textile arts through a lens of "teb chaws,” which translates as longing for earth, country, and land. Almost fifty years after the U.S. withdrawal from the war in Vietnam, the Hmong—who aided the U.S. forces and then had to flee to safety—continue to hold an intense sense of loss and a yearning for homeland. The exhibition brings together a selection from JMKAC’s collection of Hmong textiles (dated 1930s to 1980s) in conversation with the work of four contemporary Hmong American artists: Tshab Her, Ger Xiong, Sieng Lee, and Pao Houa Her. Related programs include three artist residencies, a panel discussion, and a convening of Hmong artists, scholars, and community members.

Enduring Families Project: Children’s Stories

$10,000 to LA CROSSE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

A Major Grant supports elementary school teachers in completing Essential Questions Training to support classroom discussion and the use of primary and secondary documents in relation to eight new historical storybooks. These storybooks depict the resilient and engaging lives of African American settler children in the La Crosse area. The project is designed to provide literature and coloring books in which children of color can see themselves in the early history of La Crosse and more accurately represent the early history of this river settlement. The project includes a workshop led by Dr. Richard Breaux about how to find and use primary sources for curriculum lessons in addition to many public readings of the eight books across historical societies, libraries, and schools.

Thursday Think & Drink

$8,295 to WISCONSIN MARITIME MUSEUM

The Wisconsin Maritime Museum will use a Major Grant to relaunch a monthly speaker series featuring diverse voices and perspectives from World War II. The pandemic disrupted all museum operations and temporarily discontinued adult programs. This year, the museum will again host ten Thursday Think & Drink events, each featuring a humanities expert who will share interesting and often overlooked stories from World War II, including the development of wheelchair basketball and Wisconsin's role in Japanese internment. Digital streaming and archives of the programs will increase access to people who may not be able to travel to the museum to attend in person.

Ridges & Rivers Book Festival

$10,000 to THE CITY OF VIROQUA AND MCINTOSH MEMORIAL LIBRARY

The McIntosh Memorial Library, in partnership with the Driftless Writing Center, received a Major Grant to enhance the cultural richness of the Ridges & Rivers Book Festival. The three-day event in Vernon County brings together authors, writers, illustrators, storytellers, and representatives from small presses to celebrate reading, writing, and creativity. Themes over the weekend investigate who we are as Wisconsinites, immigrants, and neighbors. Grant funds will be used to enrich the festival with an interactive youth and family workshop and a keynote presentation from author Kao Kalia Yang, a Hmong American writer whose books include The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir and The Song Poet. Programs will also discuss Norwegian immigration to Western Wisconsin. Since April is National Poetry Month, the final day of the festival will include special poetry events.

23 Harvest Folk Festival

$10,000 to UW-MADISON

Allen Centennial Garden on the UW-Madison campus will present a Harvest Folk Festival that focuses on the seeds that make the harvest possible. The event features a main stage with music, dancing, food demonstrations, and storytelling from Indigenous, Hmong, African American, Latinx, and European cultures. Student exhibits will share many seed saving and harvest traditions and visitors will be invited to join processes like shelling beans and braiding corn. These entertaining and informative activities will provide opportunities for event participants to examine their own cultural traditions around food and harvests and to learn more about how these traditions compare to those celebrated by other cultures. Additionally, volunteers will facilitate seed sharing and reflection activities designed to emphasize the importance of seeds in providing sustenance, as well as symbolizing a renewal of our relationship to our heritage, our neighbors, and the elements that sustain us.

Revolutionary Art Criticism Residency

$10,000 to WOODLAND PATTERN

Woodland Pattern Book Center, in collaboration with Genre: Urban Arts, received a Major Grant for “The Revolutionary Art Criticism Residency (RACR).” Established in 2021 by Woodland Pattern board member Nakeysha Roberts Washington, the Residency seeks to remedy a lack of BIPOC representation in art criticism. Participants will work as part of intimate cohorts to develop their voices, offer their perspectives, and establish their skills in the world of art criticism. BIPOC writers and audiences will be encouraged to use their own experiences, traditions, individual vantage points, and personally relevant frameworks to deconstruct and digest artworks in ways that bring cultural competency to the art world.

Fashion For a Cause

$10,000 to WISCONSIN UNITED COALITION OF MUTUAL ASSISTANCE ASSOCIATIONS, INC. (WUCMAA)

A Major Grant supports the work of WUCMAA in providing regional, intentional spaces for community members to gather, learn and teach Hmong needlework and sewing. The project seeks to create a platform for aspiring Hmong fashion designers in Wisconsin to showcase their work and vision through the lens of mental health and culture. The history of Hmong needlework involves both ancient traditions and more recent adaptations made during long years of survival in refugee camps. The project pairs local historical and preservation experts with current designers and craftspeople to consider the past and future of Hmong fashion. The project will culminate with a first of its kind statewide Hmong fashion show.

Shakespeare in the Parks: Macbeth

$10,000 to SUMMIT PLAYERS THEATRE

Summit Players Theatre will offer abbreviated, authentic performances of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at twenty-three state parks across Wisconsin in 2023. A Major Grant supports the free, inclusive programs, which introduce audiences of all ages to the classic language and storyline of Macbeth through playful, engaging, and entertaining activities before each performance. Summit Players Theatre works to remove obstacles for those with little exposure to Shakespeare or theatre in general, creating a moving and collective experience that can be understood and enjoyed by anyone.

Everyone is Welcome

$10,000 to WILD SPACE DANCE COMPANY

A Major Grant supports a free, public dance performance choreographed and presented in Forest Home Cemetery and Arboretum in Milwaukee's Southside Lincoln Village neighborhood by twenty diverse artists representing the histories, cultures, and present-day stories of people buried in the cemetery. Audiences will be guided through the cemetery by Milwaukee historian, John Gurda, to discover dance performances along the way. Crafted as a moving narrative of Milwaukee’s diverse history, the performances will take place in relevant locations, such as among the statuary of Black leaders, near mounds made by people indigenous to the area, on an island reserved for Hmong burials, in the Lady of Guadalupe gardens, and by the headstone honoring the only recorded lynching victim in the city’s history. The choreography will explore burial customs and rituals of respect, honor, and belonging. The hour-long program will culminate with a dance inspired by the Lincoln Village community.