mass humanities spring 2016 edition
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Food and Cultural Identity in a CrisisChristmas eve and the smells of red cabbage and apple strudel summon up memories of a place long ago, far away where war and destruction drove my ancestors from a farm in Silesia that had been their home since recorded time. Buildings, land and worldly goods gone, one could only touch our Germanic heritage in the sight, aromas, and tastes of a feast. No one in the room had witnessed the suffering. It was a story, an inheritance of the great journey made by parents and grandparents escaping from the terrors of World War II. With peace, Silesia became part of Poland, the place names changed and the Iron Curtain came down. Nothing remained except for the ability of cabbage and strudel to summon up an image and affi rm an identity.
Food can be home, even when the house is gone. At its most elemental, food is nourishment for the body. At its most evocative, it can be a sensory reminder of familial ties and a cultural legacy.
Displaced, seeking refuge and focused on the basics of survival, those forced from their homeland because of war, terrorism, famine, poverty, or natural disaster have one thing in common: the need for food and water. My memories of family loss and survival were recently sparked by reading Carmen Gentile’s NPR article, For Exiles in Turkey, Syrian Eateries Offer a Taste of Home. The author traveled among refugee camps and border towns, dining at Syrian
restaurants and homes. He reported, “at another local favorite, Baba Amur, the owner…served lamb kebabs and regaled us with stories of his hometown, Palmyra, the Syrian city world-renowned for Roman ruins that Islamic State fi ghters partially destroyed last year.” The architectural damage is a memory, yet the cooking survives and the partaking of dinner is an occasion to revisit the past. As the story unfolds, it reveals the resilience of the refugees and the power of food to provide comfort and to reassert their identity in the face of the overwhelming deprivations they currently endure. The fi nal sen-tence of the article expresses the melancholy of survivors. “It seems even the best meals are but a temporary distraction from the harsh realities Syrians face, even when the dishes are empty and their stomachs full.” Brutality and violence have overrun their ancestral homeland but the gentler act of cooking survives. It is not a cure for their pain, but it is a safe haven they may claim as their own.
After the trauma of fl ight subsides, the challenges of processing those memories begins as reported by Amy Radil in Taste of Bit-terness: Tukwila Students Tell Refugee Experience Through Food. Enrolled at Foster High School, where eighty percent of students are refugees or immigrants, Somali teenagers have published poems in Our Table of Memories, the result of a project called “Stories of Arrival” by poet Merna Hecht and teacher Carrie Stradley. Their verses are intended to help them process what they left behind by remembering meals and the people who prepared them. Abdirah-man Abdi begins his poem, The Food of My Country, with “when my mother cooks, it smells of Somalia.” His comfort is apparent, but he continues, “yet, I taste the struggle that my family has gone through, struggle of food rationing and never enough to eat.” The
Continued on page 2
A Humanities Smorgasbord
A publication of Mass Humanities Spring 2016
In This IssueRecent Grants page 2
The 2016 Massachusetts Governor’s Awards in the Humanities page 8
The 2016 Massachusetts
2015 Annual Report page 3
Past Mass Humanities grant recipient The Welcome Project offers the YUM Restaurant Card, which promotes and supports immigrant-run restaurants in Somerville, MA.
Amidst job insecurity, austerity, war, climate change, and mounting social tensions we are witness to increased human migration. Articles written for the Mass Hu-manities blog The Public Humanist have recently addressed global issues currently in the headlines—the refugee crises, anti-immigrant polices, etc.—through the lenses of history, international relations, and other humanities disciplines. Borders, boundar-ies, and their crossings are at the heart of the “Borderlands” theme, whether literally or metaphorically.
One stand-out piece from this theme is Food and Cultural Identity in a Crisis by fi rst-time Public Humanist author John Tschirch. His twenty-fi ve-year career in the study and preservation of historic sites and cultural heritage has led him on treks across the U.S., South America, Great Britain, and Europe. These experiences informed his perception of the comforts that travel with us across time, space, and borders.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIR
Nancy NetzerBOSTON COLLEGE
VICE CHAIR
James BurkeHINCKLEY, ALLEN & SNYDER LLP
TREASURER
Jeffrey MusmanSEYFARTH SHAW, LLP
CLERK
Ellen BerkmanHARVARD UNIVERSITY
Glynda BenhamMEGAWAVE CORPORATION
Lauren CohenPURE COMMUNICATIONS
Elliot Bostwick DavisMUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
Alice DeLanaCAMBRIDGE
Elizabeth Duclos-OrselloSALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
William M. Fowler, Jr.NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
Alfred GriggsNORTHAMPTON
Andrew HeleneRBS CITIZENS, N.A.
Ronald HertelWELLS FARGO ADVISORS, LLC
Frederick HurstAN AFRICAN AMERICAN POINT OF VIEW
Lindsey KiangBROOKLINE
Michael PapponeGOODWIN PROCTER LLP
Marisa ParhamAMHERST COLLEGE
Thomas PutnamJOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Hilda RamirezWORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY
Patricia Saint AubinNORFOLK
Margaret ShepherdBOSTON
Ronald SlatePOET AND LITERARY CRITIC
Kathleen StoneATTORNEY AT LAW
Kenneth VacovecVACOVEC, MAYOTTE & SINGER LLP
Bianca Sigh WardNYSTROM BECKMAN & PARIS, LLP
G. Perry WuSTAPLES, INC.
Berkshire$4,680 to the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfi eld for Spirit Voices: Pacifi c Northwest Native Myths, a fi ve-month exhibition that explores and drama-tizes the cultural heritage of various Native peoples of the Pacifi c Northwest through myths and stories embodied in art, artifacts, and performances
Connecticut Valley$10,000 to CityLore in Amherst for the design and building of an interac-tive educational website in order to publicize and foster discussion around the feature-length documentary fi lm GI JEWS: Jewish Americans in WWII
Media SMOG
Greater Boston$5,000 to the Boston Live Theater Project to introduce 36 high school juniors and seniors from nine public charter schools to live theater through six live shows and post-performance discussions
$10,000 to the George Lewis Ruffi n So-ciety in Brookline to support the expan-sion and updating of the exhibit Long Road to Justice: The African American Experience in the Massachusetts Courts, a chronicle of the legal struggle for civil rights of African Americans in Mas-sachusetts NSC
$7,000 to the Congregational Library and Archives in Boston to develop a walking tour mobile application explores Boston’s early religious history, with a particular focus on the decision-making practices and contentious issues that characterized life in seventeenth-century Boston NSC
$5,000 to the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown to support a symposium series in conjunction with theatrical productions that explore the connec-tions between religion, science, and identity
$10,000 to The Bostonian Society for educational programming in conjunc-tion with the production of History Theater at the Old State House: Blood on the Snow, a collaborative theatre project with educational components surrounding the aftermath of the Boston Massacre NSC
$10,000 to Emerson College in Boston to support initial fi lming, research, and the creation of a project website and plan for a documentary that follows prisoners as they work with programs intended to help them establish a foot-hold in society after being released from incarceration Media
$10,000 to Documentary Educational Resources in Watertown to conduct and fi lm interviews and to perform archival research for the documentary fi lm, The Philadelphia Eleven, about the women who were ordained as priests in 1974 as an act of civil disobedience within the Episcopal Church Media
Metrowest Boston$5,000 to Belmont World Film in Sudbury to support the Family Festival & 15th Annual International Film Series, featuring international fi lm and documentary premiers and focusing on international cultural understanding
Northeast$5,000 to the Lawrence History Center for the planning and implementation of a one-day symposium on the effects of federal and state urban renewal programs on Lawrence and other industrial cities
Southeast$4,047 to the Foxborough Regional Charter School for a reading and discussion program for pre-teens and their caregivers, particularly focused on participation by male caregivers
$5,000 to the Somerset Berkley Re-gional High School for 36 students in the school’s Advanced Digital Photog-raphy program to create a town-wide large-scale photo installation of the historic places, people, and culture of the town
Out of State$4,500 to Fractured Atlas in New York, NY, for performer Jonathan Mirin to expand and develop a new version of Mill, Mountain, River: A Child’s Eye View of Older Colraine, a local history theatre piece adapted to different communities which share Coleraine’s mill history and to be performed at the SYRUP Festival in Shelburne Falls
hardships emerge further with the lines, “then the Ifo refugee camp, better housing but still not enough food, and so strange a taste, a taste of bitterness.” The con-cluding words bring hope. “In America, we still cook our Somali food. It travels with us wherever we go. It’s the taste of home.”
As a preservationist for the past thirty years, I devoted myself to saving objects and places which enlighten and instruct. Stories of Syrian and Somali refugees, however, have taught me the most valuable lesson.
A tangible heritage may disappear when land, build-ings, and possessions are no longer available as sources of memory. History and the arts, however, prove the power of the senses and memory to survive, resurrect, and preserve a people’s cultural identity. It lives in the words and deeds of the displaced. When refugees cook and teenagers compose poems on food, their actions and words are visible evidence of the survival of a heritage, the continued creation of a cultural life and hope for the future.
Continued from page 1
The stories of Jewish veterans like Paul Cohen are captured in GI Jews.
Recent Grants
Several of the grants fall under special categories: Media Pre-Production NSC: Negotiating the Social Contract SMOG: Social Media Outreach Grant
Students in the Somerset Berkley Regional High School Advanced Digital Photography program capture their hometown’s identity for a town-wide installation.
3
Making the Humanities PublicI have exciting news. Mass Humanities has just received a $75,000 planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to launch an initiative that promises to transform the cultural and civic landscapes of the Commonwealth.
Once it is fully realized, what we are calling our Community College Public Humanities Centers Initiative will create public humanities centers at one or more community colleges in all six regions
of the state—the Berkshires, the Connecticut River Valley, Central Mass., Greater Boston, the Northeast, and the South Coast.
Each center will be the result of a collaboration between the community college, local cultural and civic organizations such as the public library and the local historical society, humanities scholars at nearby colleges and universities, and Mass Humanities. Led by a director based at the college, each team will plan and implement programs that speak to the needs and interests of the local community.
In Massachusetts, as elsewhere, community colleges are under increasing pressure to focus more and more on vocational and technical training at the expense of
the humanities and liberal arts, even though this is the only higher education the majority of com-munity college students will receive. The CCPHC initiative represents a modest counterbalance to this trend, affi rming the importance and value of the humanities not only for students but for the community at large.
The NEH planning grant allows us to test our concept at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfi eld, Bristol Community College in Fall River, and Holyoke Community College. Scholars from Williams College, Mass College of the Liberal Arts, Amherst College, Clark University, Boston University, UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst will participate. If all goes according to plan, next year at this time we will submit an implementation grant to the NEH that will provide multi-year funding for these three centers
The primary purpose of the centers is to marshal and supplement the resources of the community colleges to present forums and panel discussions, book and fi lm discussion programs, author talks, documentary photo and art exhibitions, local history programs, and other public humanities programs for both students and people living in their regions.
The centers may also encourage interdisciplinary thinking and innovative humanities curriculum development, bringing scholars and writers in from other institutions to engage faculty and students, etc., but their primary function will be community outreach.
I imagine the Community College Public Humanities Center as a place where residents come together on a regular basis with humanists, artists, social scientists, and policymakers bringing multiple perspectives to bear on pressing local issues.
Our aspirational goal is to have Public Humanities Centers at all 15 of the state’s community colleges and for them to be seen as integral to the cultural and civic lives of the communities they serve. We hope in the process to provide a model for other states.
Please feel free to be in touch with me if you have ideas about increasing the impact and ensuring the sustainability of this initiative. And follow our progress through the Mass Humanities eNewsletter, available on our website at masshumanities.org/sign-up.
Boston, the Northeast, and the South Coast.
Each center will be the result of a collaboration between the community college, local cultural and civic organizations such as the public library and the local
MASS HUMANITIES66 Bridge StreetNorthampton, MA 01060tel (413) 584-8440 fax (413) 584-8454 www.masshumanities.org
STAFF
David TebaldiEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Pleun BouriciusDIRECTOR OF GRANTS & PROGRAMS
Carolyn CushingASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Deepika FernandesFISCAL OFFICER
Abbye MeyerPROGRAM OFFICER
David MorganCOMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
EDITOR OF MASS HUMANITIES
Anne RogersSYSTEMS MANAGER
Rose Sackey-MilliganPROGRAM OFFICER
John SierackiDIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
AND COMMUNICATIONS
Jeannemarie TobinDEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT
Melissa WheatonADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT AND
GRANTS ADMINISTRATOR
Mass Humanities promotes the use of history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to deepen our understanding of the issues of the day, strengthen our sense of common purpose, and enrich individual and com-munity life. We take the humanities out of the classroom and into the community.
Mass Humanities, a private, nonprofi t, educational organization, receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; and private sources.
Annual Report
2015
Program UpdatesThe Clemente CourseForty-one students earned transferrable college credit through the Clemente Course in 2015. The tuition-free course en-ables students from disadvantaged backgrounds to study the humanities disciplines in order to gain more control over their lives and become more deeply engaged in their communities. Graduates of the Mass Humanities program now outnumber those in any other state, thanks in part to the addition of our Worcester site. Courses also got underway at our latest loca-tion in Springfield.
Family Adventures in Reading (FAIR)Ten public libraries throughout Massachusetts encouraged children and their caretakers to improve their literacy skills and increase library use through our FAIR sessions in 2015. Storytellers read aloud from select children’s literature on character-building themes. Overall, the program served 140 families in 2015, including 202 children, most of whom par-ticipated several times in the six-session series.
Literature & MedicineThree hospitals hosted sessions of Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health CareTM, a program that enables hospital workers to engage more deeply with their work through the power of literature. Two hosts have of-fered the program since 2009 and one since 2008. Twenty-two veterans and their families also received the special attention of a pilot program in 2015, Literature, Medicine, and the Experience of War, as part of the National Endow-ment for the Humanities’ Standing Together initiative.
Massachusetts HistoryThe 11th annual Massachusetts History Conference drew 185 people from almost 100 organizations to Worcester. The daylong event focused on the history of food in Massachusetts. Our popular Mass Moments Facebook page, chronicling notable events in Massachu-setts history, grew by 20% to reach nearly 1,600 fans.
The Public HumanistDrawing on the talents of over fifty Massachusetts writ-ers, filmmakers, and educators, The Public Humanist blog left the Valley Advocate to find a new home on the Mass Humanities website in 2015. Six new writers joined The Public Humanist ranks and twenty-one original articles were published last year on topics as varied as are the humanities disciplines.
Reading Frederick DouglassNine communities across the Commonwealth hosted our timely and provocative annual event series, Read-ing Frederick Douglass. Hundreds of participants took turns reading from Douglass’ speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro” and engaged in conversations about race and national-ism. Two other states, Vermont and North Carolina, were inspired to host their own readings this year based on our series.
Berkshire$10,000 to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center for the gathering of local oral histories from members of multi-gener-ational working families in the Berkshire County area and the subsequent creation and perfor-mance of four short plays based on their stories ENA
$10,000 to Lift Ev’ry Voice to support a summer youth program as part of the Biannual Lift Ev’ry Voice Festival, focused on African-American identity in the Berk-shire’s as well as the history and question of civil rights ENA
$3,542 to the Lenox Library As-sociation for the production of an 80-minute documentary featuring footage from more than 50 oral-history interviews of elderly Lenox residents to mark the town’s 250th anniversary
Cape & Islands$10,000 to the Cape Cod Commu-nity Media Center for preproduc-tion of Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck, a film project that will trace the life of May-flower passenger Stephen Hopkins as part of the Center’s “Hit and Run History” series Media
$5,000 to the Provincetown Theater Foundation for multi-lingual playbill essays and study for local high schools and community college classes il-luminating the relationship between the Provincetown Playhouse’s famous founders and the Portuguese fishing community on the theater’s 100th an-niversary ENA
$5,000 to the U.S. Slave Song Project in Oak Bluffs for the writing of the li-bretto of a “folk opera” about the mid-nineteenth-century African American experience on Martha’s Vineyard
Central$10,000 to the Grace Land Conservation Trust to support the development of an educational and informational program focusing on the economic and civic history of local agriculture by telling the stories of 6 farms in 6 towns in the region served by the Trust NSC
$4,000 to The Gardner Museum to support a community art and discussion project that will engage former chair manufacturing workers in producing 400 copies of eleven oral histories recorded in 2009, after the closing of the city’s last chair manufacturer
Connecticut Valley$4,695 to the Emily Dickinson Museum for a one-day conference for staff members of New England’s literary house museums, entitled Creative Spaces: The Preservation, Interpretation, and Future of Historic Liter-ary Sites
$5,000 to the Charlemont Federated Church for The Charlemont Forum, a series of summer lectures offered by scholars, legal experts, and city officials, with con-tributions from recent immigrants to the Commonwealth on the history of immigra-tion in the U.S.
$2,500 to the Four Rivers Charter Public School for 11th graders’ dramatic reading of the voices of selected human rights lead-ers in a theatrical performance of Voices from Beyond the Dark by Ariel Dorfman
$9,750 to The Literacy Project for memoir writing workshops for 75 adult basic educa-tion students in five western Massachusetts classrooms ENA
$5,000 to Historic Northampton for an ar-chaeological dig at the 1719 Parsons House, to which area third and fourth grade stu-dents and the public will be invited
$5,000 to the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts for a conversation between jazz legend Archie Shepp and students from Science and Technology of Springfield and Holyoke High Schools on how social and political current events im-pact the direction of contemporary music
$3,000 to the Hatfield Historical Society to employ a scholar to evaluate and organize materials and develop a searchable, descrip-tive database of the Museum’s medical collection from the early 1900s SIR
$5,000 to WGBY in Springfield for a five-to-twelve-minute pilot video about Portuguese cuisine and its history hosted by Manny Lopes of Cooking with Dad TV
Media
$2,900 to Silverthorne Theater Company in South Hadley, in residence at Greenfield Community College, to produce a play by Yussef El Guindi, host post-performance talks with the playwright, and host a free, public symposium on the role of the arts in challenging stereotypes
$5,000 to the Springfield Public Forum to support the 80th season of the speaker series, consisting of five free public lectures
$5,000 to the Mary Lyon Foundation in Shelburne Falls for a local history day at Mohawk Trail Regional High School unit-ing teachers, students, and the public with local history organizations
2015 Grants Several of the grants fall under special categories:
Mass Humanities awarded $325,265 in grants to 49 organizations in 2015, which provided for public humanities programming in 35 communities around the Commonwealth.
5
$6,200 to Wistariahurst Museum for a bilingual exhibit on Latino heritage created in consultation with Holyoke residents and focused on the relationships of the subjects with their grandmothers
ENA
Greater Boston$9,700 to the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library for an exhibition timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Boston’s resistance to the British Stamp Act of 1765, as well as a sum-mer teachers’ institute for teachers in the Boston Public School district
NSC
$10,000 to Central Square Theatre for community humanities program-ming to complement the play, Mr g, for underserved youth and young and working adults, including faith-based communities of color ENA
$5,000 for the Cambridge Forum to host a series of six public conversa-tions, entitled The Health of Democ-racy, that examine the proper role of government in promoting the general welfare of its citizens as well as shap-ing and overseeing the nation’s social contract NSC
$10,000 to Save the Harbor / Save the Bay to train summer program staff to engage new audiences in humanities storytelling about Boston Harbor and its historical denizens
ENA
$8,000 to the Friends of the Public Garden to support the annual history day on Boston Common, in which more than 1,000 fi fth grade students participate ENA
$10,000 to the Fletcher Maynard Academy for a program engaging 25 young black men from grades three through fi ve in nominating the home of local hero Suzanne Revaleon Green for inclusion on the African American Heritage Trail in Cam-bridge ENA
$10,000 to the Institute for New England Native American Studies to convene Native groups in Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod Islands and South Coast, and Amherst in round-table discussions envisioning a new social contract between the Com-monwealth and its Native peoples
NSC
$5,000 to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge for the creation of two short fi lms by Roberto Mighty featur-ing historical fi gures, their monu-ments, and the cemetery landscape, to be included in a series of twenty shorts that will be the basis of a walking tour mobile app
$5,000 to the USS Constitution Museum in Boston for a short fi lm featuring an animation of the 1790s building of the USS Constitution, to be shown while Old Ironsides is in dry dock and can be seen in her entirety
$9,848 to the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black History and Culture in Boston for a reading, discussion, and per-formance program for Boston cab drivers based on Dmitry Samarov’s Where To? ENA
$5,000 to the Asian American Re-source Workshop in Boston for the seventh Boston Asian American Film Festival, a four-day themed festival on intergenerational immigrant experiences
$10,000 to MataHari: Eye of the Day in Boston for a multimedia oral history project with workers and employers about the MA Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, including two public events NSC, ENA
$10,000 to Documentary Educa-tional Resources of Watertown for preproduction work on a documen-tary covering the role of music in the maintaining of cultural identity among Tibetan exiles Media
$1,500 to the Chinese Historical Society of New England in Boston to inventory, translate and assess client fi les from the Harry H. Dow papers archived at the Suffolk Law School Library RIG
Metrowest Boston$3,500 to TC Squared Theatre Com-pany for performances of their play, The Great War Theatre Company: Messengers of Bitter Truth, at 6 Boston area high schools
$10,000 to the Indochina Arts Partnership in Wellesley to create a trailer, script, and fundraising plan for a one-hour documentary fi lm by Bestor Cram about the post-war realities in Vietnam and American veterans’ ongoing involvement there
Media
Northeast $5,000 for the Pedroso Center for Portuguese Cul-ture and Research at UMass Lowell to develop and imple-ment an exhibit with programming focusing on Portuguese immigration to Lowell, beginning in the early twentieth century
$5,000 to Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell to support programs for girls 10 and older learning about the famous Lowell Mill Girls through history lessons, site visits, and walk-ing-and-photography tours ENA
$10,000 to the Filmmakers Collab-orative, in support of a social media campaign to launch a multimedia electronic book depicting the history of China’s One-Child Policy and the experiences of two adopted Chinese-American girls who visited their place of birth SMOG
$4,000 to Lawrence Community Works for the Reel Talk Film series, a three-part moderated fi lm-and-discussion program with underserved Lawrence youth
$4,630 to the Essex National Heritage Commission for a one-day symposium familiarizing regional historic and cultural resource organi-zations with the history and legacy of slavery in the north and helping them develop programming and materials
NSC
$5,000 to the Tsongas Center for Industrial History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell for the production of a 3-minute fi lm that is to provide background for Tsongas Center interactive civic activity that focuses on immigration NSC
Southeast$10,000 to the City of Brockton, Mayor’s Offi ce of Community En-gagement, for a community conversa-tion on historic approaches to social contract negotiation and achieving citizen rights and freedoms, and signage marking approaches to the subject by notable historical fi gures
ENA
$5,000 to the Old Colony Histori-cal Society to support an exhibit to focus on the Skinner department store in downtown Taunton at the turn of the twentieth century as part of the Society’s revitalized community engagement efforts ENA
$10,000 to the Center for Indepen-dent Documentary in Sharon for short-fi lm social media efforts to support the creation and distribu-tion of the full-length documentary fi lm DAWNLAND, about the Maine Wabanaki-State Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission
Media SMOG
$2,500 to the Fall River Preservation Society for research for and fabrica-tion of six historical plaques, to be awarded to property owners for their efforts in maintaining the histori-cal integrity and condition of their property
$5,000 to the New Bedford Fish-ing Heritage Center to develop an educational website about the history of the commercial fi shing industry in New Bedford, providing online access to oral histories and other materials gathered by the Working Waterfront Festival
Out of State$10,000 to Insight Productions for the development of a trailer and a written treatment for a documentary about the security measure in Ameri-can public schools of arming teachers
Media
$10,000 to Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confi nement to document the stories of detained immigrants in six short audio/video pieces and to present those in four moderated community fi lm-and-discussion programs NSC
ENA: Engaging New Audiences RIG: Research Inventory Grant
SMOG: Social Media Outreach Grant Media Pre-Production SIR: Scholarship-in-Residence Grant NSC: Negotiating the Social Contract
Above: Jordan Ahnquist and Melissa Jesser in Mr g at Central Square Theatre. (A.R. Sinclair Photography)
Left: Wistariahurst Museum hosts Nuestras Abuelas de Holyoke: Empowerment and Legacy curated by Waleska Santiago.
Mass Humanities awarded $325,265 in grants to 49 organizations in 2015, which provided for public humanities programming in 35 communities around the Commonwealth.
National Endowment for the Humanities: $828,790
Massachusetts Cultural Council: $444,824
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: $200,000
$20,000+Adams-Burgess
Charitable Fund of Fidelity Charitable
Choate, Hall & Stewart, LLP
Federation of State Humanities Councils
Carolee N. Howell, in memory of Harry Howell
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
$10,000+The George I. Alden
TrustAnonymousBlue Cross Blue Shield
of MassachusettsCommunity Foundation
of Western Massachusetts
Elizabeth and Roberto S. Goizueta, and the Goizueta Family Charitable Gift Fund of Fidelity Charitable
Lindsey Kiang and Anne-Marie Soulliere, through the Mauna Kea Fund of Fidelity Charitable
Hertel & Konish Wealth Management Group
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate (cash and in-kind)
Charles and Polly Longsworth Fund of Fidelity Charitable
Peggy and David Starr Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
Vila B. Webber 1985 Charitable Trust
$5,000+AnonymousBoston Private Bank &
Trust CompanyBernice Buresh, in
memory of Irwin Oppenheim
James R. BurkeClipper Ship
Foundation, Inc.John and Marie DaceyDoherty Family Chari-
table Fund at the Com-munity Foundation of Western Massachusetts
Feinberg Rozen, LLPFidelity InvestmentsGourmet Caterers
(in-kind)Al and Sally GriggsLucile P. Hicks Fund of
Fidelity CharitableJohn F. Kennedy Library
FoundationMuseum of Fine ArtsJeffrey Musman and
Lynne Spencer Staples Foundation for
LearningUniversity of
Massachusetts AmherstVacovec, Mayotte and
Singer, LLPWilmer Cutler Pickering
Hale and Dorr LLP
$2,500+Elizabeth and Ned BaconLisa BaskinBay Path UniversitySanford and Elizabeth
BeldenEllen Berkman and
David Bryant, and The Berkman-Bryant Family Fund of Vanguard Charitable
Boston UniversityEastern Bank Charitable
FoundationGoodwin Procter LLP Hinckley, Allen & Snyder
LLPEdward M. Kennedy
Institute for the United States Senate
Jean MacCormackNortheastern University
College of Professional Studies, in honor of the Lowell Institute
Michael Pappone and Diane Savitzky
Regan Family Fund of Fidelity Charitable
William SchawbelSeyfarth Shaw LLP William SheaRon and Nancy SlateThe Rochelle Slate
2001 TrustSpringfield CollegeThe Stern and London
Families, in honor of Margot Stern Strom
United Way of North Central MA, Inc.
Wells Fargo Foundation in cooperation with Wells Fargo Advisors
Western New England University
WGBH Educational Foundation
G. Perry Wu and Grace Kao
$1,000+Paul and Edith Babson
Foundation
The Barrington Foundation, Inc.
Glynda Benham and Alan Karass
David J. Bromer, in honor of Jeffrey Musman
Ruth ButlerJohn J. Carroll and Fran
LipsonColonial Society of
MassachusettsJavier CorralesFacing History and
Ourselves, in honor of Margot Stern Strom
Andrew HeleneSeth and Beth Klarman,
in honor of Margot Stern Strom
Lucia and Thomas Knoles
Charles W. LidzThomas and Michelle
McCarthyDavid NashSaint Michael’s CollegeSclove Family Fund of
Fidelity CharitableMargaret ShepherdMargot Stern StromDavid TebaldiFrank Virnelli, in honor
of Ronald B. HertelDavid C. Weinstein Fund
at Fidelity Charitable, in honor of Thomas Putnam
Judy Wise, in honor of Margot Stern Strom
$250+John Abromson Family
Philanthropic Fund of Fidelity Charitable
Charles Alesi and Rita Kappers Alesi
Lawrence AmbsAnonymousAnonymous, in honor of
Margaret H. MarshallGeorgia and James
BarnhillBen and Diane BirnbaumKathryn R. Bloom
Charitable Trust of the U.S. Charitable Gift Trust
Johanna BransonMargaret BurchenalNicholas CarterRhonda Cobham-SanderLauren and Ian CohenWendy and Richard
CohenPaul CoughlanAlice DeLanaRose DohertyElizabeth A. Duclos-
Orsello, Ph.D. and Chase Duclos-Orsello, Ph.D.
Elizabeth DuffyEllen Dunlap and Frank
ArmstrongMaureen Dwyer
Michael ElefanteElaine EpsteinJohn M. EvansFrederick FierstDennis Fiori, in honor
of William A. LowellRobert ForrantSusan GrabskiRoss GrantLinda HallRobert Hesslein and
Christine CiottiJohn E. HillJohn HornorAlan Karass John Keenan and Kara
McLaughlinAlexa and Ranch Kimball
Fund of Fidelity Charitable
Kevin KuechlerRichard LappinSusan and Drew LeffSusan Levine Houston
and The Honorable Julian Houston
James J. LopesAngela LowellFrank MairanoMichael and Judith
ManzoMartha MayoJeff and Martha
McLaughlinRobert MeagherMartha Minow, in
honor of Margaret H. Marshall and Margot Stern Strom
Robert S. Molloy, in honor of G. Perry Wu
John and Kristin Montgomery
Nancy Netzer and Robert Silberman
Martin Newhouse and Nancy Scott
Peter S. O’ConnellMarisa ParhamStuart PeterfreundGail T. RandallJohn Sigel and Sally ReidGail T. ReimerJessica SchorJohn SierackiBianca Sigh Ward and
John WardLisa SimmonsBecky SnidermanFrank SousaPaul and Anne SpirnDanielle SteinmannKathie StevensKathleen Stone and
Andrew GraingerPeter TorkildsenDennis TownleyLinda and Kenneth
VacovecStow WalkerPeter J. WhalenCynthia WilliamsWinston Flowers
(in-kind)Margaret D. Xifaras
$100+Michele and Mark
AldrichVirginia AlexanderPaula Andrews and
George HincheyAnonymousChristian and Katherine
AppyBank of America
Charitable FoundationKathleen BarkerLeonard and Jane
BernsteinJanet BeyerJanet BuerklinCarl CarlsenCitizens Bank FoundationWendy CovellMargaret DaleCarolyn DaviesKarissa DeCarloJohn DineenKatherine DomotoRobert S. Donaldson,
in memory of Barbara Donaldson
Abby ElmoreDavid L. EntinLuise ErdmannBarbara FiloAllen W. FletcherWalter FrazeDavid GlassbergGary GoshgarianStephen and Linda
Greyser Fund of Fidelity Charitable
Charlie HarakDavid J. HarrisLorraine HeffernanJane HennedyFlorentine Films/Hott
Productions, Inc.Laurie KahnMarie KingGail L. KitchBarbara C. KohinG. Ramsay LiemElizabeth LimaAnn Lisi and Joel GreeneJanice LitwinRoseanne MacDonaldAlbert MaloBarbara MathewsRoger and Carol McNeillEllen MesserJanet MouldingKathryn C. Murphy, in
honor of Margaret H. Marshall
Sonia Nieto and Angel Nieto
Bill Nigreen/Kathleen McDermott Fund of Fidelity Charitable
James PeaseJanice RahimiRatliff Family Charitable
FundJeannette RileyDolores Root Charitable
Fund of U.S. Charitable Gift Trust
Dea Savitzky
Sara ShanahanSarah ShoemakerJames Shorris and Cindy
Hyatt, in memory of Earl Shorris
Ellen M. SmithBarbara SpiegelmanCatherine StarkPatricia SuhrckeWilliam and Caroline
TonerPolly Traina, in memory
of Richard P. TrainaUnited Way of Rhode
Island, Inc.Alden T. and Virginia
VaughanWilliam D. WallaceJudith WalshJohn D. WarnerFaith D. WhiteNancy WilskerMargaret A. Wiseman
Up to $99Suzette AbbottRussell AnnisAnonymous (4)Barbara ArmisteadJulie ArrisonNancy AtwoodMary Baker-WoodHosea Baskin and Sarah
ButtenwieserChristopher BenningSusan BernardyLinda C. BlackLawrence BlumLucy R. Boyle Fund of
Fidelity CharitableJeanne BrackenSuzanne BuchananLawrence BumpusJustyna M. CarlsonEunice CharlesEmily ContoisGuy CorpPat CostelloRobert DemancheRobert T. DerryLouise D. DeutschGloria DoveAbaigeal DudaSally EbelingCharles EllisPhilip EugeneJudy FarrarAnne ForbesMary Ann Ford, in honor
of Jack ChengMargaret FortierDonald R. FriaryEnid GamerJayne GordonCarol H. GreenJonathan GreenKatherine GyllensvardMarie E. HallCharlotte HallerAnn H. HimmelbergerJanet HivelyJudith HurleyRebecca IkeharaJuliet JacobsonJessica Johnson
2015 Contributors
Italics indicate that the donor designated all or some of the dollars they contributed in 2015 as permanently restricted (endowment) as part of the Inspire Campaign to match the Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
7
Mary Ann JohnsonEugenia KaledinMt. Kearsarge Indian
MuseumCarolyn KeatingTom KelleherSheila KirschbaumLaura KitchingsStephen LapeyrouseMitchell LapinBruce LaurieAmy LinkMarlene LopesCharles Lotspeich
Liz LovelandHenry LukasForest LyfordKaren LynchIngrid and Donald
MacGillisDouglas MaitlandDeborah MajewskiMeredith MarcinkewiczSusan MareneckChloe MartinVeronica MartzahlSadiemarie MayesSharon Maynard
Clifford McCarthyAlfred McKee JrTeri Melo, in memory of
Sue Ann VanchoKamii MiekoJane MoodyMichaela MoranLavada NahonStephen NathansonRobert NessonGale NigroshBriana NurseBarry and Kristin
O’ConnellJames M. O’Hare
John O’ReillyJohn OttSonia PachecoJennifer PackardMerry B. PostFlorence PreislerSue PuckerJonathan RaltonAnna RamsteadLaura H. ReboulDennis RiceMarilyn RichardsonJanice RogovinBeryl RosenthalWendyl Ross
Donna E. RussoRobert SalernoNeal SalisburyLouise SandbergMaud Marie SantucciClara SchneeLesley SchoenfeldEmily SchubinFrances Shedd-FisherJillian SilverbergMargo SmithEllen SteinbaumDiann StrausbergLaura SyreDavid TabernerRandy Testa
Ruth ThomasianSusan TurnerJason VandinterShirley WagnerSandra S. WaxmanJudith WeberNancy WeissmanArthur and Ann YoungCaroline YuntaErin YuskaitisSusan Zeiger
2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIR
Nancy NetzerBOSTON COLLEGE
VICE CHAIR
James R. BurkeHINCKLEY, ALLEN & SNYDER LLP
TREASURER
Jeffrey MusmanSEYFARTH SHAW, LLP
CLERK
Ellen BerkmanHARVARD UNIVERSITY
Glynda BenhamMEGAWAVE CORPORATION
Lauren CohenPURE COMMUNICATIONS
Javier CorralesAMHERST COLLEGE
Elliot Bostwick DavisMUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
Alice DeLanaCAMBRIDGE
Elizabeth Duclos-OrselloSALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
Alfred L. GriggsNORTHAMPTON
Andrew HeleneRBS CITIZENS, N.A.
Ronald B. HertelWELLS FARGO ADVISORS, LLC
Lindsey KiangBROOKLINE
Michael PapponeGOODWIN PROCTER LLP
Marisa ParhamAMHERST COLLEGE
Thomas PutnamJOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM
Margaret ShepherdBOSTON
Lisa SimmonsMA OFFICE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM
Ron SlatePOET AND LITERARY CRITIC
Kathleen StoneATTORNEY AT LAW
Ken VacovecVACOVEC, MAYOTTE & SINGER LLP
Bianca Sigh WardNYSTROM BECKMAN & PARIS, LLP
G. Perry WuSTAPLES, INC.
2015 FinancialsMASSACHUSETTS FOUNDATION FOR THE HUMANITIES, INC. STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION OCTOBER 31, 2015
ASSETS
Current AssetsCash 1,320,771Grants receivable 288,078Other accounts receivable —Prepaid expenses 44,337Pledges receivable - within one year 78,692
Total Current Assets $1,731,878
Capital Assets–At CostLeasehold improvements 32,032Equipment 11,430Computer software 7,910Vehicle 12,498 63,870Less – accumulated depreciation (56,724)
Total Capital Assets $7,146
Other AssetsInvestments 10,218Investments – endowment 1,473,742Cash – donor designated 321,910Cash – board designated 4,220Pledges receivable – after one year 37,125
Total Other Assets $1,847,215
TOTAL ASSETS $3,586,239
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
Current LiabilitiesRegrants payable 102,447Accounts payable and accrued expenses 64,208Deferred revenue 25,250
Total Current Liabilitiesand Total Liabilities $191,905
Net AssetsUnrestricted 743,408 Unrestricted–board designated 103,209Temporarily restricted 780,880Permanently restricted 1,766,837
Total Net Assets $3,394,334
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $3,586,239
Administration 15%
Grants and Programs 71%Fundraising 14%
Expenses: $1,555,627
Revenue: $1,643,671Individuals 11%State 30%
Foundations 2%
Other organizations 3%
Corporations 4%State 30%
Federal 50%
CHANGES IN UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS (INCLUDING NET ASSETS RELEASED FROM RESTRICTIONS)
Interest <1%
88
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: $575,000
National Endowment for the Humanities: $425,000
$100,000+John Burgess and
Nancy AdamsThe Paterson
Historical Fund
$20,000+Jean BeardJames and Laura
BurkeAl and Sally
GriggsRonald and
Colleen Hertel
$10,000+Anonymous
(2)Lisa Baskin
Ellen Berkman and David Bryant
Dianne F. and Paul Doherty
Carolee HowellSusan and Drew LeffPolly and Charles
LongsworthJeffrey Musman and
Lynne SpencerJohn and Joan ReganWilliam SchawbelDavid and Peggy StarrJohn StaufferKenneth and Linda
VacovecKatherine and Phillip
VillersG. Perry Wu
$5,000+Sanford and Elizabeth
BeldenBen and Diane
BirnbaumBruce Bullen and Maria
KrokidasBernice BureshRichard and Wendy
Cohen
Jill Ker ConwayJohn and Marie DaceyFeinberg Rozen, LLPLucile HicksLindsey Kiang and
Anne-Marie SoulliereLeila KinneyJean MacCormackSusan Mikula and
Rachel MaddowCullen and Anna Marie
MurphyMichael Pappone and
Diane SavitzkyWilliam and Laura SheaLisbeth TarlowDavid TebaldiCynthia Terwilliger
$1,000+Ned and Elizabeth
BaconKathryn BloomRuth ButlerJohn CarrollCitizens Bank
FoundationJavier CorralesAndrew HeleneLucia and Thomas
Knoles
Charles LidzRichard and Marcie
ScloveDavid Weinstein
Up to $999Lawrence AmbsGlynda BenhamLinda C. BlackPleun BouriciusLauren and Ian CohenElliot Bostwick DavisJohn DineenAbaigeal DudaAlexa and Ranch
KimballJames LopesSonia and Angel NietoMarisa ParhamPeter O’ConnellTom PutnamJohn Sigel and Sally
ReidBianca Sigh WardLisa SimmonsLauren SloatKathleen Stone and
Andrew GraingerPeter TorkildsenPolly Traina, in memory
of Richard P. TrainaSuzanne Frazier Wilkins
Inspire CampaignWe Did It, For Underserved Communities!
There was no fanfare, no red carpet, no confetti in August—but there surely was cause for celebration—when we confi rmed that, with a new appropriation in the Massachusetts budget, more than $1,700,000 had been committed to establish Mass Humanities’ fi rst signifi cant endowment. Along with the Commonwealth, many individuals and foundations have contributed more than $1,275,000 for this purpose. This was the amount needed to match the Challenge Grant of $425,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities—which had a deadline one year later, in July 2017. This Fund for New Communities is a permanent source of funding for programs that reach those who have limited access to the humanities, for social, economic, geographical, or other reasons—for example, the Clemente Course in the Humanities, which you can read about elsewhere in this report.
The Awards Dinner follows the 2016 Fall Forum
Four Historians Take On President Obama’s Place In Historyin the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Auditorium 4:30 – 6:30 PM
FREE and open to the public
In recognition of their public actions, grounded in an appreciation of the humanities, to enhance civic life in the Commonwealth, the 2015 Massachusetts Governor’s Awards in the Humanities will be conferred upon:
The 2016 Massachusetts Governor’s Awards in the Humanities To be Conferred at a Dinner to Support the Public Humanities in Massachusetts
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 6:30 PM
Frieda Garcia, is a former Mass Humanities board member who has led more than 70 nonprofi t boards as a staff or board member over her long career as a social activist and community leader in Boston.Aul Gawande, a champion of humanism in healthcare, is a surgeon, writer, professor, and innovator. His latest book is Being Mortal. Lia Poorvu, is an advocate for libraries, cultural institutions, universities, and at-risk children who connects people and organizations that have rarely worked with one another strengthening the fabric of cultural and social life in the state.
Registration for both events will open mid-year. Please save the date and plan to join us at the Boston Public Library in November.
Ellen Fitzpatrick, political historian, University of New Hampshire; author of The Highest Glass Ceiling: Women’s Quest for the American PresidencyAnnette Gordon-Reed, historian and law professor, Harvard University; author of “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the ImaginationDavid Greenberg, journalist; historian, Rutgers University; author of Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American PresidencyHeather Cox Richardson, professor of American history, Boston College; author of To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party
Perhaps no American president came into offi ce with greater challenges or higher hopes than Barack Obama. Where will future presidential historians rank our fi rst African-American president? For what will he be best remembered?
Scenes from past Governor’s Awards dinnersTop: Kenneth Feinberg and Clemente Course graduate
Ieshia Karasik; Thomas PutnamMiddle: 2015 award recipients Margot Stern Strom,
William A. Lowell, Jr., and Margaret H. MarshallBottom: 2014 award recipients Malcolm Rogers, J.
Donald Monan, S.J., Hubert E. Jones, and Jill Ker Conway
SAVE THE DATE Sunday, November 6, 2016