For Immediate Release
May 30, 2024

Contact: Dana Barcellos-Allen | dbarcellos-allen@cthumanities.org | 860-937-6648

CT Humanities Awards $34,531 in Quick Grants to 8 Organizations for Civics, Historical, and Cultural Projects

‘Broadly, we want our visitors to leave thinking about how our communities and society shape
our values and beliefs as individuals, and that we also have the power to impact them.’

MIDDLETOWN, CT (May 30, 2024) – The board of directors of CT Humanities has awarded $34,531 in project grants from the CT Humanities Fund to eight nonprofits across Connecticut, from Windham to West Hartford, Fairfield to Groton, and places between, for a wide variety of humanities programming.

The latest round of Quick Grant projects includes a colonial history series designed to bring people together as we approach America 250, a documentary screening as part of a Juneteenth event, poetry reading and discussion in public gardens, projects on women textile workers during the American Revolution, African American printmakers, Chilean fiber artists, and Bridgeport brass laborers in WWII, along with a historical political activism exhibit at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.

Ben Gammel, director of exhibitions at The CT Museum, says, “This exhibition at the Connecticut Museum will feature the stories of the Wide Awakes, a nationwide political campaign organization founded by young adults in Hartford who supported Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 presidential election. We hope the exhibition will stimulate conversation and reflection about what it means to be politically active in the United States — both past and present — among young adults. Broadly, we want our visitors to leave thinking about how our communities and society shape our values and beliefs as individuals, and that we also have the power to impact them.”

CT Humanities’ most recent Quick Grant funded programs include:

City Lights & Company (Bridgeport, $4,999)

Bridgeport Art Trail Presents “My Stories” Exhibit” at City Lights Gallery: Chilean Artists Tell Their Stories

During the Bridgeport Art Trail, City Lights gallery presents “My Stories.” 17 Chilean fiber artists will depict lived experiences, stories, and memories — 50 years after the military coup in Chile on September 11, 1973 — with lead artist Carlos Biernnay. This project includes artists’ statements and memoirs, written, on video, and through a live Zoom panel discussion with Pablo Montero, Chilean historian/author.

Connecticut Museum of Culture and History (Hartford, $4,999)

The Wide Awakes: Campaigning for Lincoln

This exhibition at the Connecticut Museum will feature the stories of the Wide Awakes, a nationwide political campaign organization founded by young adults in Hartford who supported Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 presidential election. Open from August 2024 to March 2025, they hope the exhibition will stimulate conversation and reflection about what it means to be politically active in the United States — both past and present — particularly among young adults.

Elizabeth Park Conservancy (West Hartford, $1,650)

Poetry in the Park 2024

Elizabeth Park Conservancy is pleased to host “The Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens” for their annual “Poets in the Park” reading during EPC’s Rose Weekend celebration, the afternoon of June 15. Invited poets give a 30-45 minute reading from their work — usually from their most recent poetry collection — followed by a Q/A session with the audience. This event is open to all.

Fairfield Museum and History Center (Fairfield, $4,966)

Bridgeport at Work: Muralist Robert Lambdin and Bridgeport Brass

Fairfield Museum and History Center will present an exhibition on the social history of the mural “Brass Through the Ages,” created in 1942 by Robert Lambdin for the Bridgeport Brass Co. Painted during a turbulent time for the city’s labor movement, Lambdin’s mural is a dramatic visual depiction of the balancing act that management and labor engaged in during WWII to keep the peace and meet the demands of wartime production. The exhibition will open June 28 and run through October.

Mystic Museum of Art, Inc. (Groton, $4,994)

Exhibition Talks: “Printmaking and the Unconventional Pathways of African American Artists”

This project supports a speakers’ series for the exhibition “Printmaking and the Unconventional Pathways of African American Artists” that runs June 28-October 13 and illustrates this year’s theme of “Pathways” around conventional barriers to achievement. Guest Curator Dr. Curlee Raven Holton will trace the pathways of 44 African American artists whose unconventional use of printmaking has enriched the conversation we can have as a country and as members of a global community.

National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in CT/ Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum (Wethersfield, $4,414)

“Tools for Coming Together” at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum

The Webb Deane Stevens Museum’s “Tools for Coming Together” uses Wethersfield’s colonial history to help people see and empathize with one another as we approach America 250. The six-part series featuring distinguished talent from Connecticut and beyond will include an election-week symposium on November 2, as well as lectures on September 12 and February 20, performances on October 10 and April 20, and a film screening on May 15.

New Haven Museum (New Haven, $4,999)

New Haven Museum Presents, “Champion for Freedom: The Reverend Alexander Heritage Newton Story

New Haven Museum will premiere the documentary, “Champion for Freedom: The Reverend Alexander Heritage Newton Story,” by preservationist Dolly Marshall with remarks by independent scholar John Mills and a discussion and Q&A moderated by Andre Keitt at CT’s Old State House June 15 at 1 p.m. The free Juneteenth event is part of New Haven 250.

Windham Textile & History Museum (Windham $3,510)

Liberty’s Daughters in NE CT: Women, Textiles, and the Nonimportation Movement in the Revolutionary Era

The project combines an exhibit, demonstrations, material culture, and videos to examine the role played by women in northeast Connecticut and the rest of southern New England in the non-importation movement that presaged the American Revolution. It specifically focuses on women’s production of domestic textiles and the ways the Revolution changed that role and empowered women. Its goal is to make recent scholarship available to the general public in a local context.

For information on Quick Grants eligibility and application due dates, visit cthumanities.org/grants/quick-grants

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Connecticut Humanities (CTH) is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
CTH connects people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and collaborative programs. CTH projects, administration, and program development are supported by state and federal matching funds, community foundations, and gifts from private sources. Learn more by visiting cthumanities.org.