CT Humanities’ Board of Directors recently approved four Capacity Grant awards, four Planning Grant awards, and six Implementation Grant awards totaling $227,021 in funding from the State of Connecticut.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Cyndi Tolosa, ctolosa@cthumanities.org 860.986.6704
Middletown, CT (July 9, 2025) – This round of grants support strong humanities projects by organizations across Connecticut.
Several funded projects were for exhibitions that explore the state’s America 250 | CT Commission’s themes and connections in the lead up to the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. One such project, the Connecticut’s Revolution exhibit at the Museum of Connecticut History, will explore how residents across Connecticut “impacted and have been impacted by the revolutionary forces that shaped the creation of our nation.”
Other funded projects include capacity building work to train storytellers to tell Latine stories, a digital archive of oral histories collected by South Asian American teens, and the development of the fifth annual DiasporaCon exploring hip hop and graphic novels.
“CT Humanities is proud to support projects that not only commemorate the semiquincentennial, but also tell Connecticut stories from multiple, diverse perspectives that reflect the demographics of Connecticut’s residents,” said Scott Wands, Deputy Director of Grants and Programs at CT Humanities. “These programs help us to better understand the histories, cultures, and communities that make Connecticut what it is today.”
The full list of funded programs are:
CAPACITY GRANTS:
Cultural Coalition (Norwich, $9,950)
Building Capacity to Strengthen Regional Humanities Sustainability
The Cultural Coalition will hire a consultant for one year to help strengthen Financial Planning, Fundraising, and Technology Infrastructure. This increased capacity will boost efficiency, sustainability, and collaboration with creatives and cultural organizations across 42 Eastern CT towns, helping preserve regional heritage and support a thriving cultural landscape.
Connecticut Storytelling Center (New London, $9,500)
Stories Preserve Hispanic Culture
Stories Preserve Hispanic Culture celebrates Latinx heritage in our Connecticut communities through storytelling literacy programming. Recruitment of Latinx storytellers will be followed by training alongside current CSC teaching artists, equipping them to preserve Latinx heritage and culture through story. Six professional development workshops will focus on IDEA goals as teaching artists learn to effectively research appropriate stories and deliver them in a culturally sensitive manner.
Hebron Historical Society (Hebron, $3,092)
Develop New Website for Hebron Historical Society
A new website, built to the latest technology and standards, will allow all of the society’s information to be merged to one site. In-house management of content through a custom dashboard will facilitate increased social engagement through public access to the collection, online exhibits, photo gallery, and regular member communication.
Windsor Historical Society (Windsor, $7,562)
Windsor Historical Society Collections Diversity Assessment Project
Windsor Historical Society will hire a consultant to assist with a comprehensive collections assessment to help identify underrepresented subject areas. The project supports the Society’s strategic goal to identify ways its collections can better reflect Windsor’s diverse population. Working with volunteers and student workers, the end product will help locate objects that do not relate to WHS’s mission while also identifying new areas to focus community outreach and collecting activities.
PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS:
Connecticut Heritage Foundation (Hartford, $32,500)
Connecticut’s Revolution exhibit at the Museum of Connecticut History
The Museum of Connecticut History seeks to create a comprehensive exhibit commemorating Connecticut’s role in the American Revolution. The exhibit, Connecticut’s Revolution, will open on July 4, 2026 for approximately one year. The exhibit will illustrate, with objects, documents, and interpretive content, both how residents of Connecticut, from all walks of life, backgrounds, and geographic area, impacted and were impacted by the revolutionary forces that shaped the creation of our nation.
Connecticut Museum of Culture and History (Hartford, $25,000)
Clay Arsenal: A People’s History
The Clay Arsenal / Immigration exhibition explores stories of migration, identity, and belonging in Hartford’s North End, created through a youth-led, community-driven process. Presented in a graphic novel format, the exhibition reflects experiences shared by immigrant communities across Connecticut. Opening in February 2026, it will be supported by public programs and events that deepen engagement and amplify youth and community voices.
Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc. (Hartford, $24,195)
Indigenous Voices (working title)
The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” Yet, it refers to Native Americans as “merciless Indian Savages.” Our new multi-platform audio, video and digital series, set to air and publish in November 2025, will provide an in-depth understanding of America’s past. We’ll explore how Indigenous traditions shape tribal life today – featuring views of Native Americans in CT and Rhode Island in stories on radio, TV and online.
Fairfield University Art Museum (Fairfield, $15,497)
For Which it Stands…A Semiquincentennial Exhibition
“For Which It Stands…” on view from January 23-July 25, 2026, is an exhibition focusing on depictions of the American flag from the early 20th century to today. The featured artworks range from expressions of patriotism to critiques of whom the flag represents and whether justice is truly accessible to all. Through diverse perspectives, artists reveal how this powerful symbol shapes our history and identity. These themes will be further examined through a rich lineup of programs in spring 2026.
Greenwich Historical Society (Greenwich, $10,000)
Pursuing Equality: The Impact of the Declaration of Independence in Greenwich
Pursuing Equality: The Impact of the Declaration of Independence in Greenwich, an exhibition at GHS, will open April 2026. CTH funds will support hiring a guest curator & four humanities scholars to create an object checklist & exhibition outline, hire an exhibition design firm to develop an installation and style plan, and a PR firm to develop a marketing plan. Our team of consultants and staff will produce dynamic, innovative & integrated products to engage current and new audiences.
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center (Hartford, $15,000)
The Phillips Manuscript: A Declaration of Independence from a Formerly Enslaved Man
The Stowe Center will work together with scholars, educators, and students to explore the Rev. Dr. William Phillips’s post bellum freedom narrative dictated in 1897 to John Hooker and Isabella Beecher Hooker, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s sister. This unpublished document holds unique and rare information and appears to be unedited by the Hookers and so represents Phillips’s authentic voice which the Stowe Center hopes to present first as a digital humanities experience and then as a published work.
Housatonic Community College Foundation (Bridgeport, $22,500)
Making his Mark in Connecticut: The Creative Process of F. Luis Mora
To commemorate the semiquincentennial, the HMA presents the exhibition, “Making his Mark in Connecticut: The Creative Process of F. Luis Mora” (Sept. 9, 2026 – Feb. 19, 2027). The show explores the themes of America 250 | CT through the lens of an Uruguayan-born artist who settled in Gaylordsville, CT. Featuring never-before-seen preparatory drawings, this exhibition tells the origin story of the first Hispanic member of the National Academy of Design and his legacy in his adopted state.
India Cultural Center (Greenwich, $18,300)
My Story Our Future: Archiving of South Asian Immigrant Histories in CT led by South Asian Teens
My Story, Our Future is an oral history program run by India Cultural Center in collaboration with UConn’s Asian & Asian American Studies Institute and Greenwich Historical Society. South Asian American teens explore their individual and collective heritage and document untold history for the next generation of students and scholars. This project digitally archives this data and compiles the stories into a public-facing catalog of South Asian history in CT as collected by ICC teens.
Kulturally LIT (New Haven, $20,000)
DiasporaCon 2026: Hip Hop & Graphic Novels
The 5th Annual DiasporaCon is a conference celebrating the intersections of Hip Hop and graphic novels within the African Diaspora, exploring how both art forms serve as vehicles for storytelling, resistance, and imagination. This planning grant will support foundational research, partnership development, and community engagement to design a multi-day event featuring panels, workshops, exhibitions, and performances centered on diasporic creativity and visual culture.
Webb Deane Stevens Museum (Wethersfield, $13,925)
Exhibition on Needlework Samplers, Identity, and National Memory
The Webb Deane Stevens Museum is planning an exhibition for 2026 focused on needlework samplers as material spaces of American identity-making. The exhibition, along with its companion catalog publication, will investigate the making of these samplers and the diverse women who stitched them, as well as the early-twentieth-century focus on samplers as a tool for national memory-making and the history of collecting them to the present-day.
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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.
