A publication of Mass Humanities
Spring 2016
A Humanities Smorgasbord Amidst job insecurity, austerity, war, climate change, and mounting social tensions we are witness to increased human migration. Articles written for the Mass Humanities 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, boundaries, 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 firsttime Public Humanist author John Tschirch. His twenty-five-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.
Food and Cultural Identity in a Crisis Christmas 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 affirm 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, In This Issue famine, poverty, or natural disaster have Recent Grants one thing in common: the need for food page 2 and water. My memories of family loss and survival were recently sparked by 2015 Annual Report reading Carmen Gentile’s NPR article, page 3 For Exiles in Turkey, Syrian Eateries Offer a Taste of Home. The author traveled among refugee camps and The 2016 Massachusetts border towns, dining at Syrian Governor’s Awards in the Humanities
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Past Mass Humanities grant recipient The Welcome Project offers the YUM Restaurant Card, which promotes and supports immigrantrun restaurants in Somerville, MA.
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 fighters 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 final sentence 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 flight subsides, the challenges of processing those memories begins as reported by Amy Radil in Taste of Bitterness: 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. Abdirahman 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
Continued from page 1
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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 concluding 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, buildings, 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.
CHAIR
Nancy Netzer
BOSTON COLLEGE VICE CHAIR
James Burke
HINCKLEY, ALLEN & SNYDER LLP TREASURER
Jeffrey Musman
SEYFARTH SHAW, LLP CLERK
Ellen Berkman
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Glynda Benham
MEGAWAVE CORPORATION
Lauren Cohen
PURE COMMUNICATIONS
Elliot Bostwick Davis MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
Alice DeLana
Recent Grants
CAMBRIDGE
Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
Berkshire
$4,680 to the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield for Spirit Voices: Pacific Northwest Native Myths, a five-month exhibition that explores and dramatizes the cultural heritage of various Native peoples of the Pacific 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 interactive educational website in order to publicize and foster discussion around the feature-length documentary film 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 Ruffin Society in Brookline to support the expansion 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 Massachusetts 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 decisionmaking practices and contentious issues that characterized life in seventeenthcentury Boston NSC
$5,000 to the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown to support a symposium series in conjunction with theatrical productions that explore the connections between religion, science, and identity $10,000 to The Bostonian Society for educational programming in conjunction 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 filming, 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 foothold in society after being released from incarceration Media $10,000 to Documentary Educational Resources in Watertown to conduct and film interviews and to perform archival research for the documentary film, 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 film and documentary premiers and focusing on international cultural understanding
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.
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
William M. Fowler, Jr.
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
Alfred Griggs
NORTHAMPTON
Andrew Helene
RBS CITIZENS, N.A.
Ronald Hertel
WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, LLC
Frederick Hurst
AN AFRICAN AMERICAN POINT OF VIEW
Lindsey Kiang BROOKLINE
Michael Pappone
GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
Marisa Parham
$5,000 to the Somerset Berkley Regional High School for 36 students in the school’s Advanced Digital Photography program to create a town-wide large-scale photo installation of the historic places, people, and culture of the town
Patricia Saint Aubin
Out of State
Margaret Shepherd
$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
The stories of Jewish veterans like Paul Cohen are captured in GI Jews.
AMHERST COLLEGE
Thomas Putnam
JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Hilda Ramirez
WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY
NORFOLK
BOSTON
Ronald Slate
POET AND LITERARY CRITIC
Kathleen Stone
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Kenneth Vacovec
VACOVEC, MAYOTTE & SINGER LLP
Bianca Sigh Ward
NYSTROM BECKMAN & PARIS, LLP
G. Perry Wu STAPLES, INC.
Annual Report
2015 Making the Humanities Public MASS HUMANITIES 66 Bridge Street Northampton, MA 01060 tel (413) 584-8440 fax (413) 584-8454 www.masshumanities.org STAFF
David Tebaldi EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
dtebaldi@masshumanities.org Pleun Bouricius DIRECTOR OF GRANTS & PROGRAMS
pbouricius@masshumanities.org Carolyn Cushing
I 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.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
ccushing@masshumanities.org Deepika Fernandes FISCAL OFFICER
dfernandes@masshumanities.org Abbye Meyer PROGRAM OFFICER
ameyer@masshumanities.org David Morgan COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER EDITOR OF MASS HUMANITIES
dmorgan@masshumanities.org Anne Rogers SYSTEMS MANAGER
arogers@masshumanities.org Rose Sackey-Milligan
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 community college students will receive. The CCPHC initiative represents a modest counterbalance to this trend, affirming 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 Pittsfield, 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
PROGRAM OFFICER
rsackey-milligan@masshumanities.org John Sieracki DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS
jsieracki@masshumanities.org
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 film 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.
Jeannemarie Tobin DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT
jtobin@masshumanities.org Melissa Wheaton ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT AND
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.
GRANTS ADMINISTRATOR
mwheaton@masshumanities.org
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 community life. We take the humanities out of the classroom and into the community. Mass Humanities, a private, nonprofit, educational organization, receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; and private sources.
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.
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Program Updates The Clemente Course Forty-one students earned transferrable college credit through the Clemente Course in 2015. The tuition-free course enables 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 location 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 participated several times in the six-session series.
Literature & Medicine Three 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 offered the program since 2009 and one since 2008. Twentytwo 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 Endowment for the Humanities’ Standing Together initiative.
Massachusetts History The 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 Massachusetts history, grew by 20% to reach nearly 1,600 fans.
The Public Humanist Drawing on the talents of over fifty Massachusetts writers, 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 Douglass Nine communities across the Commonwealth hosted our timely and provocative annual event series, Reading 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 nationalism. Two other states, Vermont and North Carolina, were inspired to host their own readings this year based on our series.
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 arou
Berkshire
$10,000 to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center for the gathering of local oral histories from members of multi-generational working families in the Berkshire County area and the subsequent creation and performance 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 AfricanAmerican identity in the Berkshire’s as well as the history and question of civil rights ENA $3,542 to the Lenox Library Association for the production of an 80-minute documentary featuring footage from more than 50 oralhistory interviews of elderly Lenox residents to mark the town’s 250th anniversary
Cape & Islands
$10,000 to the Cape Cod Community Media Center for preproduction of Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck, a film project that will trace the life of Mayflower 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 illuminating the relationship between the Provincetown Playhouse’s famous founders and the Portuguese fishing community on the theater’s 100th anniversary ENA $5,000 to the U.S. Slave Song Project in Oak Bluffs for the writing of the libretto of a “folk opera” about the midnineteenth-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 Literary 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 contributions from recent immigrants to the Commonwealth on the history of immigration 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 leaders 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 education students in five western Massachusetts classrooms ENA $5,000 to Historic Northampton for an archaeological dig at the 1719 Parsons House, to which area third and fourth grade students 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 impact 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, descriptive 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 uniting teachers, students, and the public with local history organizations
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
und the Commonwealth. $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 summer teachers’ institute for teachers in the Boston Public School district NSC
$10,000 to Central Square Theatre for community humanities programming 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 conversations, entitled The Health of Democracy, that examine the proper role of government in promoting the general welfare of its citizens as well as shaping 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 fifth grade students participate ENA $10,000 to the Fletcher Maynard Academy for a program engaging 25 young black men from grades three through five in nominating the home of local hero Suzanne Revaleon Green for inclusion on the African American Heritage Trail in Cambridge 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 roundtable discussions envisioning a new social contract between the Commonwealth and its Native peoples NSC
$5,000 to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge for the creation of two short films by Roberto Mighty featuring historical figures, their monuments, 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 film 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 performance program for Boston cab drivers based on Dmitry Samarov’s Where To? ENA $5,000 to the Asian American Resource 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 Educational Resources of Watertown for preproduction work on a documentary 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 files from the Harry H. Dow papers archived at the Suffolk Law School Library RIG
Metrowest Boston
$3,500 to TC Squared Theatre Company 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 film by Bestor Cram about the post-war realities in Vietnam and American veterans’ ongoing involvement there Media
Above: Jordan Ahnquist and Melissa Jesser in Mr g at Central Square Theatre. (A.R. Sinclair Photography)
Northeast
Left: Wistariahurst Museum hosts Nuestras Abuelas de Holyoke: Empowerment and Legacy curated by Waleska Santiago.
$5,000 for the Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research at UMass Lowell to develop and implement 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 walking-and-photography tours ENA $10,000 to the Filmmakers Collaborative, 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 ChineseAmerican girls who visited their place of birth SMOG $4,000 to Lawrence Community Works for the Reel Talk Film series, a three-part moderated film-anddiscussion program with underserved Lawrence youth $4,630 to the Essex National Heritage Commission for a one-day symposium familiarizing regional historic and cultural resource organizations 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 film 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 Office of Community Engagement, for a community conversation on historic approaches to social contract negotiation and achieving citizen rights and freedoms, and signage marking approaches to the subject by notable historical figures ENA
$5,000 to the Old Colony Historical 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 Independent Documentary in Sharon for short-film social media efforts to support the creation and distribution of the full-length documentary film DAWNLAND, about the Maine Wabanaki-State Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission Media
SMOG
$2,500 to the Fall River Preservation Society for research for and fabrication of six historical plaques, to be awarded to property owners for their efforts in maintaining the historical integrity and condition of their property $5,000 to the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center to develop an educational website about the history of the commercial fishing 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 American public schools of arming teachers Media
$10,000 to Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement to document the stories of detained immigrants in six short audio/video pieces and to present those in four moderated community film-anddiscussion programs NSC
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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. 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 Trust Anonymous Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Community 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+ Anonymous Boston Private Bank & Trust Company Bernice Buresh, in memory of Irwin Oppenheim James R. Burke Clipper Ship Foundation, Inc. John and Marie Dacey Doherty Family Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
Feinberg Rozen, LLP Fidelity Investments Gourmet Caterers (in-kind) Al and Sally Griggs Lucile P. Hicks Fund of Fidelity Charitable John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Museum of Fine Arts Jeffrey Musman and Lynne Spencer Staples Foundation for Learning University of Massachusetts Amherst Vacovec, Mayotte and Singer, LLP Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP $2,500+ Elizabeth and Ned Bacon Lisa Baskin Bay Path University Sanford and Elizabeth Belden Ellen Berkman and David Bryant, and The Berkman-Bryant Family Fund of Vanguard Charitable Boston University Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation Goodwin Procter LLP Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Jean MacCormack Northeastern University College of Professional Studies, in honor of the Lowell Institute Michael Pappone and Diane Savitzky Regan Family Fund of Fidelity Charitable William Schawbel Seyfarth Shaw LLP William Shea Ron and Nancy Slate The Rochelle Slate 2001 Trust Springfield College The 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 Butler John J. Carroll and Fran Lipson Colonial Society of Massachusetts Javier Corrales Facing History and Ourselves, in honor of Margot Stern Strom Andrew Helene Seth and Beth Klarman, in honor of Margot Stern Strom Lucia and Thomas Knoles Charles W. Lidz Thomas and Michelle McCarthy David Nash Saint Michael’s College Sclove Family Fund of Fidelity Charitable Margaret Shepherd Margot Stern Strom David Tebaldi Frank Virnelli, in honor of Ronald B. Hertel David 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 Ambs Anonymous Anonymous, in honor of Margaret H. Marshall Georgia and James Barnhill Ben and Diane Birnbaum Kathryn R. Bloom Charitable Trust of the U.S. Charitable Gift Trust Johanna Branson Margaret Burchenal Nicholas Carter Rhonda Cobham-Sander Lauren and Ian Cohen Wendy and Richard Cohen Paul Coughlan Alice DeLana Rose Doherty Elizabeth A. DuclosOrsello, Ph.D. and Chase Duclos-Orsello, Ph.D. Elizabeth Duffy Ellen Dunlap and Frank Armstrong Maureen Dwyer
Michael Elefante Elaine Epstein John M. Evans Frederick Fierst Dennis Fiori, in honor of William A. Lowell Robert Forrant Susan Grabski Ross Grant Linda Hall Robert Hesslein and Christine Ciotti John E. Hill John Hornor Alan Karass John Keenan and Kara McLaughlin Alexa and Ranch Kimball Fund of Fidelity Charitable Kevin Kuechler Richard Lappin Susan and Drew Leff Susan Levine Houston and The Honorable Julian Houston James J. Lopes Angela Lowell Frank Mairano Michael and Judith Manzo Martha Mayo Jeff and Martha McLaughlin Robert Meagher Martha 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’Connell Marisa Parham Stuart Peterfreund Gail T. Randall John Sigel and Sally Reid Gail T. Reimer Jessica Schor John Sieracki Bianca Sigh Ward and John Ward Lisa Simmons Becky Sniderman Frank Sousa Paul and Anne Spirn Danielle Steinmann Kathie Stevens Kathleen Stone and Andrew Grainger Peter Torkildsen Dennis Townley Linda and Kenneth Vacovec Stow Walker Peter J. Whalen Cynthia Williams Winston Flowers (in-kind) Margaret D. Xifaras
$100+ Michele and Mark Aldrich Virginia Alexander Paula Andrews and George Hinchey Anonymous Christian and Katherine Appy Bank of America Charitable Foundation Kathleen Barker Leonard and Jane Bernstein Janet Beyer Janet Buerklin Carl Carlsen Citizens Bank Foundation Wendy Covell Margaret Dale Carolyn Davies Karissa DeCarlo John Dineen Katherine Domoto Robert S. Donaldson, in memory of Barbara Donaldson Abby Elmore David L. Entin Luise Erdmann Barbara Filo Allen W. Fletcher Walter Fraze David Glassberg Gary Goshgarian Stephen and Linda Greyser Fund of Fidelity Charitable Charlie Harak David J. Harris Lorraine Heffernan Jane Hennedy Florentine Films/Hott Productions, Inc. Laurie Kahn Marie King Gail L. Kitch Barbara C. Kohin G. Ramsay Liem Elizabeth Lima Ann Lisi and Joel Greene Janice Litwin Roseanne MacDonald Albert Malo Barbara Mathews Roger and Carol McNeill Ellen Messer Janet Moulding Kathryn C. Murphy, in honor of Margaret H. Marshall Sonia Nieto and Angel Nieto Bill Nigreen/Kathleen McDermott Fund of Fidelity Charitable James Pease Janice Rahimi Ratliff Family Charitable Fund Jeannette Riley Dolores Root Charitable Fund of U.S. Charitable Gift Trust Dea Savitzky
Sara Shanahan Sarah Shoemaker James Shorris and Cindy Hyatt, in memory of Earl Shorris Ellen M. Smith Barbara Spiegelman Catherine Stark Patricia Suhrcke William and Caroline Toner Polly Traina, in memory of Richard P. Traina United Way of Rhode Island, Inc. Alden T. and Virginia Vaughan William D. Wallace Judith Walsh John D. Warner Faith D. White Nancy Wilsker Margaret A. Wiseman Up to $99 Suzette Abbott Russell Annis Anonymous (4) Barbara Armistead Julie Arrison Nancy Atwood Mary Baker-Wood Hosea Baskin and Sarah Buttenwieser Christopher Benning Susan Bernardy Linda C. Black Lawrence Blum Lucy R. Boyle Fund of Fidelity Charitable Jeanne Bracken Suzanne Buchanan Lawrence Bumpus Justyna M. Carlson Eunice Charles Emily Contois Guy Corp Pat Costello Robert Demanche Robert T. Derry Louise D. Deutsch Gloria Dove Abaigeal Duda Sally Ebeling Charles Ellis Philip Eugene Judy Farrar Anne Forbes Mary Ann Ford, in honor of Jack Cheng Margaret Fortier Donald R. Friary Enid Gamer Jayne Gordon Carol H. Green Jonathan Green Katherine Gyllensvard Marie E. Hall Charlotte Haller Ann H. Himmelberger Janet Hively Judith Hurley Rebecca Ikehara Juliet Jacobson Jessica Johnson
Mary Ann Johnson Eugenia Kaledin Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Carolyn Keating Tom Kelleher Sheila Kirschbaum Laura Kitchings Stephen Lapeyrouse Mitchell Lapin Bruce Laurie Amy Link Marlene Lopes Charles Lotspeich
Liz Loveland Henry Lukas Forest Lyford Karen Lynch Ingrid and Donald MacGillis Douglas Maitland Deborah Majewski Meredith Marcinkewicz Susan Mareneck Chloe Martin Veronica Martzahl Sadiemarie Mayes Sharon Maynard
Clifford McCarthy Alfred McKee Jr Teri Melo, in memory of Sue Ann Vancho Kamii Mieko Jane Moody Michaela Moran Lavada Nahon Stephen Nathanson Robert Nesson Gale Nigrosh Briana Nurse Barry and Kristin O’Connell James M. O’Hare
John O’Reilly John Ott Sonia Pacheco Jennifer Packard Merry B. Post Florence Preisler Sue Pucker Jonathan Ralton Anna Ramstead Laura H. Reboul Dennis Rice Marilyn Richardson Janice Rogovin Beryl Rosenthal Wendyl Ross
Donna E. Russo Robert Salerno Neal Salisbury Louise Sandberg Maud Marie Santucci Clara Schnee Lesley Schoenfeld Emily Schubin Frances Shedd-Fisher Jillian Silverberg Margo Smith Ellen Steinbaum Diann Strausberg Laura Syre David Taberner Randy Testa
Ruth Thomasian Susan Turner Jason Vandinter Shirley Wagner Sandra S. Waxman Judith Weber Nancy Weissman Arthur and Ann Young Caroline Yunta Erin Yuskaitis Susan Zeiger
2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR
Nancy Netzer
BOSTON COLLEGE
2015 Financials
VICE CHAIR
James R. Burke
HINCKLEY, ALLEN & SNYDER LLP
MASSACHUSETTS FOUNDATION FOR THE HUMANITIES, INC. STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION OCTOBER 31, 2015 ASSETS
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
Current Assets
Current Liabilities
Cash Grants receivable Other accounts receivable Prepaid expenses Pledges receivable - within one year Total Current Assets
1,320,771 288,078 — 44,337 78,692 $1,731,878
Capital Assets–At Cost
Leasehold improvements Equipment Computer software Vehicle Less – accumulated depreciation
32,032 11,430 7,910 12,498 63,870 (56,724)
Total Capital Assets
$7,146
TREASURER
Jeffrey Musman
SEYFARTH SHAW, LLP CLERK
Regrants payable Accounts payable and accrued expenses Deferred revenue
Ellen Berkman
102,447 64,208 25,250
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Glynda Benham MEGAWAVE CORPORATION
Total Current Liabilities and Total Liabilities
Lauren Cohen
$191,905
PURE COMMUNICATIONS
Net Assets
Unrestricted Unrestricted–board designated Temporarily restricted Permanently restricted
Javier Corrales
743,408 103,209 780,880 1,766,837
Total Net Assets
$3,394,334
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
$3,586,239
AMHERST COLLEGE
Elliot Bostwick Davis MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
Alice DeLana CAMBRIDGE
Elizabeth Duclos-Orsello SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
Alfred L. Griggs
Other Assets
Investments Investments – endowment Cash – donor designated Cash – board designated Pledges receivable – after one year
NORTHAMPTON
10,218 1,473,742 321,910 4,220 37,125
Total Other Assets
$1,847,215
TOTAL ASSETS
$3,586,239
Andrew Helene RBS CITIZENS, N.A.
Ronald B. Hertel WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, LLC
Lindsey Kiang BROOKLINE
Michael Pappone GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
Marisa Parham AMHERST COLLEGE
CHANGES IN UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS (INCLUDING NET ASSETS RELEASED FROM RESTRICTIONS)
Thomas Putnam
JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM
Foundations 2%
Federal 50% State 30%
Individuals 11%
Corporations 4%
Revenue: $1,643,671
Margaret Shepherd BOSTON
Lisa Simmons MA OFFICE OF TRAVEL & TOURISM
Other organizations 3%
Interest <1%
Ron Slate POET AND LITERARY CRITIC
Kathleen Stone ATTORNEY AT LAW
Fundraising 14%
Expenses: $1,555,627
Grants and Programs 71%
Ken Vacovec VACOVEC, MAYOTTE & SINGER LLP
Bianca Sigh Ward NYSTROM BECKMAN & PARIS, LLP
Administration 15%
G. Perry Wu STAPLES, INC.
7
SAVE THE DATE Sunday, November 6, 2016
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 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: Frieda Garcia, is a former Mass Humanities board member who has led more than 70 nonprofit 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.
The Awards Dinner follows the 2016 Fall Forum
Four Historians Take On President Obama’s Place In History in the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Auditorium 4:30 – 6:30 PM
FREE and open to the public Perhaps no American president came into office with greater challenges or higher hopes than Barack Obama. Where will future presidential historians rank our first African-American president? For what will he be best remembered? Ellen Fitzpatrick, political historian, University of New Hampshire; author of The Highest Glass Ceiling: Women’s Quest for the American Presidency Annette Gordon-Reed, historian and law professor, Harvard University; author of “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs”: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination David Greenberg, journalist; historian, Rutgers University; author of Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency Heather Cox Richardson, professor of American history, Boston College; author of To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party
Inspire Campaign We 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 confirmed that, with a new appropriation in the Massachusetts budget, more than $1,700,000 had been committed to establish Mass Humanities’ first significant 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 8 elsewhere in this report.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: $575,000 National Endowment for the Humanities: $425,000 $100,000+ John Burgess and Nancy Adams The Paterson Historical Fund $20,000+ Jean Beard James and Laura Burke Al and Sally Griggs Ronald and Colleen Hertel $10,000+ Anonymous (2) Lisa Baskin
Scenes from past Governor’s Awards dinners Top: Kenneth Feinberg and Clemente Course graduate Ieshia Karasik; Thomas Putnam Middle: 2015 award recipients Margot Stern Strom, William A. Lowell, Jr., and Margaret H. Marshall Bottom: 2014 award recipients Malcolm Rogers, J. Donald Monan, S.J., Hubert E. Jones, and Jill Ker Conway
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 Berkman and David Bryant Dianne F. and Paul Doherty Carolee Howell Susan and Drew Leff Polly and Charles Longsworth Jeffrey Musman and Lynne Spencer John and Joan Regan William Schawbel David and Peggy Starr John Stauffer Kenneth and Linda Vacovec Katherine and Phillip Villers G. Perry Wu $5,000+ Sanford and Elizabeth Belden Ben and Diane Birnbaum Bruce Bullen and Maria Krokidas Bernice Buresh Richard and Wendy Cohen
Jill Ker Conway John and Marie Dacey Feinberg Rozen, LLP Lucile Hicks Lindsey Kiang and Anne-Marie Soulliere Leila Kinney Jean MacCormack Susan Mikula and Rachel Maddow Cullen and Anna Marie Murphy Michael Pappone and Diane Savitzky William and Laura Shea Lisbeth Tarlow David Tebaldi Cynthia Terwilliger $1,000+ Ned and Elizabeth Bacon Kathryn Bloom Ruth Butler John Carroll Citizens Bank Foundation Javier Corrales Andrew Helene Lucia and Thomas Knoles
Charles Lidz Richard and Marcie Sclove David Weinstein Up to $999 Lawrence Ambs Glynda Benham Linda C. Black Pleun Bouricius Lauren and Ian Cohen Elliot Bostwick Davis John Dineen Abaigeal Duda Alexa and Ranch Kimball James Lopes Sonia and Angel Nieto Marisa Parham Peter O’Connell Tom Putnam John Sigel and Sally Reid Bianca Sigh Ward Lisa Simmons Lauren Sloat Kathleen Stone and Andrew Grainger Peter Torkildsen Polly Traina, in memory of Richard P. Traina Suzanne Frazier Wilkins