2016 ANNUAL REPORT
LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Thank you for joining us in amplifying the humanities across Rhode Island in 2016! With your support, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities continues to grow as an innovative, collaborative organization supporting people and projects all over the state and developing ways to make the humanities more available and more powerful. This report features our expanding humanities network, highlighting what we have achieved together and the value of our work for the future.
The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities SEEDS, SUPPORTS, and STRENGTHENS
public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders.
This year has been marked by heightened attention to voices and stories that need to be heard and by asking questions and reflecting on issues that matter now and in the future. Whether you joined us at the Celebration of the Humanities or an event in the Pulitzer Campfires Initiative series, attended a library talk as part of Reading Across Rhode Island or participated in a program supported by a Council grant, I thank you for your commitment to and investment in this work. In 2016 we marked the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prizes with our What is the 21st Century Essay? series supported by Pulitzer’s Campfires Initiative. With outstanding partners and a variety of formats, the series explored the changing nature of journalism and the humanities in the digital age with a thematic focus on environmental concerns. And the report you are reading now includes a 21st Century Essay! I invite you to engage with the reflections, questions, and explorations contributed by writer and historian Jane Gerhard, PhD. Gerhard discusses the performances, salons, conferences, broadcasts, multimedia interpretations and readings that composed this series, but she also considers why and how we are compelled to ask questions and pioneer new methods and media even as we continue to desire connection with each other in authentic, personal ways. It strikes me that these considerations ARE the humanities — moments of both experimentation and connection. The Humanities Council is inspired by all of you and committed to making authentic connections, asking questions, and thinking differently a part of our lives every day. Thank you for investing in the future of the Council and in the humanities by and for all Rhode Islanders. Yours sincerely, Elizabeth Francis
experiment 100 YEARS OF THE PULITZER PRIZE BY JANE GERHARD, PhD
In 2016 the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities sponsored a series of events celebrating the 100th year of the Pulitzer Prizes. The Pulitzer programming highlighted the Council’s goals of convening and promoting civic conversations that are both challenging and forward thinking. THE LEADING QUESTION of Rhode Island’s Pulitzer centennial program-
ming—What is the 21st Century Essay?—celebrated outstanding work and investigated new approaches to the essay through performance, media, and audience engagement to bring the form to life in today’s culture. In the age of fake news, twitter trends, and deeply segregated news worlds, the focus on the essay amplifies the centrality of the humanities in confronting and understanding important issues. Taking a forward-looking approach to the values of the Pulitzer Prize, the series addressed questions of the relationship between journalism and the humanities in the digital age with a focus on the environment. Events—ranging from a photographic exploration of Gorham Silver held near the former factory’s polluted site on Mashapaug Pond to a new
television and radio show on storytelling and environmental policy to the premiere of a performance of writing and music evoking environmental themes—demonstrated the spirit of experimentation that the Council seeks to promote. Like the Council’s 2016 awards for outstanding humanities achievement made at the Celebration of the Humanities, the Pulitzer series amplified the creative vibrancy of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape and gave voice to stories that need to be heard. The Pulitzer series was not only about experimentation in the humanities; it was also an experiment for the Council itself—in how the Council partnered with other organizations to produce the series, documented the insights generated at each event through blogging and podcasting, and took an interdisciplinary approach to humanities journalism in order to promote bold steps toward reinvention in the face of significant challenges. The opportunity to orchestrate programs marking the centennial of the Pulitzer Prizes extended the Council’s grantmaking program and its core values—to facilitate collaboration between organizations and projects to address deep and relevant questions. For example, the longstanding partnership with the Providence Athenaeum’s salon series brought nature writer Akiko Busch, author of The Incidental Steward, to Providence. Busch spoke about citizen scientists and their contribution to documenting changes in the diverse ecosystems of New York’s Hudson River. The intimate observations by citizen scientists of plants, birds, and weather, Busch said, stand in the same tradition of Henry David Thoreau whose records from his year at Walden Pond endure as baseline measure of the impact of climate change. In true interdisciplinary fashion, Busch spoke with the soul of a poet. Her lovely, evocative talk drove home the affective undertones of global warming, the fear of loss that drives amateurs to count butterfly migrants and strands of river grass and send
The 2016 Pulitzer Series in Rhode Island 6
Programs
4
Universities
8
Pulitzer Prize Winners or Finalists
17
Artists, Musicians, Writers, and Journalists
SEPTEMBER 2016 “Silvered: Tracing Gorham at Mashapaug Pond”
MARCH 2016 The Essay in Public: The Way We Work Now conference at the NOVEMBER 2016 University of Rhode “Writing Nature” Island at the Providence Athenaeum JUNE 2016 The Ocean State Writer’s Conference at the University of Rhode Island
6
Podcasts
6
Blog Posts
NOVEMBER 2016 “Of Nature Composed” at Brown University JANUARY 2017 “Story in the Public Square” at Rhode Island PBS
data to experts who painstakingly analyze their evidence. Joint projects like this one with the Athenaeum strengthen the Council’s role in fostering creative connectivity among Rhode Island’s cultural organizations while bringing attention to relevant issues of our time. Through the Pulitzer series, the Council encouraged a diverse array of approaches to the humanities while focusing on the unifying theme of the environment. Here I am thinking about the Council’s support for three artists, Holly Ewald, Erik Gould and Erik Carlson, and UPP Arts, an organization that promotes creative and social engagement with Providence’s Mashapaug Pond to help restore the pond to environmental health. This former waterway was travelled by the Narragansett people and is now contaminated by toxins produced by the long closed and now demolished Gorham Silver Company factory. “Silvered: Tracing Gorham at Mashapaug Pond,” a multimedia experience curated and performed by Gould and Carlson, included photographs and film that documented the massive Gorham factory and its workers and was projected onto a gorgeous screen designed by Ewald that floated on the pond itself. “Silvered” brought together manufacturing and labor history with haunting, beautiful, and often painful images of a factory site that has now vanished but that remains environmentally consequential. Margo Jefferson, author of the memoir Negroland and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in criticism, approached the inner landscape of psychological and social tensions at her keynote speech at the Ocean State Writer’s Conference. Her approach to the environment came by way of reconstructing the subtle intersection of place and person in a racial and gendered past. Such programming beautifully captures the potential of the 21st century essay to illuminate new sites of intersection in the humanities.
zer-winner Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press focused his talk at the Essay in Public conference on his own recursive practice as a journalist and increasingly engaged citizen. Henderson’s discussion of his “Through the Doors of 7124 Tuxedo” project reminded us that cities are complex, often damaged ecosystems. His return to his childhood home of Detroit led him to think differently about neighborhood blight and community resilience in the history of housing and urban renewal and to take a new approach to journalism. Through Story in the Public Square, a forum created by Jim Ludes of Salve Regina University’s Pell Center and G. Wayne Miller, reporter at the Providence Journal, the Pulitzer program brought Dan Fagin, author of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning Toms River, to the studios of RI PBS to tape a show for broadcast on both television and radio. A small town in Ocean County, New Jersey, Toms River became the narrative centerpiece of Fagin’s exploration of the impact of rampant pollution and unregulated industry on human illness. Science as a method rooted in verification and journalism’s contextualization of evidence, Fagin said, are particularly relevant in the age of the internet where too much opinion hides as reportage. The Essay in Public conference, another Council-sponsored Pulitzer event organized by Patricia Ybarra of Brown University, Martha Elena Rojas of the University of Rhode Island, and Wendy Walters of The New School in New York, also made the connection between science and story for the 21st century essay. At the conference, Boston Globe reporter Sarah Schweitzer, a Pulitzer finalist, underscored the power of storytelling in both words and images to capture and hold the interest of ever more distracted readers. Schweitzer discussed her innovative multimedia series “Saving Bayla” and what led her to focus on a scientist trying to save a single baby whale to represent the larger, often impersonal and numbingly bleak picture of the damage to ocean life wrought by industry. For Schweitzer, the scale of one—one person taking action despite great odds—can galvanize people to action as well or better than charts and graphs of environmental threats to marine life. The Pulitzer programming highlighted the Council’s charge to show how the humanities help communities face pressing issues. This is not simply a question of identifying problems; the humanities offer a methodology— a process with outcomes—for addressing them and taking positive steps. A theme that came up across most of the Pulitzer programming revealed the place of recursivity in innovation and creative problem-solving. By this I mean the act of return and reconsideration that moves our approach to issues forward and improves our ability to act. For example, Pulit-
Read blog posts and listen to the Pulitzer in RI podcasts at rihumanities.org/program/ pulitzer.
#PULITZERRI
Another powerful example of the essay as a way to reconsider the environment was the music and spoken word performance created by violist Consuelo Sherba and the members of Rhode Island’s Aurea Ensemble. Listeners were called to engage with our presence on a changing planet by the evocative pairings of chamber music, poetry and American naturalist writing. Sherba interwove Pulitzer Prize-winning works, including by composer John Luther Adams and poets Mary Oliver and Galway Kinnell, with earlier expressions to create an essay that shed light on the power of art to wake us up. The humanities, bridging and blending art, culture, science, and history, help us to know where we are heading by returning to the past in unexpected ways. By supporting a series that, in true essay fashion, tried out different ways to understand the deeply rooted problems of the environment, the Council helped ideas to grow and new formats to emerge. The Council’s decision to focus on the environment amplifies its role as convener of critically important, often uncomfortable, conversations. Climate change, for example, is not simply happening to our physical environment. It affects how we live and work, what we see in the past, and our visions for the future. This realization underscores the need for a truly public, truly humanities-based approach to innovation and leadership here in Rhode Island, in the nation, and the world.
JANE GERHARD is a historian and writer living in the Elmwood neighborhood of Providence. She earned
a PhD in American Studies from Brown University in 1996. She is the author of Desiring Revolution and The Dinner Party, both accounts of feminist thought and activism in the US since 1970. She is also the co-author, with Mari Jo Buhle and Teresa Murphy, of Women and the Making of America, a chronological survey of the role and experience of women in American history.
amplify 2016 HIGHLIGHTS
From Rhode Tours that tell stories about places and people across the state to Center for the Book programs in living rooms and libraries from Woonsocket to Westerly, to our 36 grants supporting history, heritage, cultural engagement and civic dialogue to the ideas and partnerships sparked by Catalyzing Newport — the Council’s work showcases how the humanities foster learning, seed innovation, and strengthen communities.
READING ACROSS RHODE ISLAND 2,500+ Rhode Islanders participated 600 copies of The Wright Brothers delivered to 35 libraries, classrooms
RHODE TOUR 9 tours completed 6 more in progress, leading the
way in place-based, mobile, multimedia storytelling about people, places, and hidden history
and senior centers
300 resource guides delivered,
designed to support the Common Core curriculum and thoughtful engagement with the book
CATALYZING NEWPORT Visits from 4 Catalysts: Jennifer Novak-Leonard, John Shibley, Jake Dunagan, and Estevan Rael-Gálvez
5 steering committee member organizations 750+ participants using
humanities methods to address challenges and opportunities in Newport and the region
KIDS READING ACROSS RHODE ISLAND 600+ children and families met author Victoria Jamieson at State House kick-off event 1,900+ copies of Roller Girl delivered to 29 libraries, 41 classrooms, & 500+ children & families 19 students in grades 2–7 interviewed author Jamieson through Junior Press Corps pilot program
“My internship at the Humanities Council gave me a sense of hope for continuing my interests in the humanities post-college — not just for employment, but for all of the reading groups, civic meetings, arts and cultural activities, boards, and communities to be a part of. It's great to know that in Rhode Island the possibilities for the public humanities are open and the academic wall is torn down.” —Audrey Spina Digital Storytelling & Archives Intern Wheaton College ‘17
Supporting the Next Generation of Public Humanities Professionals 20+ presentations made & classes taught 1 Next Generation PhD planning committee
6 interns from 5 colleges / universities
FY16 COUNCIL INTERNS
Katherine Creamer Providence College Carol Law Ka Wah Chinese University of Hong Kong Audrey Spina Wheaton College Haley Russell Johnson & Wales University Tyler French Brown University Amelia Golcheski Brown University
Over 130 humanities projects, programs, and special events took place across the state through the Council’s grantmaking, collaborations, and partnerships.
2016 GRANT PROFILES PUBLIC PROJECT GRANTS Supporting public humanities projects that enrich and enliven the life of our state through a variety of formats including: community conversations, talks and lectures, new media technology, museum interpretations and exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions, book or film
PROVIDENCE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM,
$12,000 to Connecting Children to the Humanities: Exhibit Components for Ages 4–11 PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY / THE HI-FI COLLABORATIVE, $4,000 to Stories of Histories;
Stories of Spaces
discussions, oral histories, and radio shows. PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY, $2,000 to COGGESHALL FARM MUSEUM, $2,000 to
Building a Multicultural Narrative for Coggeshall
$2,000 to Providence: The Backstreets
SALVE REGINA UNIVERSITY, $2,000 to Ideas into Actions: Uncovering Lessons from Claiborne Pell Planning Project
EVERETT: COMPANY STAGE & SCHOOL, $10,000
SCHOOL ONE, $2,000 to Write Rhode Island
DIRECT ACTION FOR RIGHTS AND EQUALITY,
to 2016 Freedom Cafe Series FRIENDS OF HEARTHSIDE, INC. $2,000 to The Decade that Roared: A 1920s Rhode Island Experience LITTLE COMPTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY, $12,000
to If Jane Should Want To Be Sold: Stories of Slavery, Indenture, and Freedom in Little Compton, RI
WILBURY THEATRE GROUP, $2,000 to
OUTDOORS Summer 2016
Invisible UpSouth
ORLANDO R. SMITH TRUST, $7,070 to South County Sampler Initiative PROVIDENCE CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL,
$12,000 to PCFF Film Hub Development
GRANT PROJECT
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, $1,982 to
NEWPORTFILM, $11,250 to newportFILM
Remember Me: The Black Church in Rhode Island
SPECIAL COUNCIL PROGRAMS
THE MANTON AVENUE PROJECT, $12,000 to Afterschool Playwriting for Young People in Olneyville
for Summer Art Internships
OPERA PROVIDENCE, $8,900 to Do Lord
CATALYZING NEWPORT
SEEDWORKS FUND, $2,000 to Seeking Shelter from the Storm: Daniel Berrigan, Bill Stringfellow, and Block Island
Memory vs. Representation: Veterans’ Homecoming in History, Literature, and Memory
NEW URBAN ARTS, $5,000 to Scholar Support
CENTER FOR THE BOOK
Portals: A History of the Future
DOCUMENTARY FILM GRANTS Supporting documentary films that preserve Rhode Island’s stories and bring its history to life. INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY AND PRACTICE OF NONVIOLENCE, $12,000 to The Rhode Island
Hip Hop Project OPENDOORS, $2,000 to 9 Yards Documentary
GRANT HIGHLIGHTS
$166,452 was awarded to 36 grant projects in support of public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement across the state.
PUBLIC PROJECT GRANTS UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
$1,982 to Memory vs. Representation: Veterans’
Homecoming in History, Literature, and Memory
Conversations about multiple interpretations of homecomings and the harsh realities that veterans often face. Across the state, three panels hosted by the University of Rhode Island, the Community College of Rhode Island, and the Providence Public Library encouraged veterans and their families to engage in open dialogues about the challenges of reintegration into civilian society. Before each panel, audience members and participants were encouraged to review and reflect on selected books, poems, film, and literature that have captured the multifaceted and widely different experiences of veterans from World War I through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. DOCUMENTARY FILM GRANTS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY AND PRACTICE
K–12 CIVIC EDUCATION GRANTS PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY
$4,705 to Edible Schoolyard at Green Animals
The development phase of a K–12 historic foodways program at Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth, exploring the connections between food and horticulture practices, culture, health, and the environment. Following the model of the California-based chef Alice Waters, Green Animals opened up their farm to students from Aquidneck Island for hands-on learning about gardening, nutrition, and the history of food production and cultivation in Rhode Island. Concluding with a pilot curriculum, a five-year implementation plan, as well as fresh tomatoes, the project is a practice in growing sustainable relationships between local nonprofits and their surrounding school districts. INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH GRANTS
OF NONVIOLENCE
MARC LEVITT
$12,000 to The Rhode Island Hip Hop Project
$2,000 to Triple Decker: A New England Love Story
Production and post-production of documentary by Ana Gonzalez and Jeffrey Matteis exploring the history, culture, music, and art of Rhode Island’s hip hop community. Examining the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and generation, the work includes participation by native Rhode Islanders, transplants, and scholars. Beginning in the 1980s and the early days of contemporary hip hop, the film explores the various, often contentious interpretations of hip hop and what it means to be an MC, B-Boy/Girl, DJ, or Graffiti Writer. It explores the growth of an art form and the ways Ocean State citizens have absorbed and recreated hip hop culture, making it uniquely their own.
Research on the triple-decker houses, prevalent throughout Rhode Island and surrounding regions, that hold an iconic status as the historic homes of many immigrant and working-class families and that often reflect the stories of those who have struggled as well as prospered inside their walls. Trekking from New Bedford to Dorchester, Worcester, and Providence, Levitt collected oral histories, photographs, and academic resources to explore triple-deckers as physical testaments to the social, economic and cultural weathering of southeastern New England. Research culminated in a full-length documentary film for distribution on local and national public television.
K– 12 CIVIC EDUCATION GRANTS
INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH GRANTS
Supporting projects that enhance the humanities components of K–12 education through the creative integration of the Rhode Island Social Studies Grade Span Expectations in teaching and learning, in order to cultivate the civic leaders of future generations.
Supporting original research that uncovers Rhode Island’s untold stories and sheds new light and insight on established stories.
BLACKSTONE ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL,
$8,090 to Upstanders in the RI Community BROWN UNIVERSITY, $2,000 to Shakespeare
para todos! [Shakespeare for Everyone!] DAVISVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL, $1,000 to Smokeless
Tobacco: Past, Present, and Me LIVING HISTORY, $1,955 to Iron Man Phase III THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY, $4,705 to Edible Schoolyard at Green Animals VARTAN GREGORIAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PTO,
$2,000 to Vartan Gregorian CityArts STEAM Friday Residency WESTERN RHODE ISLAND CIVIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY, $2,000 to Rhode Island Model Legislature 2.0 (2016)
JOHN TSCHIRCH, $2,000 to Mapping the
Newport Experience MARC LEVITT, $2,000 to Triple Decker: A New England Love Story PAUL DAGLIERI, $2,000 to Walking in Light —
African American Gospel Churches in Providence RACHAEL ROSNER, $1,500 to Illuminating the Golden Ghetto of Providence: Aaron Temkin Beck and the Origins of Cognitive Therapy RICHARD GOULIS / SHERYL KOPEL, $2,000 to Unjuried/Uncensored: AS220 and the Making of a Creative Place ROBB DIMMICK, $2,000 to On The Road to Freedom: A Guide to Historic Black Sites in Rhode Island SANDY MCCAW, $2,000 to Willow Dell Historical
Association: Matunuck Oral History Project #8 THERESA GUZMAN STOKES, $2,000 to Legacies of Slavery and Freedom: A Family Journey Through the Atlantic World
FY16 SUPPORTERS
PELL CIRCLE
GIFTS OF $2,500 and up
We are grateful for the generous support of our donors, funders, and sponsors. You make this work possible.
INDIVIDUALS
Phoebe Blake & Peter McClure
Nancy Abeshaus+
Christy Law & Kevin Blanchard+
Susan Abilheira+
Lois Blazer+
Angela Abosamra+ Joan & Richard Abrams Linda Maia Afonso+
Roger Blumberg & Cristina Mitchell+
PELL CIRCLE DONORS ‡
Melody Allen+
Dr. & Mrs. Edwin A. Boger
CENTER FOR THE BOOK
Peter & Susan Allen in honor of Tom Roberts
Vincent Bohlinger & Todd Borgerding
Nancy Anderson
Denise Boule+
Pauline & Harry Anderson+
Linda Brennan+
Anonymous (3)
Patricia Brinegar+
Dawn Appleby+
Ann P. Brogan+
Elizabeth Archetto+
Elizabeth Brown+
Margaret Asselin+
Nancy E. Brown+
Jane Austin+ William & Judith Babcock+
Winifred Brownell in honor of Elizabeth Francis
Jackie Baglini+
Thomas & Antonia Bryson
Evelyn Bain+
Kay Ellen Bullard
Martha Baril+
Beth Burnett
Sue Barker+
Charlotte Burnham+
Reenie & Bob Barrow
Julia Bush+
Judith Barrowclough+
Steve J. Caminis
Suzanne Bartlett+
Nancy Carignan in honor of Marjory O’Toole
GIFTS OF $1,000 and more
MEMBERS +
Members of THE PELL CIRCLE are the Council’s philanthropic leaders. This giving society honors the legacy of U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell, one of the primary sponsors of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, which created the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Pell Circle donors support the Humanities Council’s efforts to advance civic and cultural leadership that addresses the challenges Rhode Island faces and that engages with the state’s remarkable history and culture.
Joan & Richard Abrams Elizabeth Delude-Dix Lauren K. Drury Chap & Ethel Hutcheson Polly Hutcheson & George Rice Beatrice Hutcheson Kampmann Kate & Howard Kilguss Sarah B. & Craig Richardson
Marcia Bliss+ ‡
Phoebe Bean+
Rebecca Riley
Alice HRH Beckwith+
William & Alison Vareika
Susanna Beckwith+
The White Family
Lynda Bedard Christine M. Bell+ Nancy W. Bennett Dorothy Bergeron+ Christina Bevilacqua Joseph & Mary Ann Bevilacqua Helen Biancani+ Margaret Bierden+ Bob Billington
Valerie Carnevale+ Linda Casey+ Marion Castellucci+ Dan Cavicchi Betty M. Challgren+ Carolyn Chirnside+ Marie D. Chmielewski+ Shawn Anthony Christian Charleen Christy+ Kathleen Church+ Kate & Arthur Chute
Cathryn Collins+
Maia Farish
James A. Hopkins
Abigail Congdon
Barbara Findley+
Jennifer Howlett
Frances Conklin+
Rhoda & Allen Flaxman
Kay Hughes+
Suzanne Conklin+
Virginia F. Fletcher
Polly Hutcheson & George Rice ‡
Melanie & Stephen Coon
Nancy Flewwellin+
Chap & Ethel Hutcheson‡
Debbe (Brennan) Coons in honor of Tom Roberts
Joan Flynn+
Joseph & Laurie Hutcheson
D.J. Foley+
P. William Hutchinson
Bethany Costello+
Patti Folsom+
Jane Isaac+
Kathleen Costello+
David & Ginny Fox+
James Janecek & Carol Terry
Elizabeth Crabtree
Elizabeth Francis
Rachael Jeffers
Nancy Cyr-Larson+
Nancy Fritz+
Andrew & Jennifer Jencks
Karen Daigle+
J. Gatta
Galen A. Johnson
Lewis & Betty Dana
Kathleen Gendron+
Carole Jolie+
Denise Dangremond
Nancy Geraghty+
Cynthia Joly+
Bonnie & Rob DeBlois
Touba Ghadessi
Virginia Jones+
Carol DeBoer-Langworthy
Gayle L. Gifford & Jonathan W. Howard
Judith Bertozzi
Elizabeth Delude-Dix ‡ Jane A. Desforges
Joan Glazer+
Beatrice Hutcheson Kampmann‡
Louis Di Toro+
Brad & Rebecca Gordon
Deborah Katz+
Muriel Dickinson+
Julie Lombardi Goulet+
Joan Kelley+
Susan Dillon+
Karen Gray+
Donna Longo DiMichele+
Lenore Gray (Rakatansky)
Ellen A. Kellner in memory of George H. Kellner
Diane M. Disney
Elsa S. Grieder+
Norman M. Kelly
Ann Doherty+
Mattie Gustafson+
Robert Kelly+
Dawn Dove
Nancy Haley+
Maureen Kelsey+
Lauren K. Drury ‡
John Harkey+
Kate & Howard Kilguss‡
Geralyn Ducady
Bill Harley & Debbie Block
Albert T. Klyberg
Kenneth R. Dulgarian
Amy Harmon+
Jessica Kowal
Pamela Dumas+
Barbara Harris
Steven Krasner+
Joyce D. Dunagan+
Dr. Daniel Harrop III
Paula M. Krebs & Claire Buck
Elizabeth Eaton+
Bonney Henschel+
Paul & Mary Ellen Kroll
Lynne Edmonds+
Arlene Hicks+
Rosalind E. Ladd
Jean Edwards
Jeannine Hicks+
Faxine Lafond+
John Eng-Wong in memory of Tom Gleason+
Marilyn Hines+
James & Patricia Lamarre+
Helga Hoffman+
Donna Lancaster+
Sandra Enos+
Susan Hooker
Jane Lancaster
Holly Ewald
Paula Hooper+
Maureen Lancellotta+
William & Maryann Juska
HOW THE COUNCIL IS SUPPORTED
Developing the Council’s resources is one of the top goals of our strategic plan, “Catalyzing the Humanities in Rhode Island,” available on the website. These charts show how individuals, corporations and foundations have enabled the Council to build on support received from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Since 2015, the Council increased foundation grant support by 47 percent, and other fundraising income by 15 percent. This growth allows the Council to do more with people and organizations throughout the state and to expand the impact of the humanities. As we increase support, we are also diversifying the sources of funding from foundations, corporations, and individuals who believe in the importance of the humanities for strong, vital communities.
FISCAL YEAR 2016 EXPENSES
Programs (61%) Grantmaking (17%)
For more information about finances, visit the Council’s profile on GuideStar.
Fundraising (11%) Management (11%)
FY15 — FY16 REVENUE COMPARISON
FY16 REVENUE
FY15 REVENUE
$0
$300,000
$600,000
$900,000
$1,200,000
Patricia Lang+
Dave & Elizabeth McNab
Kurt A. Raaflaub
Nola LaSalle+
Richard & Patricia Menoche+
Anisa Raoof
Sandra Latcha
Lynne Miller+
Maureen Reddy & Douglas Best
Ann Lavoie+
Adrian Moore Trask
Angela & Raymond Renaud+
Thomas Lazieh
E. Pierre Morenon
Edmund Restivo
Francis J. Leazes Jr.
Adrienne Morris & Stewart Martin in honor of Elizabeth Francis & family
Sarah Reusché & Marco Cross
Mary Lebeau+ Kyla Leconti+ Jenna Legault Meagan Lenihan+
Foundation Grants
Individual Gifts & Corporate Sponsorships
Earned Revenue
Louise B. Moulton+ Pearl Nathan
Denise Richtarik+ Ray Rickman David T. Riedel
John Nazarian
Louis Riggs in honor of SueEllen Kroll
Hilary Levey Friedman
Ken Newman‡
Rebecca Riley‡
Barbara Levine
Patricia Nickles+
Margurite Rizzi
Robyn Levine+
Lynn K. Nicoletta
Tom & Elizabeth Roberts
Bonnie Lilienthal+
Rosalie Nocera+
Sue Roebuck+
Judy Barrett Litoff
John & Patricia Nolan
Karen T. Romer
Hannah & John Lombardo+
Carol Nota+
Ed & Maria Rondeau
Katherine Long
Robin Nyzio+
Randall Rosenbaum
Wanda J. Lord
Edna O’Connell+
Rita Rosenbloom+
Steve Lubar & Lisa Theorle
Gregg Oehler & Susan Pitt+
Fred & Marcia Rosenzweig
Donna Harrington-Lueker
Byrant & Barbara Ogden+
Joan Lusk
Anne Oldmixon+
Sharron Rothberg in honor of Jesse Hellring+
David & Sharon Lux+
Ken Orenstein
Mary Ryder+
Marilyn J. Malina
Richard S. Palmer
Patricia A. Saccoccio+
Roger & Gayle Mandle
Mary Lee Partington
Carolyn Salk+
Faye Maris+
John J. Partridge+
Carol Sarro+
Carolyn Mark+
Jean & Mark Patiky+
Elizabeth J. Sceppa+
Alita Marks+
James T. & Cynthia Patterson
Katharine Schelleng+
Jean Martin+
Susan Peckham+
T.P. Schwartz-Barcott+
Marilyn Mattera+
Christopher T. H. & Janet Pell
Marie Jenkins Schwartz+
Joyce B. May+
Ken & Ann Peloquin+
Audrey Shapiro+
Cheryl McCarthy+
Jill Pipher
Jean McCombs+
Mark Pompelia in honor of Scott Brooks+
Peggy Shea in honor of Tom Roberts
Betty Lentz in honor of Kate Lenz+
Gina McDonald Paulette McLaren+
NEH
Douglass & Elizabeth Morse
Sarah B. & Craig Richardson‡
Claudette McLinn+
Deming Sherman
Nancy Potter
Edna Shire+
Anne Scurria & Barry Press+
Carol Shunney+
Judith Queen
Rebecca A. Silliman
John Simmonds
Robin Wetherill
Compensation Planning
Omni Providence
Gretchen Dow Simpson & Jim Baird+
Terrie "Fox" Wetle
Daniele, Inc.
Ormonde Productions
Stadium Theatre Performing Arts Centre
Ruth B. Whipple
Dave's Marketplace
Pastiche Fine Desserts
Stenhouse Consulting
Missy (Helen) Sittler
The White Family‡
Doors Open RI
Pawtucket Credit Union
TD Bank
Carole Skeffington+
Dianne Whitehead+
Everett Company Stage & School
Pawtucket Public Library
The Avery
Mary Ann Slocomb+
Kate Wodehouse
Festival Ballet Providence
Preserve Rhode Island
The Dean Hotel
Harton Smith & Mary Bandura
Ed & Linda Wood
Fidelity Investments
ProMail, Etc.
Tom Sojka+
Patricia A. Woods
Fire Works Catering
Providence Athenaeum
The Little Compton Historical Society
Carolyn St. Jean-Gogan+
Fiscal Management Associates
Providence Bruins
Mary K. Staples
Connie Worthington & Terry Tullis+
The Preservation Society of Newport County
National Endowment for the Humanities
Cheryl Stein+
Josephine & Harrison M. Wright
Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival
Providence Children's Film Festival
The Providence Athenaeum
Providence Tourism Council
Ilira Steinman+
Kyle & Kristina Zambarano
FM Global Foundation
Providence Children's Museum
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre
Rhode Island Foundation
Sue Stenhouse
Lynne Zelonis+
Frank Mullin Photography
Providence College Foundation
The Washington Trust Company
Gasbarro's Wines
van Beuren Charitable Foundation
Brooke Strachan+
ORGANIZATIONS
Goat Hill Writers
Providence College Athletic Association
Angela Stupinski+
Aaronson, Lavoie, Streitfeld, Diaz & Co.
Gracie's
Providence Preservation Society
Grimshaw-Gudewicz Charitable Foundation
Redwood Library & Athenaeum
Ruth Strach+
Marjorie Lee Sundlun
The Wilbury Theatre Group Theatre by the Sea Tomaquag Museum Trinity Repertory Company
Hasbro
Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts
Adler Pollock & Sheehan PC
Hemenway's Restaurant
Rhode Island College
Office of the President
Robert Tessier
American Ring Company, Inc.
Jamestown Arts Center
Rhode Island Historical Society
College of Arts & Sciences
Jeanne Thomason+
Armory Revival Company
Johnson & Wales University
Rhode Island Library Association
Noeline Thomson-Bee+
AS220
Linden Place
Rhode Island School of Design
Division of Research & Economic Development
Rosanne & Wayne Trissler
Barrington Books
Lippitt House Museum
Barton Gilman, LLP
Wheaton College
Jeanne Tsakeres+
Local 121
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
BENRUS
Matt Ferrara Photography
RISD Museum
The Wheeler School
Jessica Unger William & Alison Vareika ‡
Bethany O Photography
McLaughlin and Moran, Inc.
Jane Vincelette+
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
MetLife Auto & Home
Judith Swift Kisa Jo Takesue & Glenn E. Turner
Susan Viveiros+ Christian Smith & Pebbles Wadsworth Diane Walsh+ Mary Walsh+ Kaitlynne Ward Lynn Watterson+
Accounting Management Solutions
Bocado
Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island
Brown University
New Urban Arts
Cogut Center for the Humanities John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities & Cultural Heritage
Newport Restoration Foundation Newport Storm Brewery newportFILM North Providence Library
Sarah Weed+
Bryant University
Ocean State Theatre Company
Alfred & Naida Weisberg
Campus Fine Wines
Vivian Weisman+
Citrin Cooperman
Office of Library and Information Services
Roger Williams University Russell Morin Fine Catering Salve Regina University Pell Center for Public Policy & International Relations Sansiveri Kimball & Co., L.L.P. School Librarians of Rhode Island South County Tourism Council State of Rhode Island House of Representatives legislative grant
University of Rhode Island
Center for the Humanities
The Council gratefully acknowledges the major support of:
Federation of State Humanities Councils Governor’s Workforce Board Library of Congress
TD Charitable Foundation
2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Polly Hutcheson, Chair Shawn Christian, PhD, Vice Chair
Gina McDonald, CPA, Treasurer
Elizabeth Francis, PhD Executive Director
Joan Abrams
SueEllen Kroll Director of Grants & Strategic Partnerships
Winnie Brownell, PhD Daniel Cavicchi, PhD Sharon Collier Lauren K. Drury, Esq. Rhoda Flaxman, PhD Touba Ghadessi, PhD Bill Harley TOM ROBERTS Founding executive director of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and senior lecturer in History at the Rhode Island School of Design; Honorary Chairs’ Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities LORÉN SPEARS Executive director of the Tomaquag Museum; Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities PROVIDENCE CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL Innovation in the Humanities Award
Mary Lee Partington
—Tom Roberts
Carole Ann Penney Associate Director Kate Lentz Director, Rhode Island Center for the Book
IMAGES & PHOTO CREDITS Our thanks to Matt Ferrara Photography, Frank Mullin, Mary Murphy, Beatrice McConville and all of our grantees who have contributed photographs.
2016 Annual Report publication design by design-agency.org
Rachael Jeffers Development & Communications Officer Logan Hinderliter Program Associate, Grants & Partnerships
Angela Renaud, EdD Rebecca R. Riley John Simmonds Sue Stenhouse William Vareika Kyle Zambarano, Esq.
MARTA MARTÍNEZ Executive director of Rhode Island Latino Arts; Public Humanities Scholar Award
“The humanities promote a richer, deeper, more fulfilling life. The humanities amplify our humanity.”
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
2016 STAFF
Phoebe Bean, MLS
Each October, the Council marks National Arts and Humanities month with the not-to-bemissed Celebration of the Humanities. In 2016, the Celebration's theme—Amplify—expressed the power of the humanities to increase awareness of stories and voices that need to be heard, raising over $80,000 to support culture, history, heritage, and civic education in our state. The 2016 honorees demonstrate how the humanities inspire creativity, bridge academic and public life, resonate with current issues and future possibilities, and magnify connections between economy, community, and culture.
Senator Jack Reed
Jean Patiky, Secretary
Reenie Barrow
2016 CELEBRATION OF THE HUMANITIES
HONORARY CHAIRS
Y A T S Join us in deepening and broadening access to history, culture, civic engagement, and education to enrich and improve the lives of all Rhode Islanders.
N N CO PARTICIPATE Attend a humanities event near you or apply for a grant to support your next public humanities project. CELEBRATE Join us for the annual Celebration of the Humanities in October to mark National Arts & Humanities Month.
D E T EC ADVOCATE Show your support for the humanities by telling policy makers the humanities matter. Write a letter, sign a petition, or share your story. DONATE Make a gift to strengthen cultural, historical, and civic engagement throughout the state; rihumanities. org/get-involved/donate
Visit rihumanities.org to learn more and join our mailing list. facebook.com/ rihumanities @rihumanities
131 Washington St, Suite 210 Providence, RI 02903 rihumanities.org 401–273–2250