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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- January 9, 2007
CONTACT: Scott Hirko, Public Relations Officer,
shirko [at] mihumanities.org, 517-372-0029 ext. 25

$60,000 AWARDED FOR PROJECTS ABOUT MICHIGAN WORK AND LABOR

Four grants awarded as part of We the People program to focus on American history

(LANSING)-----The Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) announces it has awarded four grants totaling $59,740 as part of the Council’s We the People grant program. The organizations awarded grants are: the Plymouth Community Arts Council, the Center for Automotive Heritage at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the University of Detroit-Mercy, and the Holy Hill Center of Leland.

“These programs are all excellent opportunities for Michigan citizens to learn about the state’s work and labor history,” stated Jan Fedewa, executive director of the MHC.

We the People is a National Endowment for the Humanities initiative supporting projects that explore significant events and themes in our nation’s history and asks these lessons be shared with all Americans. The MHC designed its own We the People program to fund projects that examine work and labor issues in Michigan history and culture. The following four projects are funded through the MHC’s We the People program:

The Plymouth Community Arts Council was awarded $15,000 to recruit local youth to create an exhibit, The Changing Face of Michigan's Workforce: The Plymouth, Michigan Story. This project will involve 30 middle and high school students from Plymouth-Canton School Districts in an after-school program. They will document the changing meaning of work in people's lives, using Plymouth as a case study. Participants will be engaged in historical research and will conduct intergenerational oral history interviews of past and present workers from Plymouth's manufacturing companies. The exhibit will be on display at the Joann Winkleman Hulce Center for the Arts in Plymouth in September 2007.

The Center for Automotive Heritage at the University of Michigan-Dearborn was awarded $14,998 to create an exhibit, Motor City Voices: Race, Labor, and De-Industrialization, to depict the history, ideas, and ideals in the labor and community movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibit will focus on: the African American, grassroots labor movement; technological changes; and, economic changes to Detroit neighborhoods. The exhibit will be online and will also be on display on the UM-Dearborn campus in October 2007, at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit in November 2007, and at the Henry Ford in Dearborn from November 2007 to January 2008.

The University of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company was awarded $14,742 to tour a condensed version of the play, Malice Aforethought: The Sweet Trials, to several underserved locations statewide during May 2007. The touring version will use equity actors to ensure high artistic standards, and will be accompanied by an historical exhibit and a humanities scholar as a moderator.

The Holy Hill Trust in Leland was awarded $15,000 to create a book, The Work of Keewaydinoquay. The project includes researching the journals, work, letters, audio tapes, and oral teaching of Keewaydinoquay. The goal is to create a volume that shares the stories of her working life as a teacher, including her photos, drawing, and poetry. Public and school presentations are planned.

The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is the state’s independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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