Projects We've Funded 2001-08

Western Massachusetts

$5,000 to University of Massachusetts in Amherst for The World and the Word 8^th Annual Juniper Festival, exploring the relation between literary art and environmental activism. (2008)

$8,100 to Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield for Film Feasts, an extension of the museum’s Little Cinema run into the off-season with four “film and feast” events, each of which partners the museum with a local restaurant. (2008)

$10,000 to the University of Massachusetts/New WORLD Theater in Amherst to support a multifaceted project entitled Walaalo! Somali Women’s Project, that aims to develop economic opportunities for Somali immigrant women in the Springfield area and build understanding of Somali history and culture in the larger community. (2008)

$7,500 to the Plainfield Historical Society for print guides to six family-friendly outdoor experiences designed to engage visitors in discovering the cultural and natural history of Plainfield. (Liberty & Justice for All Grant) (2007)

$5,000 to the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield for ImaginASIA, family-oriented programs related to a new exhibit about the connections between Eastern and Western art. (2007) 

$6,631to the Double Edge Theatre Productions, Inc. in Ashfield for Art as Healer and Provocateur: an art exhibit of the work of Mira Zelechower; a theatrical performance; and a panel discussion on artists in oppressive contexts. (2007)

$5,000 to the Friends of WFCR, Inc. in Amherst to produce Environmental Change and Society: Massachusetts as a Model, 12 radio pieces focusing on the relationships between human history and environmental change. (2007)

$7,500 to Live in Concert, Inc. in Amherst toward the costs of presenting a fully staged production of a new opera set in Ford’s Theatre on the night of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, entitled Our American Cousin. (2007)

$2,350 to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to present two forums on press responsibility, introducing the public to the newly established New England News Forum. (2007)

$7,612 to the Greenfield Human Rights Commission for a range of activities to celebrate and educate the community about the city’s role in the Underground Railroad. (2007)

$5,000 to Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield to support the planning of the upcoming exhibit Handled with Care, which will examine the relationship between design and religious expression in Shaker-made objects. (2006) 

$5,000 to Wistariahurst Museum Association in Holyoke to develop a series of exhibitions on immigration in the Holyoke area. (2006) 

$5,000 to Hampshire College in Amherst to develop Nostoi, a series of public events relating to the theme of the war veteran’s return home. (2006)

$2,917 to the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst to support a panel discussion on the portrayal of Emily Dickinson in various media. (2006) 

$1,000 to the Plainfield Historical Society to index the papers of the late Dyer sisters, who spent decades collecting information on the town’s history. (2006) 

$10,000 to the Hatikvah Holocaust Education Center in Springfield to develop curriculum materials using the history of the Holocaust to explore issues of individual responsibility. (2006) 

$5,000 to the Sheffield Historical Society to support If They Close the Door on You, Go in the Window, an exhibit and symposium on southern Berkshire County’s black history, with emphasis on the story of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman. (2006) 

$4,500 to Shakespeare & Company in Lenox for a series of free, pre-performance lectures and demonstrations on cultural and historical aspects of Shakespeare’s world and on the history of Shakespeare performances. (2006)

$5,000 to the Juniper Initiative of the University of Massachusetts Amherst for a series of public readings, lectures, and panels looking at aspects of contemporary British literature and British-American literary relations. (2005)

$5,000 to the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area in Great Barrington to publish a curriculum resource guide on the history of African Americans in the Upper Housatonic Valley, which will serve as a primary text for a teacher workshop. (2005)

$4,500 to Shakespeare & Company in Lenox to support a series of free public lectures and demonstrations on historical and cultural aspects of Elizabethan England. (2005)

$5,000 to the New WORLD Theater of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to cover scholar expenses at a ten-day retreat where young people begin developing performance pieces related to war and the gender implications of contemporary conflicts. (2005)

$1,915 to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley to support the training of a teaching assistant for a literature and writing class bringing together college students and women incarcerated at a correctional facility. (2005)

$3,700 to the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke to support an exhibit on the William Skinner and Sons Manufacturing Company. (2005)

$5,000 to Mass MoCA in North Adams for a lecture and discussion series exploring the work of Chineseborn artist Cai Guo-Qiang and issues related to art that examines violence and terrorism. (2005)

$10,000 to the University of Massachusetts Amherst for pre-production work on the documentary Sisters of Providence, the story of an order of nuns with a long history of involvement in healthcare and social services. (2005)

$3,700 to the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke to support an exhibit on the William Skinner and Sons Manufacturing Company. (2004)

$5,000 to Mass MoCA in North Adams for a lecture and discussion series exploring the work of Chinese-born artist Cai Guo-Qiang. (2005)

$10,000 to the University of Massachusetts Amherst towards pre-production work on the documentary Sisters of Providence, the story of an order of nuns with a long history of involvement in healthcare and social services. (2005)

$3,480 to Montague Community Cable Incorporated to create an archive of interviews with Montague residents and produce an oral history video presentation to be shown in conjunction with the town’s 250th anniversary. (2004)

$5,000 to the University of Massachusetts/New WORLD Theater in Amherst for a summer retreat in which scholars and performance artists will work with a diverse group of young people to lay the groundwork for theater pieces focused on the theme of environmental degradation. (2004)

$3,500 to Shakespeare and Company in Lenox for four free pre-performance lecture-discussions focusing on aspects of everyday life in Elizabethan England. (2004)

$5,000 to Historic Northampton for a series of lectures designed to introduce local residents to recent scholarship on the city’s history. (2004)

$4,265 to MASS MoCA in North Adams for a series of five public presentations on contemporary art that addresses current social and cultural issues. (2004)

$300 to the Wilbraham Public Library for a reading and discussion program featuring books about Cape Cod, including Thoreau’s Cape Cod, Henry Beston’s Outermost House, Time and the Town, and A Place Apart: A Cape Cod Reader. (2003)

$2,020 to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown for a one-and-a half-day teacher workshop that will use Eastman Johnson’s paintings of maple sugaring as the springboard for exploring topics in American cultural history. (2003)

$2,272 to the Wistariahurst Museum Association in Holyoke to mount an exhibition, present related programming, and create website pages on the 100-year history of a community center that began as a settlement house with programs for women factory workers and is now the home of Nueva Esperanza, an organization serving a largely Latino population. (2003)

$2,500 to the Sheffield Historical Society for a Scholar in Residence project to examine the growth of tourism in Sheffield and South Berkshire County during the early railroad era, with scholar Bernard Drew. (2003)

$5,000 to Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association in Deerfield and filmmaker Steve Alves of Greenfield to support distribution of an hour-long documentary that places the stories of two Massachusetts communities and their decisions to permit--or not to permit--the construction of Wal-Mart stores on their outskirts, in the context of the historical conflict between the growing power of national retail corporations and small towns’ efforts to protect local economies based on small businesses. (2003)

$4,720 to the Dickinson Homestead in Amherst for three programs focusing on aspects of nature and art in the work of Emily Dickinson and on her family. (2002)

$10,000 to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to develop a treatment and trailer for a video documentary on the log drives that denuded the landscape of the Upper Connecticut Valley between 1868 and 1915 and caused a public reaction that led to the establishment of New England's national forests. (2002)

$15,000 to the Massachusetts Center for the Book in Amherst to fund the development of prototypes for print and on-line literary maps of Massachusetts. (2002)

$5,000 to Straight Ahead Pictures in Conway to pay for four days of time-lapse cinematography documenting the restoration of the cemetery at Danvers State Hospital. (2002)

$2,880 to Historic Deerfield for an interpreter to lead a series of public walking tours of Historic Deerfield focused on Native American presence in the area. (2002)

$750 to the Huntington Public Library for a five-part scholar-led reading and discussion series focused on cultural identity in America. (2002)

$5,000 to the Berkshire Country Day School in Lenox to develop a dramatic script based on the writings of W.E.B. DuBois, taking the form of a dialogue between DuBois and present-day young people. (2002)

$24,985 to Historic Northampton to support the further development of a website based on the case of Northampton resident Mary Parsons, who was accused of witchcraft three times between 1656 and 1678. (2002)

$10,000 to The Fund for Women Artists in Northampton for distribution of a documentary profiling singer and music educator Jane Sapp, who has won acclaim for her work with economically disadvantaged young people in Springfield. (2002)

$10,000 to the Florence Association in Northampton to create a trailer for a series of video portraits of Northampton residents, to be shown on local cable-access television and eventually to be combined in two full-length films examining the community and the issues it is facing. (2002)

$950 to the Gaylord Memorial Library in South Hadley to support a young adult literature reading and discussion group. (2002)

$15,000 to The Springfield Museums to mount and publicize an exhibition of artifacts from 25th and 26th dynasty Egypt, centering on the mummy case of a stone mason named Padihershef. (2002)

$5,000 to Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox for a series of historical and interpretive events celebrating Hawthorne's bicentennial. (2002)

$1,000 to the Hadley Historical Society for a Research Inventory Grant to inventory the town's historical materials to shed light on women's history in Hadley. (2002)

$25,000 to Florentine Films in Haydenville for production of Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness and Survival, a documentary film that examines the social and personal dimensions of chronic mental illness by focusing on the relationship between Robert Neugeboren, who has suffered from mental illness throughout his adult life, and his brother Jay, a prizewinning novelist and Robert's primary caretaker. (2002)

$10,000 to Friends of WFCR in Amherst, to develop scripts for six to 12 short radio features exploring the 1704 Attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts and drawing on recent historical research to illuminate the complexity of the event. (2002)

$2,000 to Massachusetts Review in Amherst to create two to four pilot programs in a proposed series of radio interviews with Western Massachusetts artists and scholars. (2002)

$5,000 to the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in South Hadley for an exhibition of paintings, prints, and objects exploring the historical significance of Mount Holyoke, the highest peak in the Holyoke Range, as a cultural icon. (2002)

$2,500 to Historic Northampton for initial development of an exhibition and educational web site that will use the story of Mary Parsons, a Northampton woman accused of witchcraft, as a lens for examining the social structure and cultural values of a seventeenth-century Massachusetts community. (2002)

$2,500 to the Northampton Arts Council for screening and discussion of an award-winning documentary film exploring the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the experiences of seven Palestinian and Israeli children who live in and around Jerusalem. (2002)

$2,500 to the Colonel John Ashley House (The Trustees of Reservations) in Sheffield for a Scholar in Residence project: “Colonel John Ashley and his Web of Commerce, 1735-1802,” with scholar Myron Stachiw. (2002)

$1,085 to the Emily Williston Memorial Library in Easthampton for Autobiography: Writing and Memory, a four-part book discussion series. (2002)

$25,000 to the University of Massachusetts/New World Theater in Amherst for a summer retreat in which a culturally diverse group of young people will work with scholars and performers to explore issues related to projected demographic shifts in the population of the U.S. and create performance pieces based on their conversations. (2001)

$2,500 to the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst for a public reading by nature writer Richard Nelson. (2001)

$1,250 to the Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies in Amherst for a public lecture exploring the ethical, scientific, and social-scientific dimensions of the use of medicine to advance Nazi goals under the Third Reich. (2001)

$2,500 to Simon’s Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington for a daylong symposium in honor of the 80th birthday of poet Richard Wilbur: two panel discussions of Wilbur works by literature scholars, each followed by an audience discussion, and a reading by Wilbur himself. (2001)

$9,700 to the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation of Hadley for a weeklong summer institute that will train middle school and high school teachers to do original research and develop lessons using their findings. (2001)

$7,500 to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Lee to support lectures and discussions in conjunction with dance performances. (2001)

$2,500 to the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Northampton for a week-long teacher institute that will engage middle school and high school teachers in original archival research, using the papers of eight twentieth-century women activists, and help them design classroom materials based on their findings.
(2001)

$2,500 to Hancock Shaker Village in Hancock for three programs designed to inform the public about the development of this "living history" museum: a free public forum, a summer-long exhibition, and a laminated guide to selected objects, describing how each one came into the collection and how it contributes to an understanding of Shaker history and culture. (2001)