Telling Stories of Democracy in California
Grants of up to $10,000 are available through the California Story Fund, a competitive grant program of the California Council for the Humanities. The purpose of the California Story Fund is to "capture genuine and compelling stories from and about California's diverse communities, and to ensure that those stories can be shared widely." The application deadline is June 15, 2011.
In the current round of funding, the Fund is especially looking for projects that examine the meaning of democracy, in alignment with the Council's Searching for Democracy initiative. This initiative is designed to promote public understanding of the American democratic experiment and will comprise a wide range of humanities-based public programs leading up to the national elections in 2012.
Applicants must have California tax-exempt organizational status or partner with a California tax-exempt sponsor organization as a fiscal agent. Projects must:
- Explore stories of California and its cultures, people and histories.
- Approach the subject matter from a humanities perspective.
- Actively involve at least one humanities advisor in planning and implementing the project.
- Provide opportunities for community engagement and involvement in project activities.
- Include public programming elements.
- Produce work that will be accessible by the public and sharable, in whole or part, through the California Council for the Humanities website.
- Produce work that will be of interest to local, statewide and potentially national audiences.
Grants must be matched by at least an equal amount of non-federal funds or in-kind services and materials. Grants will typically not be made to projects that have a total budget exceeding $50,000.
This grant has clear convergence with public media and interesting opportunities to cultivate new or existing community partnerships. Recent grants made through the California Story Fund include:
- $10,000 to EngAGE: The Art of Active Aging for a project exploring how immigrant senior citizens view American democracy. Workshops at three low-income housing facilities will empower residents to share stories about immigration, citizenship and participation. These stories will be developed into spoken word pieces and performed in community settings; recordings will be broadcast, streamed and archived on KPFK radio and the sponsoring organization's website to a listening audience of 250,000 (2011).
- $10,000 to Photo4Change/Tides Center for So Near/So Far, a series of workshops offering training in reporting, photography and radio production to Pescadero high school students and recent graduates. The project will focus on gathering stories examining the rights, responsibilities and benefits of democracy. Stories will be posted on the websites of Puente and Photo4Change, and broadcast on KPDO, a local public radio station (2011).
- $10,000 to Friends of the Hayward Public Library for a teen film project exploring the 15-year history and significance of the city's annual gay prom in a democratic society. Public screenings and discussions will encourage dialogue about the unique challenges faced by LGBT youth in the greater community. In addition, the film will be distributed to student clubs and teachers throughout California through the Youth in Motion Project, aired on local cable and available for viewing on the library's free channel on Blip TV (2011).
