Maine Humanities Council

Maine Humanities Council grants awarded in July 2010 include:

$1,000 to the Victoria Mansion, Portland, for Magic Lantern Shows

Three magic lantern shows (a popular form of entertainment in the 1890’s that involved projecting colored images on a screen accompanied by live music) will be presented as part of the Victoria Mansion’s yearlong celebration of life in Maine between 1890 and 1930. Victorian stories, songs, and games will be offered to engage both adults and children in activities of the era.

$1,000 to Opera House Arts at Stonington Opera House, Stonington, for ShakeStonington

This multi-week, multi-event community immersion project revolves around a production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure at the Stonington Opera House. Activities in August 2010 include three public library “reads” of the play, a multimedia blog, a Twitter account exploring the language of the play, student writing internships, and two post-show discussions.

$1,000 to Portland Ovations, Portland, for Ovations Offstage: Maine Connections

Six pre-concert lectures between October 8, 2010 and May 7, 2011 will feature Maine performance artist/scholars drawing connections to Maine’s historic and contemporary role in the performing arts. Themes include the significance of music and dance for Maine’s French Canadian community, the legacy of Tony Montanaro, and the power of music for Maine’s African immigrants.

A 2009 MHC grant to the Long Creek Youth Development Center has given young African-born men new opportunities for cultural growth and understanding. Through the simple method of preparing a meal together, young men with a background of combat and conflict became friends.

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It was a Sunday service at Chosen Land, the Shaker community near Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, that sparked broadcast journalist Jeannine Lauber’s interest in the history of the Shakers and their modern role in Maine. In the preface of her new book, Chosen Faith, Chosen Land: The Untold Story of America’s 21^st Century Shakers, she describes the feeling of change that she felt when attending that first service: even “the outside world looked slightly different through the antique panes of glass on the double-hung windows.” Raised as a Catholic, Lauber became a member of the Friends of Shakers, attending the church while not a Shaker herself. She became so close to the four Shakers who lived in the community at Chosen Land that one asked Lauber if she could do something to help stop the myths that she felt Ken Burns’ documentary Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God was perpetuating: “It’s full of mistakes and gives people the impression that there are no Shakers left, that our faith is dead.” Lauber’s consequent work in creating her own documentary Chosen Faith, Chosen Land convinced her that far from being dead, Shakerism had strong connections to “Postmodern” Christianity. › Continue reading

On November 18, 2009, Portland author Philip Hoose received a National Book Award for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.  The MHC funded a project based on his book. See the “Celebrating the Story of Claudette Colvin” post from October 29 for more details.

Phillip Hoose and Claudette Colvin on board a Portland METRO bus during the Understanding Courage Exhibit. Credit: Mark Mattos

In February, the MHC funded a project at Portland’s King Middle School that narrated how an African American teenager took a big step for the Civil Rights movement in 1955. Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was riding the bus home from school, her mind full of the day’s lesson on Harriet Tubman and Sojurner Truth, when she was asked to give up her seat to a white passenger. Colvin refused. When arrested, she courageously protested that her constitutional rights were being violated. This was nine months before Rosa Parks’ similar action made headlines. In his recent book Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, Phillip Hoose explores why Colvin’s story was not more publicized at the time and what her action truly meant. Hoose is currently a National Book Award finalist for this book.

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