The Virgin Islands Humanities Council announces its deadline of July 1 to apply for a new offering of research grants available to non-profit organizations. Mini-grant applications of up to $1,250 examining the theme, “Place, Time, Memory,” are due July 1.Projects must be completed by Sept. 1.
“Place, Time, Memory” is an initiative the council is launching to advance discussions on identity and collective memory as immortalized by places in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is seeking research and writing on previously ignored sites and places of memory in four geographical areas – north, south, west and east St. Croix. Priority will be given to proposals that comprehensively document one of the four geographic areas by focusing on contemporary residential neighborhoods, former sugar estates, places traversed by founding fathers and mothers, and sites of resistance. Applications that result in publication-ready writing and photography will be given preference. The goal is to compile all the research grants into a publication.
The initiative is funded through a We the People grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Eligible applicants include civic groups, school boards, PTAs, teacher associations, service clubs, libraries, museums, historical societies, church groups, professional organizations, labor unions, public television and radio stations, divisions of the university, and agencies of state and local government. Areas including history, philosophy, languages, literature, cultural anthropology, folklife studies, comparative religion, ethics, archaeology, jurisprudence, and the history and criticism of the arts will be considered. Guidelines and application forms are available online at www.vihumanities.org.
For more information or to discuss a project, call 776-4044.