To the people of the state of California: Biennial report 1992-1994

28 Pages·1994·2.3 MB·English

by  California Humanities (formerly California Council for the Humanities)

TO THE PEOPLE OF
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES
From the Director
L
ooking back from early 1996, it’s tempting to see the two years covered by this report as “the calm before the storm," for the report
takes the Council's activities up until a week before the November 1994 election. That election brought to Congress a contingent of
representatives hostile to NEH, and the Endowment and state affiliates like CCH were to spend much of 1995 making our case to the
public. As I write, the issue is still in doubt: the NEH is battered but standing and we are busy planning for radically uncertain futures.
Even a glance at this biennial report, however, is enough to prove that these two years were far from calm. CCH launched
several new projects to bring the humanities directly to California audiences, especially rural and inner city audiences hereto¬
fore unserved. The key here was partnership: whether with rural museums (CERA), social service agencies in Los Angeles
(Motheread), community organizations in San Diego (Searching for San Diego), or the Smithsonian Institution (Many Cultures—
One Nation).
At the same time, the Council made over 200 grants to help California organizations present humanities programs to the public.
Looking at the projects funded in these two years, you see a diversity of formats and subjects that is a testimony to the ingenuity
of project directors and the curiosity of public audiences.
So perhaps the best word to characterize these two years is "connection." When the Council convened theorists and practitioners to help
us think about the future of the humanities and new media, when it made scores of grants to libraries and museums, it was connecting
the people of California to their most precious heritage: the cultures and ideas that give our lives meaning as persons and as a people.
We connect people through ideas.
The Council's mission, adopted in the midst of this period, is to lead in fostering multicultural understanding and strengthening commu¬
nity life throughout California, through programming which provides access to the texts and insights of the humanities. Our projects
provide wisdom in an age of information, context in a time of accelerating change.
As always, I want to close by thanking the dozens of CCH staff and volunteer board members for their dedication and the hundreds of
people in local communities throughout California who help the Council in its work. Because of their work on the project described in this
report, millions of Californians were able to connect with the humanities and the deeper parts of themselves.
James Quay
Executive Director
T
COUNCIL INITIATIVES
ABOUT THE COUNCIL
The humanities explore human histories, cultures and values. The purpose of the California Council for the Humanities o extend the public
is to create a state in which all Californians have lifelong access to this shared human inheritance.
humanities to all people
Since 1975, the Council has served Californians by creating public humanities programs of its own and by funding public and regions of the state,
humanities projects created by others. The Council's competitve grant program has awarded more than $13 million to
the Council creates
nearly 2,000 non-profit organizations, enabling them to produce exhibits, film and radio programs, and lecture series
projects and programs of
and conferences on topics significant to Californians. Council-created initiatives have included a series of annual public
humanities lectures and community projects that have engaged thousands of people in humanities activities throughout its own. Between 1992
the state.
and 1994, the Council
The California Council for the Humanities is an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities added several new
(NEH). It is governed by a volunteer board drawn from leaders in public and academic life and is supported by grants
projects to its list of
from NEH, corporations and foundations, and by contributions from individuals.
successful ongoing
initiatives. Both the new
projects and ongoing
1 992-1994 HIGHLIGHTS
programs are described
« Developed and supported humanities programming that reached more than 15 million Californians.
on the following pages.
Awarded $3.7 million to 258 non-profit organizations for public humanities programs throughout
^
California.
Reached previously unserved rural and inner city communities via four new Council initiatives.
W Generated nearly $4 million in local economic activity through matching grants, cost-share, and in- TABLE OF CONTENTS
kind requirements. Executive Director's Letter.
About the Council & 1992-1994 Highlights.
Established Friends of the Humanities program to foster private support for Council activities.
‘m
Council Initiatives.
Council Grants Awarded. 10
Financial Report. 23
Friends and Donors. 24
Cover Photograph:
The Klebanofffarm near Petaluma, California, circa 1924. Photo courtesy of Sam Klebanoff. The community of Jewish immigrants who Council Members & Staff. 25
settled around Petaluma and became chicken ranchers during the early part of this century is the subject of the radio documentary
"Comrades and Chicken Ranchers."
“Thomas Jefferson at 250” Tour •* June 1993 ■ June 1994
Chautauqua format to bring history to life.
At A Glance:
Praise for both the dramatic appeal and
♦ Chautauqua performance by
the intellectual content of the programs
scholar Clay Jenkinson portraying
was universal. “I am still doing Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson.
for only one reason,” says Clay Jenkinson,
♦ Thirty events in 10 California “the ordinary people who offer tough
counties not previously served by
questions about the distance between the
the Council. Total audience: 4,200
ideal Jefferson had for this country, and the
adults and junior high and high
reality of how most of us find ourselves living
school students.
in America some 200
♦ Held in partnership with 15 local years after the
T
co-sponsoring organizations. Revolution.”
The Council produced and
Clay Jenkinson has presented his
distributed 5,000 copies of
in-character portrayal of Thomas
this essay reader about
o mark the 250th anniversary of Jefferson before U.S. presidents,
Thomas Jefferson to audience
Supreme Court justices, members
members and local schools Thomas Jefferson's birth in 1743,
of Congress, and thousands of
during the tour. the Council sent scholar Clay
Americans throughout the nation.
Jenkinson to present his award¬
Photo by Elliot Klein
-
winning chautauqua-style por¬
trayal of Jefferson in 10 previously
Other Imracts Jefferson Tour Sit
unserved rural communities throughout
Shasta
the state. During a two-day residency in (Redding)
♦ Generated $11.000 worth of locally Plumas
each community, Jenkinson appeared as (Quincy)
donated time and in-kind services.
Glenn
Jefferson in a main evening program and ♦ Occasioned Council proposal-writing (WILLOWS)
during breakfast encounters and morning Colusa
workshops in five previously (Colusa)
and afternoon performances for community Cake
unserved counties. (Lakeport)
and business leaders, veterans organiza¬
♦ Extended Council’s network of local Nevada
(Nevada City)
tions, and local high school students. For
libraries, historical associations Mono
most audience members this was their first and civic and cultural organizations. (Bridgeport)
Mariposa
exposure to the work of the Council and to ♦ Leads to 14 additional Jefferson (Mariposa)
Inyo
the unique ability of the three-part Chautauqua programs during 1995 (Bishop)
and 1996. Imperial
(El Centro)
Motheread/FathereadLos Angeles
During a pilot phase in 1993 and an implementa¬
"I knew reading to my
At A. Glance: tion phase in 1994, the Council adapted the children was important,
♦ Inlergeneralional family reading Motheread program to the needs of Los Angeles- hut before Motheread. I
didn't know how. I wasn't
program held throughout Los area parents; created, then expanded a staff
sure how to talk about
Angeles County. position to coordinate the program; established
what was going on in the
♦ Trained 28 parent educators, relationships with local social service providers; story: Motheread
formed 17 classes (usually with 10 and conducted three Motheread training insti¬ motivated me to read to
my children and to read
reading sessions each) and served tutes for the agencies' parent educators. To
for myself. Motheread
179 families during the pilot and serve monolingual Spanish-speaking parents, the also mothated me to
first stage of implementing the Council translated a number of books and now write my own stories.”
program. offers 19 titles bilingually. Over the two years, Lucia Alava.
—
17 classes were formed in Watts, South Central Motheread/Fatheread ■
♦ Conducted with Five partner social
L.A. participant
Los Angeles, Pacoima, and Baldwin Park. These
service agencies. Funded by the
classes served 179 families.
Council, with assistance from more
than a dozen foundations and
Storyteller Malife Nkruhmah. with corporations. Other Impacts
Harry Robinson, age 10, during a CCH T
Motheread Training Institute in Los
♦ Early success and strong support
Angeles. Photo by Elliot Klein.
from funders lead to an expanded
1995 program which will include 13
he Motheread/Fatheread program in Los
partner agencies and involve as many
Angeles began as a Council response to the
as 300 families during the year.
"Rebuild L.A." efforts in the aftermath of the
Eva Seagal. Sylvia Chavez, and Mary 1992 Los Angeles riots. The program,
Trotter enjoy a book from the originated in North Carolina by Nancye Gaj, offers Motheread/Fatheread Sites
in Los Angeles, 1993 and 1994
Motheread curriculum during a session
an award-winning curriculum focused on
of the March 1994 Baldwin Park
children's literature that encour¬
Training Institute
Pacoima
in Los Angeles. ages parents and children to
Photo by Suzanne explore, discuss and person¬ sooth
CENTRAL
Huddleson. LOS ANGELES
alize the meaning of stories.
The result is a positive Waits
connection to literacy, and to
the world of ideas and the
realms of the imagination.
Searching for San Diego 1993
Linda Vista, Sherman Heights. Gaslamp Quarter, and
Ax A Glance: "Appropriate it. That
Emerald Hills) and ended with a series of locally-
is. finally, what we do with
♦ Neighborhood history project in San planned neighborhood days during which personal a sense of place. Just as
Diego. and community histories were celebrated and the kiowas did with
Devil's Toner.
examined to reveal common threads of experience.
♦ Collected 20 oral histories in five
"I often think what
neighborhoods; held five Neighbor¬ The project was brought to a close by writer N.Scott might have gone on in the
hood History Days and the 1993 Momaday, who delivered the annual Public Humani¬ kionas' minds and hearts
Public Humanities Lecture: Total ties Lecture on the topic “A Sense of Place” to an when they first encoun¬
tered this feature in the
audience: 1.300 in person and audience of more than 400 people.
landscape, a feature that
360.000 via radio.
was so alien to their
h program during
experience that it might
♦ Published and distributed an oral Neighborhood
well have been frighten¬
history reader with excerpts and History Day in
ing. But they could not
Linda Vista featured
essays about the neighborhoods of
afford to pretend it wasn't
a performance by
San Diego. there. They had to
dragon dancers.
accommodate it to their
♦ Held in partnership with 25 San Photo by Dana Fisher,
experience. They had to
courtesy of the San
The Council created and distributed Diego civic and cultural organiza¬ explain its existence.
the "Searching for San Diego" reader S tions. Diego Union-Tribune. I low do you do that? You
during the project. The reader tell a story about it."
contained excerpts from neighbor¬
hood oral histories and essays about OXHEtR IMRACXS — N. Scott Momaday
each neighborhood. an Diego’s rapid growth since World War II
♦ Marked the successful opening of
has left many of its residents feeling discon¬
Council's newest permanent office, Searching for San Diego
nected from one another and from the city in
Neighborhoods 1993
serving San Diego and Southern
which they live. So when the Council chose
California.
N. Scott Momaday delivered the San Diego as the site of its annual community
annual Public Humanities Lecture in ♦ Generated nearly 500 hours of
project in 1993, it decided to focus on the
San Diego. Photo by Elliot volunteer time and $2,750 in in-
communities that did provide San Diegans
Klein. kind contributions.
with a sense of belonging—the city's
♦ Led to a change in the Council’s
neighborhoods. Working with local
approach to annual community
partners in the city's diverse cultural
projects and to the development of
community, the Council devised a project
a 1995 phase of “Searching for San
that began with oral histories gathered in Diego.”
five of the city's neighborhoods (La Jolla,
California Exhibition Resources Alliance (CERA)
CERA membership tripled, with the result that its CERA MEMBERSHIP
AS OF JULY 1 99-4
At A Glance: traveling exhibitions and related public humani¬
♦ CCII-supported alliance of 18 small ties programs are now attended by more than
and medium-size museums through¬ 50,000 museum goers.
out the state whose combined With CCH support and grants from the L.J.
annual attendance is more than and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation and the Hearst
300,000 people. Foundation, CERA in 1993 launched an ambitious
exhibition schedule which will have brought 10 URIAH v^_
♦ Programs and exhibitions serve 46
Grace Hudson Museum
separate exhibits to more than 30 venues
of the state’s 58 counties. YUBA CITY
reaching an expected audience of nearly 175,000 Community Memorial Museum o( Sutler
♦ CERA membership triple between County
by the end of 1996. Between 1992 and 1994, MARYSVILLE
1992 and 1994.
CERA also forged alliances with The Oakland Mary Aaron House Museum
HEALDSBURG
♦ CERA became a program of the Museum, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Healdsburg Museum
C
“Barred Owl," by John James Council in 1994. Exhibit Service (SITES) and other state humani¬ SANTA ROSA
Sonoma County Museum
Audobon was part of "Audobon's ties councils to develop and acquire additional
ST. HELENA
Animals and Birds, ” an exhibit from
exhibits. In 1994, CCH recognized the growing ,\apa Valley Museum
Exhibits USA that CERA toured to LODI
onceived as a way of bringing three national importance of CERA as a
member museums throughout San Joaquin County Historical Society
California. exhibits to rural museums in vehicle for engaging Califor¬ BOLINAS
Bollnas Museum
1988, the California nians in humanities activi¬
CUPERTINO
Exhibition Resources ties and formally adopted California History Center and Foundation
Quilt historian Julie Silber and
Alliance (CERA) has evolved into CERA as a program of the APPLE VALLEY
Roderick Kircofe, author ofThe Vidor Valley Museum
American Quilt, discuss a guilt from a national mode! for resource Council, creating a staff ONTARIO
the CERA exhibit "Textile Diaries: sharing among small and medium- position to coordinate the Museum of History and Art
Quilts as Cultural Markers" during a CORONA
size museums throughout the museum program. Heritage Room. Corona Public Library
public program at the Grace Hudson
state. The alliance offers its SANTA ANA
Museum in Ukiah. Photo by Elliot
Old Courthouse Museum
Klein. members three essential services: SAN JACINTO
economies of scale through block ML San Jacinto College
EL CENTRO
booking high-quality touring exhibitions; assis¬ Other Impacts Imperial County Historical Society
tance in developing local public humanities
programs to supplement the traveling exhibitions ♦ CERA enables member museums to
and professional development programs to strengthen their role as their
increase the skill and knowledge of member- geographical region's cultural hub.
museum personnel. Between 1992 and 1994
i
b
Inland Empire Educational Foundation (IEEF)
the National Endowment for the Humanities and
Ax A Glance:
$25,000 from Pacific Telesis Foundation—
♦ CCH-supported humanities coalition and launch an innovative, broadly popular
serving San Bernardino and River¬ Chautauqua program, “Democracy in
side counties. America," centering on the work and world
view of Alexis de Tocqueville. In addition,
♦ Nearly IOO reading and film discus¬
IEEF was able to create dozens of individual
sion groups and Chautauqua perfor¬
Chautauqua and reading-and-discussion
mance programs. Total attendance:
8.500. programs to serve residents of an area of the
state that is larger than all of New England.
♦ Partnership among 80 Inland Empire
humanities, arts and educational
T organizations.
America" Chautauqua program, David Horne Other Impacts
portrayed the early anti-slavery activist David
Walker; David Lytel portrayed Alexis de ♦ Stabilized by CCH support, IEEF A "Democracy in America"
he Inland Empire Educational Foundation companion reader with essays about
Tocqueville; and Sally Ann Drucker portrayed secures nearly a third of a million
Francis Wright, a nineteenth century lecturer (IEEF) humanities coalition was an out¬ dollars in grants from the National the lives and times o! Alexis de
Tocqueville. David Walker, and
who advocated women's equality and the growth of the enthusiasm generated by the
Endowment for the Humanities
abolition of slavery. Francis Wright stimulated further
1991 Council-conducted community project
(NEH) and other foundations. discussion about issues raised during
in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. the Chautauqua presentations.
Composed of leaders of grassroots cultural
organizations, IEEF offered the Council a com¬
pletely new model for extending the reach of The Inland Empire
public humanities programming. Since 1992, the
Council has supported IEEF with funding for both
adminstration and programming.
in 1993 and 1994, the Council
provided IEEF with $58,000 in
administrative funds and $30,000 in
programming support. With this stable
base, IEEF was able to raise additional
money—including a $200,000 grant from
“Many Cultures-One Nation” Smithsonian Institution Tour
American Internment Episode;" concerts including
At A Glance: "Music in My Pockets: American Folksongs and
Ballads;” and such seminars as “The World in
♦ Lectures, performances, exhibitions,
1492." “Many Cultures—One Nation"
and workshops exploring the diverse
To ensure that the events had a events in Irvine and Santa Ana
cultural heritage of California and
included a keynote address by
lasting imprint, “Teaching and
the United States. Scholars and UCLA English professor King-Kok
resources from the Smithsonian Learning in a Diverse Society; Using Cheung, a performance by Fiesta
Institution were complemented by the Community as a Classroom,” a Ballet Folklorico. Karen Rae
locally developed programs. series of professional development Kraut's "Storytelling from Around
the World." and the lecture
seminars on multicultural education for
♦ More than 70 events in 10 cities ‘Saints to Lowriders: The
local teachers of grades three, four and
statewide. Total audience: Over Hispanic Traditional Arts Revival"
five, accompanied the programs. by Andrew Conners of the
6,000.
National Museum of American
♦ Presented in partnership with the Art.
Smithsonian enthnomusicologist Jeff Smithsonian Associates and Wells
Warner demonstrated pocket Fargo Bank statewide, and locally
instruments from American folk music OTHEIR IMPACTS
with more than 80 community co¬
after his lecture/performance during
Csponsors.
"Many Cultures—One Nation" ♦ Thirty teachers from local workshops
activities in Ukiah. Photo by Evan selected to participate in
Johnson, courtesy of the Grace
Smithsonian Institution four-day
Hudson Museum.
ombining the extensive resources of the training seminar in Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian Institution’s Smithsonian
♦ Strengthened the Council’s ties with “MANY CULTURES—ONE NATION”
Associates program with those of local cultural organizations throughout Tour Sites
institutions, the Council, with Wells Fargo the state, laying the groundwork for
ukiah
L
Bank, presented a series of programs and exhibits such future projects as “Highway Sacramento
on themes of cultural diversity and multi- 99: A Literary Journey,” the San Francisco
culturalism during four and five day residencies Council’s Central Valley literature Oakland
in each of ten cities throughout the state. Initi¬ project, and "Democracy in San Jose
Fresno
ated by a keynote address by a humanities America,” the Council’s reading and
Los Angeles
scholar, each local series included such lectures discussion project about de
Participants in the San Francisco riverside/San Bernardino v
as “American Landscape Painting." “Meet Them Tocqueville and American demo¬
teacher's workshop teamed techniques Santa Ana
for using the local community and Its at the Fair: Native Peoples at the Worlds' Fairs,” cratic traditions. San Diego
resources as an extension of their and “When the Constitution Failed: The Japanese
classrooms. Photo by Elliot Klein.
Additional Council Initiatives and Programs
Center for the Common HUMANITIES A LA CARTE
Good In 1992, the Council began developing a series of
Created by the Council in 1991 with support
workplace humanities programs in the Los
from the Lily Foundation and in partnership with
Angeles area. From an initial pilot project of five
Vesper International, the Center for the Common
programs, the Humanities a la Carte portfolio has
Good was developed to use humanities-based
grown to include 28 scholars offering a total of 42
approaches to foster and encourage the search
different presentations in and around Los Angeles
for common values and solutions to common
The Council hired a part-time coordinator to
problems. Between 1992 and 1994, the Center
market the program and hoped to sign
laid out a “road map" for future projects, and in
up 10 companies in 1995,
1993 hired its first two staff members. In late
each of which would
1993, the Center became an independent non¬
present five one-hour
profit organization, and in 1994 the Council's
programs in their workplace
official involvement with the Center's develop¬
during lunch time. Depend¬
ment came to an end. Since then, the Center has
ing on the success of the trial
applied for and been awarded a National Endow¬
in Los Angeles, the Council
ment for the Humanities’ National Conversation
may extend this workplace
grant for a public exploration of issues of
humanities program to other
democracy and pluralism.
parts of the state.
The Council's 1995-1996 Guide
COUNCIL PUBLICATIONS
to the Grant Program.
To keep Californians informed about the
humanities and its own activities, the
Council publishes readers and mono¬
graphs associated with specific
Council initiatives, grant guidelines, a
film-and-speaker directory, informa¬
tional brochures and a quarterly
newsletter. All of these are available
to Californians upon request. In
1995 and 1996, the Council will also
begin experimenting on the Internet
to enhance Californian's understanding of
and access to the humanities.