Press Release Mnmicro Film Fest: PRIDE Minnesota Humanities Center Announces 86 Cultural Heritage Awards
June 7, 2024 – ST. PAUL, MN – The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) congratulates the 86 recipients of Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment (Legacy) Cultural Heritage awards, who collectively received grants amounting to $7,886,168.
The Cultural Heritage awards announced by MHC today, will support a wide range of activities throughout the entire State of Minnesota that will preserve and honor the cultural heritage of Minnesota, provide education and student outreach on cultural diversity, support the development of culturally diverse humanities programming, and empower communities in building identity and culture.
“This was an unprecedented year for MHC conducting community outreach, promotion, providing technical assistance, reviews, and making Legacy grant awards with MHC receiving 568 applications, requesting nearly $60 million dollars, across four distinct
grant lines,” said CEO Kevin Lindsey. Lindsey added, “The competition for Cultural Heritage grants was extremely fierce with 387 applications requesting more than $47 million from a pool that was less than $9 million. We are grateful to the Legislature for
the additional appropriation this year to allow us to make a few additional Cultural Heritage grant awards.”
In response to community feedback, MHC extended the initial application deadline to December 11, 2023. MHC vetted and convened multiple independent review panels to review and score applications according to Legacy requirements and established metrics. MHC then provided a financial review of the top applicants identified by the review panels. MHC waited until the end of the process to minimize the impact of bias toward less well known or established non-profit organizations.
Tristy Auger, MHC Grant Manager, said, “Seeing the number of creative and innovative ideas within the applications was amazing. The MHC Grants team is so excited to continue to work with and support the talented individuals and wonderful organizations
in Minnesota doing such great work.” Auger added, “We intend to make a few more grant awards in the next week or two with the additional supplemental funding provided by the Legislature.”
“I’m proud of the hard work of MHC staff and I’m grateful for the patience and understanding from our community partners throughout this process,” said Lindsey. He added, “I’m also thankful for the new funding provided by the Minnesota Legislature this session which will result in several new grant lines.”
Below, in alphabetical order, is a list of the individuals and organizations that received a Cultural Heritage award from MHC:
- 826 MSP ($85,969)
- Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA) ($190,000)
- Andrea Manolov ($24,930)
- APIA MN Film ($150,000)
- ASAL Charities ($21,600)
- Asian Media ($23,742)
- Queer Voices ($196,693)
- Bemidji State University ($14,800)
- Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) ($150,000)
- Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Org ($70,000)
- Claudia Nascimento ($99,086)
- College of St. Benedict ($157,514)
- COMPAS ($46,400)
- Cow Tipping Press ($67,500)
- Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye ($249,234)
- Dakota Wicohan ($50,300)
- Donna Moseley ($49,872)
- East Phillips Neighborhood Institute ($192,000)
- ESHARA ($64,800)
- Face to Face ($35,195)
- Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul ($154,000)
- Folk Will Save Us ($72,034)
- Friendship Academy of the Arts ($25,000)
- Funny Asian Women Kollective ($375,000)
- The Givens Foundation for African American Literature ($45,000)
- Giving Voice Initiative ($50,000)
- Great Lakes Lifeways Institute ($25,000)
- Green Card Voices ($239,405)
- Healthy Community Initiative ($108,774)
- Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans in Minnesota ($11,020)
- Hispanic Outreach Program of Goodhue County ($58,295)
- In Progress ($71,250)
- Jena Holiday ($20,000)
- Ka Ly Bliatia ($24,900)
- Kairos Alive! ($60,932)
- Karen Sieber ($25,000)
- Lanesboro Arts ($45,000)
- Lower Sioux Indian Community ($137,550)
- Many Faces of White Bear Lake ($36,600)
- Marian Hassan ($121,394)
- May Hang ($39,259)
- Maya Washington ($24,500)
- Midtown Greenway Coalition ($100,000)
- Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board ($41,135)
- Minneapolis Public Schools ($60,300)
- Minnesota China Friendship Garden ($107,195)
- Minnesota Museum of American Art ($105,000)
- Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop ($113,120)
- Mong United Equality Association ($128,440)
- Move for America ($85,500)
- (Neo)Muralismos de México ($120,000)
- Niibi Center ($91,000)
- North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) ($206,000)
- North House Folk School ($19,299)
- Oromia 11 ($212,751)
- Pan Asian Arts Alliance ($24,990)
- Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute ($135,000)
- Public Art St. Paul ($111,000)
- Regents of University of Minnesota ($172,004)
- Rondo Community Landtrust ($315,000)
- Seeds4hope ($43,650)
- Speaking Out Collective ($200,000)
- St. Catherine University ($24,250)
- St. Paul Civic Symphony ($23,750)
- StoryArk ($25,590)
- Telling Queer History ($100,000)
- The Great Northern ($74,000)
- The Link ($160,769)
- The Qalanjo Project ($22,050)
- The University of Minnesota ($129,182)
- The Urban Village ($67,500)
- Theater Mu ($11,070)
- Theatre Novi Most ($18,307)
- Tiwahe Foundation ($105,023)
- Twin Cities Film Festival ($89,500)
- Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective ($32,680)
- Twin Cities R!se ($163,418)
- Twin Cities West Metro Asian Fair ($24,900)
- United Way of Central Minnesota ($256,058)
- Walker West Music Academy ($105,166)
- White Earth Land Recovery Project ($45,371)
- Winona County Historical Society ($64,850)
- Wonderlust Productions ($49,920)
- Ying Li ($24,900)
- Youth Leadership Initiative ($62,500)
- Zeitgeist Center for Arts and Community ($95,961)
MHC’s Emergency Response grant is still available on a rolling basis through October 14, 2024. For more information regarding this grant opportunity, or for a list of grant recipients for the 2023-2025 biennium, please visit MHC’s website at www.mnhum.org.
Media Contact: Tristy Auger, Grants Manager, Minnesota Humanities Center, tristy@mnhum.org, 651-772-4251.
About the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC)
MHC, an affiliate to the National Endowment for the Humanities, was founded as an independent non-profit organization in 1971. MHC strengthens our society by promoting the humanities and increasing shared understanding of our collective pasts. MHC creates a wide variety of humanities programming in collaboration with individuals, creators, scholars, and organizations to build a more curious, inclusive, and connected society. MHC has a long history as a grantmaking organization and operates a full-service event center in a historic building in St. Paul. More information is available at mnhum.org.
About Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment
The Minnesota Legislature passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment (Legacy Amendment) in 2008 to ensure clean water, preserve opportunities for Minnesotans to enjoy nature, parks, and trails, and to appreciate arts and culture that exists within the State. The Legacy Amendment increases the state sales tax by three
eighths of one percent to create the Legacy Fund – 19.75% of the Legacy Fund is dedicated to the arts and cultural heritage fund.
