State humanities council

presents two local grants
By Scott Nicholson

Two local projects were among those recently receiving grants from the North Carolina Humanities Council.

The council awarded $5,000 to the Elkland Art Center of Todd to support the first phase of “The Land and Us: A Todd Story,” a documentary film addressing the changing landscape in Watauga and Ashe counties.

The project will include interviews crossing the public and private sectors, with an emphasis on community dialogue and the exploration of economically sustainable rural communities.

Suzanne Clozeau, James Lewis, Martha Enzmann and Emily Enzmann.

“We are very excited to receive support for our video documentary,” Martha Enzmann said. “We hope to capture stories about people living here as they relate to the land.”

There will be historic images as well as interviews and footage. The community and landscape will also be included, with three phases of the project to eventually result in public exhibitions and a DVD release.

“Though Todd is small, these questions and objectives are similar to those faced by other communities,” reads the grant narrative. “This project is important to our community now because of the extensive, rapid changes in land use which are occurring and the community’s efforts to address those changes. It is also important to document the vanishing lifeways of previous generations.”

The council also awarded $7,580 to the Ashe County Arts Council of West Jefferson for the literary festival “On the Same Page: A Celebration of Reading,” featuring acclaimed North Carolina writers Georgann Eubanks, Jill McCorkle, Pamela Duncan, and John Shelton Reed. The festival follows a community-wide book-reading and coincides with the major renovation and expansion of the Ashe County Public Library.

Pre-festival events beginning in August include performances of “Walking Across Egypt,” a haiku and bookmaking workshop, book club discussions and author presentations. The festival itself runs from Sept. 17 through 19, with luncheons, readings, workshops and author panels.

During this grant cycle, the North Carolina Humanities Council awarded more than $73,000 for nine public humanities projects addressing topics as diverse as the state’s changing landscape and African American coastal history. Disciplines include videography, ethnography, public symposiums, scholarly publications, a touring exhibition, literary festival, and service project. Program events begin in July 2009 and continue throughout 2010.

The humanities council is a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The projects are designed to contribute toward a greater understanding of the humanities and provide public forums where citizens may inquire into the culture, traditions, and stories of North Carolina and its place in the world.