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Public Humanities Programs

In 2013, the UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere (CHPS) launched its grants for Programs in the Public Humanities. The Public Humanities grant opportunity, supported by the CHPS Rothman Endowment, encourages and enhances collaboration between the University of Florida and individuals, groups, and organizations in the community by offering grants up to $3,000 to support public programs rooted in one or more of the humanities disciplines. By drawing on expertise from UF and community partners as co-applicants, these public humanities projects create new and exciting opportunities for collaboration between the university and multiple community organizations. Furthermore, these projects encourage community building, cultural understanding, and personal reflection on the values and experiences that connect us together as neighbors, colleagues, and community members to create a civil and morally responsible society. Through projects like these, the Center for Humanities and the Public Sphere seeks to promote broad civic engagement with the communities in which we live and teach.

2023-2024

Danaya Wright (Levin School of Law) and Terri Bailey (Bailey Learning and Arts Collective, Inc.)

Cultural Arts Workshops to Address Heirs Property in Traditional Neighborhoods

This project builds on work that began in 2019, when Bailey Learning and Arts Collective, the UF Levin School of Law, and other community partners offered workshops with a public health intervention model in two traditional neighborhoods to inform residents about heirs property. Facilitated by longtime Pleasant Street resident Terri Bailey, the workshop included storytelling, printed information, and talks by UF faculty and heirs property lawyers, providing interested property owners with local legal aid service. This grant will expand the workshops to other neighborhoods and enable the inclusion of more cultural arts content.

John Nemmers (George A. Smathers Libraries), Frances Williams-Yearwood (Pan Caribbean Sankofa, Inc.), and Betsy Bemis (George A. Smathers Libraries)

Sharing Caribbean Experiences and Perspectives in Panama

The George A. Smathers Libraries and Pan Caribbean Sankofa will hold a public humanities program in Panama in August 2023 to examine the history and lives of the Caribbean people who lived and worked in the former Panama Canal Zone and in Panama. The program, which includes a panel discussion and traveling exhibit, will address the importance of identity, community, and culture as part of the Caribbean diaspora. In addition to raising awareness about the experiences of these Caribbean people, the program will foster dialogue and provide a forum for Caribbean people to share their voices and perspectives.

Alana Jackson (Center for the Arts in Medicine), Darius Daughtry (Art Prevails Project), and Brandy Stone (City of Gainesville)

Recovery in Community

As the complexities of lived experiences impact physical and mental health outcomes, storytelling is a tool we can use to build empathy, understanding and resilience. “Recovery in Community” centers the voices and experiences of historically marginalized communities, artists and creatives, and students in a way that speaks to the universality of the human experience. This project will deliver a moving theatrical production by Art Prevails Project; workshops in storytelling, poetry, and spoken word; and engaging panels and talkback conversations which will be open to campus and the community at large. Through engaging with the arts, humanities and other resources, participants will get to explore ways to address some of the most elevated concerns exacerbated in the age of COVID-19: namely social isolation, collective trauma, and mental health. How can we see ourselves through stories that highlight identity, resilience, recovery, and ultimately community?

View Past Recipients