Cultural Identity Microgrant Awardees
November 2019 – May 2020
Total Awardees: 10
Total Awarded: $50,000
Total Cities: 6
Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen - $5,000
Maplewood
The author will write a food memoir book about her complicated relationship with Vietnamese food and how cultivating that relationship over time influenced her desire to learn about her Vietnamese culture and family history.
Artists Collective for Community Collaboration - $5,000
St. Paul
Artists Collective for Community Collaboration will create two art-building workshops for indigenous youth and their families, focusing on the lives and stories of missing or murdered indigenous women (MMIW) in Minnesota.
Bee Yang - $5,000
Cannon Falls
Bee will compose and record traditional Hmong song poetry.
Chaz Wagner - $5,000
Nett Lake
Chaz will develop an Ojibwe Podcast that includes oral interviews with local elders, community experts, activists, and Anishinaabe peoples of Minnesota.
Dakota Wicohan - $5,000
Morton
This program will provide a fun, supportive and engaging opportunity for Dakota youth to learn the Dakota language and culture through weekly activity nights and video making.
Maggie Lorenz/Wakinyan Luta Oyanke Drum and Dance Society - $5,000
St. Paul
Guest speakers will provide cultural teachings pertaining to the drum, the songs, the dances, and powwow protocols.
MIGIZI - $5,000
Minneapolis
MIGIZI will begin to digitize 40 years of audio archives to enable future usage by American Indians and all Minnesotans.
Oyate Hotanin - $5,000
St. Paul
This project will support 3 short term projects led by artists in their coalition: The January Buffalo Show, RedTalk Symposium, and Live At the Buffalo Show CD Audio Mastering and short run printing.
Penumbra - $5,000
St. Paul
Supporting inclusion of pan-African voices and stories, Weathering, a new play in-progress written by Harrison David Rivers and directed by Talvin Wilks, explores the histories and health outcomes for mothers of color in America.
Telling Queer History/Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia - $5,000
Minneapolis
Telling Queer History and Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia will host a December storytelling event to support the intersectional identities of immigrant members who are also part of the queer community.