CFVI awards $232,000 in humanities grants to various groups

The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands recently awarded $232,000 in humanities grants — with funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities — to various “organizations and individuals who are doing the important work of highlighting the culture and history of the Virgin Islands,” said CFVI President Dee Baecher-Brown.

The funding’s primary goal is to enrich the lives of people throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands through projects focused on humanities education, lifelong learning, and public humanities programming, the CFVI news release said. The grants support humanities programming that reflects the unique needs of the USVI’s diverse communities, advances the public’s knowledge and understanding of the humanities, culture, heritage, and preservation, according to the release.

The following organizations received grant support:

• Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, $7,000, Dance is a Universal Language

Funding is being used to offer cultural dance workshops on traditional African dance, Haitian, bamboula, and capoeira, where youth, teens, adults, and elders are guided by an instructor through a rhythmic journey, transforming steps into vibrant dances while exploring the cultural significance of each dance. CMCArts is building on last year’s successful pilot Bamboula Dance Series.

• Center for Educational Growth, Inc., $25,000, Film Over Gun Violence Program

With the funding, CFEG and Blue Tarp Productions are launching the first Virgin Islands film training and education campaign to combat gun violence and address the gun homicide rate in the USVI. Through studying the history of crime development in the USVI, as well as government and social systems, participants will learn to turn this knowledge into film scripts, utilizing literature, research, statistics, and understanding of Virgin Islands culture and community.