Production of a feature-length documentary exploring the Philadelphia Orchestra’s financial struggles and 1973 historic performance in China.

Beethoven in Beijing is a feature-length documentary film that contrasts the thrilling rise of classical music in China with the struggles of symphonic orchestras in America. The story is told through the Philadelphia Orchestra, which made history on its tour of China in 1973, and now, half a century later, is turning to that past to secure its faltering future. The film will be distributed through theaters, public television and online streaming, fueling a robust educational outreach. The hub of this outreach will be a website containing a curriculum for middle and high school students, as well as supplementary webisodes, in-depth interviews, images and performance footage. The story will reveal unexpected and heart-warming connections between two cultures often cast in the harsh light of diplomatic and economic tensions. CultureTrust Greater Philadelphia, a nonprofit fiscal agent, is submitting this application on behalf of the producer, History Making Productions.

Production of eight, two-hour radio programs on American music and culture.

American Routes radio program seeks support for a series of 8 new humanities-oriented 2-hour programs for broadcast nationwide in 2019-20. The programs will focus on the role of cultural continuity and creativity in response to natural and man-made disasters, economic downturn, migration from and to home, and concerns about the future of communities and cultures. As a companion piece, we propose to work with various organizations to arrange community forums for the proposed programs that take place in a "place": NYC, Miami, Honolulu, Galax, VA, and New Orleans. Each gathering will be tailored to a particular program as a means to discuss humanities issues the program will try to address, and to seek guidance on content from local audiences and authorities. A detailed description of the programs is in the "treatments" attachment and details about the forum component are in the "narrative" attachment.

Production of a three-hour documentary film exploring the life and work of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), author of The Divine Comedy.

DANTE is a three-part, three-hour documentary produced by Steeplechase Films and directed by Ric Burns for public television. The film chronicles the life of Dante Alighieri and his epic poem The Divine Comedy – inarguably one of the greatest literary masterpieces in history – comparable in power, range and sublimity only to the achievements of Homer and Shakespeare. The film explores both Dante the poet and Dante the pilgrim as he traverses literally through the realities of life and figuratively through the realms of the afterlife in the pages of what he called, simply, La Commedia. It aims to make this complicated masterpiece – composed in terza rima, a form Dante himself created – accessible to a wide-ranging, diverse audience across the globe, while also facing the perplexing question of what gets lost in translation. Dante can be seen as the founder of the modern Italian language and inventor of humanism, forever redefining religion, art, history, literature and culture.

Production of twenty-six animated short documentary films about little-known Progressive Era women who achieved success in science, business, aviation, journalism, politics, medicine, exploration, and the arts.

UNLADYLIKE2020 is an innovative multimedia series featuring little-known American women from the turn of the 20th century, set to launch in 2020 for the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. Our 26 animated documentary shorts will be released digitally on a weekly basis by PBS’s flagship biography series American Masters for the 26 weeks between March 1, the start of Women’s History Month, and August 26, 2020, a day known as Women's Equality Day, named to commemorate the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, and also will be repackaged into a public television broadcast hour. Each 5-to-7 minute episode will profile a female trailblazer from the Progressive Era in U.S. history (1890s through 1920s) who broke barriers in then-male-dominated fields such as science, business, aviation, journalism, politics, medicine, exploration, and the arts.

Production of a series of short films about literature.

PBS Digital Studios is asking for $478,790 from the NEH to support a new, 30-episode season of It’s Lit to be released on YouTube and Facebook, as well as a companion podcast produced by noted PBS Station WGBH Boston and supplemental educational materials created by PBS Learning Media. Launched in June 2018, It’s Lit is a digital series from PBS Digital Studios featuring smart, funny, and shareable video essays about books and why we love to read. PBS Digital Studios has assembled a team of literature scholars, social media-savvy content creators, and PBS staff to help create a series that celebrates readers’ favorite books, authors, and genres in a format that appeals to millennials and Gen Z audiences. Our goal is to make It’s Lit one the most vibrant book communities on YouTube and Facebook, as well as to deepen our viewer’s understanding of iconic works from the literary canon and popular fiction alike.

Production of a one-hour live action animated documentary about an enslaved family that sued for freedom in 1830s Washington, D.C.

We are requesting a media production grant to support the completion of a one-hour animated documentary film set in Washington, D.C. in 1835-1836 about family, politics, slavery, and the making and meaning of freedom. The Bell Affair focuses on the particular experience of one enslaved family who sued for their freedom at a pivotal moment in the national struggle over slavery. Our team has produced an award-winning live-action animated short film, Anna (2018, annwilliamsfilm.com), as a proof-of-concept. This feature project tells the story of Daniel Bell, who launched a lawsuit to make his family free just as a labor strike, a lynch mob, and a race riot erupted in the nation's capital. This grant would provide critical support to film and animate the script; complete post-production and editing; develop a website to disseminate materials related to the historical context; design teaching programs with original source documents; and market, promote, and distribute the feature film.

Production of a two-hour documentary about L. Frank Baum and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

This is a request to the National Endowment for the Humanities for funds to support the production of American Oz, a special presentation of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE for national broadcast on PBS. The two-hour film will tell the story of author L. Frank Baum and the making of his classic novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the movie it inspired and the importance of this iconic work in American life.

Production of a ninety-minute film that uses the lens of three generations of the same family to explore ideas of what is lost and gained through immigration and assimilation.

Return to Oaxacalifornia tells the story of the Mejia family from Oaxaca who emigrated to the U.S. 40 years ago as an economic necessity, fleeing drought and economic hardship. A post-NAFTA tale, a sequel of sorts: our film brings together material shot 25 years ago for the original film, Oaxacalifornia, with material we are currently producing. We meet the family in Fresno, C.A. and discover the changes in their lives. The new generation, seven grandchildren only know life in the U.S. and speak no Spanish. Mexico for them is imagined, or experienced through photographs, traditions, food, rituals. In our first film Leo and Mercedes, now grandparents spoke of retiring to Oaxaca but have spent more of their lives living in the U.S. The continuum of our film provides a unique insight into the process of assimilation, what remains important and what is lost, what changes. Three generations, three ways of seeing. They visit Mexico together as a family, is it how they imagined? Does it reson

Production of the second season of The Keepers, including eight podcasts for National Public Radio and fifty-two short stories for the website and social media.

The Kitchen Sisters request NEH support for Season Two of their award-winning series THE KEEPERS, a radio, podcast and social media project exploring the rich, hidden world of archivists, librarians, collectors, historians, curators—keepers of the culture and the cultures they keep. Building on the work of scholars, with nationwide input and ideas from archivists, librarians and the public, the series creatively brings diverse narratives to life deepening public awareness and understanding of the humanities, through skillful storytelling, a range of diverse voices and perspectives, oral histories, archival audio, music and natural sound. The series digs deep into complicated histories, neglected stories of traditionally marginalized people, and the lives and work of The Keepers, guardians of history, large and small, protectors of the free flow of information and ideas. We are requesting $100,000 to produce 8 radio/podcast stories and 52 Keeper of the Day web and social media stories.

Production of eight forty-five- to sixty-minute podcast episodes about Colorado and Western U.S. history.

The Lost Highways podcast begins by inviting listeners to draw connections between western history and current events. Hosts and lifelong Colorado residents Noel Black and Tyler Hill’s engagement with historical topics opens a personal door and invites listeners to cultivate a sense of wonder at the stories they discover along the way. Episodes span diverse cultures, geographies, and time periods in the history of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. Taken as a whole, the season will leave the listener with a deeper understanding of how the American West has long been seen as a place of freedom and opportunity, but that reputation for freedom is complicated by individuals’ lived experiences.

Production of a 90-minute film about the life and legacy of William F. Buckley Jr.

This project is a 90-minute film on the life and legacy of William F. Buckley, Jr., the conservative intellectual and larger-than-life political figure. Broadcast as part of the AMERICAN MASTERS series on PBS, "Buckley" will take an objective look at the personal and political context of Buckley's life, and his profound impact on the fabric of the country in the second half of the 20th century.

Production of a sixty-minute documentary using the 1849 Astor Place Riot to explore the history of theater, American politics, and social class in burgeoning urban centers.

The People’s Will, a 56-minute documentary, is the story of the Astor Place Riot which was sparked by two rival productions of Macbeth and marked the first time American troops would fire on American citizens. The event led to the death of 23 people in New York City in 1849. The People’s Will will explore this neglected episode of antebellum history which scholars now recognize as not only emblematic but pivotal. The film will address major humanities themes—social mobility vs. economic stratification, public order vs. free speech, political participation, and national identity—with a goal of providing a deeper understanding of history and of still-contested American issues.

A feature-length documentary about the formation of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) in Las Vegas in the 1970s.

Storming Caesars Palace is a documentary which presents low-income mothers in the National Welfare Rights Organization as political strategists and grassroots leaders who pushed for economic justice, women’s rights, and Black women’s empowerment, founding one of the first and most successful women-led community corporations in the nation — 50 years ago.

A feature-length documentary examining the history of the Electoral College with a focus on how race and slavery shaped the voting process.

One Person, One Vote? is the first-ever documentary to examine the contentious––but little known––history and current debates surrounding the Electoral College in the lead up to the Presidential 2020 election. The film looks at the Electoral College, perhaps the least understood aspect of our democratic process, in all its complexity, with a particular focus on the role of slavery and race, by spotlighting key moments in its 230+-year history up through the present moment.

Production of a twenty-episode podcast season of Subtitle, a series on language and linguistics.

This grant would support 20 original podcasts, each with a duration of 20-25 minutes, culminating in a mini-series of three episodes tracing the history of African American English. In addition, the nationally-distributed radio program, The World (PRX/GBH) would broadcast shorter versions (3-7 minutes) of most of the podcast episodes. The grant would also support Subtitle’s online activity, with particular emphasis on social media conversations aimed at engaging a general audience.

Production of a seventy-five-minute documentary film examining the legacy of the 1969 strike by Black and Puerto Rican students at City College of New York.

This proposal is for the production of a 75-minute documentary film on the 1969 campus strike by Black and Puerto Rican students at the City College of New York. These students were at the forefront of a national protest movement which transformed the culture, the mission, and the curriculum of American higher education. Building on ground-breaking humanities scholarship, our documentary tells the dramatic story of this defining moment in the history of student protest, one that literally changed the face of American universities. The two-week campus shut-down resulted in the controversial policy of Open Admissions, the longest and most ambitious attempt by any American institution to address inequalities in access to higher education. The challenges this policy presented led to profound changes in thinking about the role and purpose of higher education: what the university is, whom it serves, what is taught- questions that continue to confront us as a nation.

Development of a feature-length documentary film exploring the lives and legacies of women survivors of Nazi slave-labor camps.

My Underground Mother, a feature-length documentary, will explore the tenacity, unspoken trauma and resilience of women survivors of Nazi slave labor, focusing on a Polish Jewish woman who changed her name after immigrating to the United States and kept her World War II experiences a secret. Twenty years after her death, her daughter discovers a page her mother wrote in a collective, Holocaust diary and sets out to unravel the truth about her hidden past.

Production of Season 4 of “Lost Highways,” a podcast series about the history of the Rocky Mountain West.

Lost Highways: Dispatches from the Shadows of the Rocky Mountains is a podcast about the overlooked history of the Rocky Mountain West. Lost Highways tells engaging, relevant, diverse, and under-told stories about Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West and their impact on the nation. Drawing upon the resources of History Colorado’s vast collection—particularly oral histories and other audio resources—and augmenting our holdings with new interviews and recordings, our hosts share stories via tightly-constructed, professional narratives.

Production of a documentary film about the history and legacy of “Eyes on the Prize,” the landmark public television series about the civil rights movement.

90-minute documentary exploring the making of the landmark civil rights television history, Eyes on the Prize, the story of its creator Henry Hampton and its legacy today.

Production of a film that explores the life and work of Caribbean writer Jamaica Kincaid.

We are requesting a $635,479  production grant to support an 87-minute documentary on the life and work of Caribbean writer Jamaica Kincaid. The film will trace her life from her childhood in colonial Antigua, to working as an au pair in Scarsdale, N.Y. as a teenager, to becoming the first black female staff writer for The New Yorker at age 26. Kincaid's life and work will be used to explore themes of anti-colonialism, women's search for identity, the use of horticulture as a literary device, and Kincaid's ability to blur the lines between personal stories and history, among others. The film will also address her frequently controversial voice and criticism of her work. Jamaica Kincaid’s unique literary contributions will be brought to life through evocative documentary images set to narrated audio excerpts from her novels, rare archival material, interviews with scholars, and cinema vérité footage reflecting daily life of the now 72-year-old writer.

Production of a podcast series of ten episodes on how religious groups and movements have understood human interaction with the natural world and addressed environmental issues.

Fully understanding the significance of the climate crisis requires the skills and methods of the humanities. Scientists have measured the grave effects of this crisis for decades, but the interpretive approaches afforded by the humanities are crucial for appreciating human responses to a rapidly evolving scientific reality. The climate crisis demands that humanity reckon and wrestle with its relationship to the environment, and as global citizens become ever more aware of the urgency of the climate crisis, the need for rigorous reporting on multifaceted responses to environmental change has never been more crucial. Recognizing that these responses are influenced by a complex constellation of religious, political, and socioeconomic factors, our project will offer a ten-episode podcast season exploring the rich stories of how various groups and movements have interpreted and re-imagined human modes of interaction with the natural world.

Production of a ninety-minute documentary film on the life and work of Dominican American writer Julia Alvarez.

Julia Alvarez: Something to Declare, is a proposed feature film documentary about the life and work of Julia Alvarez, one of America's most celebrated Latina writers. Latino Public Broadcasting will produce the program with director Adriana Bosch and executive producer Jeff Bieber for the PBS series, American Masters.

Production of a feature-length film examining Reconstruction-era violence between southern whites and African Americans and its legal and social legacy.

The documentary tells the story of the Colfax Massacre, the single greatest incidence of anti-Black violence during Reconstruction, and its historical and legacy for Black civil rights in Louisiana, the South and in the nation as a whole.

A multiplatform project about the history of women’s contributions to American architecture.

Pioneering Women of American Architecture, a website, and New Angle: Voice, a podcast, both strive to bring the latest scholarship about women’s contributions to 20th century American architecture to a wider public via free, searchable, footnoted, and multi-platform exploration of the lives, work and professional connections of a diverse set of woman architects and designers. The central theme of both series of biographical essays is “women played important roles in the creation, development and popularization of 20th century American architecture.” Both the website and the podcast are influenced by recent turns, in architecture education and scholarship, toward the history of collaboration, toward the study of vernacular building types, and toward intersectional analysis of the way racism and sexism have affected both the opportunities to create and the interpretations of buildings and landscapes.