California Humanities

05/25/2023

Thank you Pepperdine Graziadio Business School for featuring our new President & CEO Rick Noguchi in your recent post celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Today, we are honored to highlight three Graziadio Alumni who are exemplary leaders and drive impact through their work across industries: Rick Noguchi (MBA ‘08), President and CEO of California Humanities, Angela S. Hwang (EMBA ‘18), CMO at First National Realty Partners, and Kaity Iwash*ta (MBA ‘23), New Grad and George Award Recipient, joining Nike in Summer 2023.

In honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, our Graziadio family would like to celebrate these outstanding individuals and express how we are.

Learn about their incredible career trajectories, purpose-driven motivations, and how the Graziadio experience and network have been instrumental in propelling them forward.

Read more on our Newsroom: https://bit.ly/3IE7EfG

05/25/2023

Get to know one of our bigger grant lines, Humanities for All Project Grants! Applications next open on June 1, 2023.

https://calhum.org/humanities-for-all/

05/25/2023

CHINESE IN THE RICHMOND is a collaboration between two community-based historical organizations, the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) and Western Neighborhoods Project (WNP), that illuminates the lives of Chinese Americans in San Francisco’s Richmond District from the community’s point of view.

The project has produced a traveling interpretive exhibition, which debuted today with community members present to commemorate a project years in the making. Support from a Humanities for All Project grant in 2020 supported further research and virtual programming during the height of the pandemic, and to date the project team have conducted numerous oral history interviews and utilized primary sources to gather and document family histories, including an archive of bilingual transcripts.

This project continues and extends the work begun with the CHSA’s earlier exhibition, CHINESE IN THE SUNSET, in 2017, to explore and document the migration of Chinese families to the west side of the city, and the barriers and restrictions that were overcome. This exhibit is on display at One Richmond (802 Clement Street) until in June and July! https://chsa.org/chinese-in-the-richmond/

05/24/2023

IMLS Selects Winners for Nation's Highest Museum and Library Honor

Congratulations to two of California Humanities' long-time grantees & partners for this honor from Institute of Museum and Library Services! LA County Library and Riverside Art Museum✨

The National Medal for Museum and Library Service recognizes eight institutions for contributions to their community.

05/23/2023

The long-awaited opening of an LA cultural institution will happen on June 1, just in time to host California Humanities-supported Imagining Indigenous Cinema: New Voices, New Visions.

Vidiots, the nonprofit video store and film hub opened in 1985, will relaunch in the historic Eagle Theater (4884 Eagle Rock Blvd.), originally opened in 1929 (as the Yosemite Theater). Imagining Indigenous Cinema, which will spotlight a generation of innovative, Indigenous filmmakers working with the moving image today, will be one of the reopened theater’s inaugural programs starting on June 8. Alongside the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum, the 271-seat movie theater located in northeast LA is a fitting venue to host the Indigenous film series as it reestablishes itself as a cultural hub and community space.

https://www.facebook.com/vidiotsvideo/posts/pfbid026urTfDh4jAc7K5Y6Si8idx8UrotKku5z3bLm1JfM8bLDVTCjGQSQnedWegMk2woFl

05/22/2023

As we move through spring, we are excited to start seeing some of the in-depth reporting work from our 2023 Emerging Journalist Fellowship students, based at community colleges around California.

Everybody is Entitled to Equity is a set of four stories produced by a team of journalist fellows at Sierra College in Rocklin, California in Spring 2023. The team includes five student journalists: Sierra Mickelson, Alexa Topacio, Luis-Antonio Carreon, Ryder Bouck, and Ethan Yamaguchi.

Learn more about the reporting process and read the stories: https://bit.ly/457wY7v

📷: Images courtesy of Roundhouse

05/20/2023

Established in May 1957 in cooperation with Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is an internationally-recognized historic site and museum. In 2019, before the pandemic shuttered schools, organization Anne Frank LA brought two programs developed by the museum’s Education Department to Southern California.

One of our newest Civics + Middle Grades grantees, Anne Frank LA, continues to expand this program to LA area schools, and will train middle school students to lead tours of Anne Frank: A History For Today Traveling Exhibition, created by Anne Frank House. Using peer-to-peer learning to teach the history of the Holocaust from the perspective of Anne Frank and her family, the project aims to help youth understand the dangers of racism and antisemitism & the importance of democracy and freedom.

📷: Image courtesy of Anne Frank House LA

05/19/2023

This week our Director of Media & Journalism Programs John Lightfoot visited more of our 2023 Emerging Journalist Fellowship students! It was great to check in with the reporting work from fellows at El Camino College and Los Angeles City College.

During a nine-month fellowship period, students receive mentoring as they develop, pitch, and produce reporting projects about underreported regional California stories. Read more: https://calhum.org/programs-initiatives/programs/emerging-journalist-fellowship/

05/19/2023

John Cho: We Are the Humanities

In our 2016 initiative "We Are the Humanities," we invited prominent Californians to explore what the humanities mean to them.

We were thrilled to hear from American film and television star John Cho, who moved to California at a young age and obtained an English degree at UC Berkeley before pursuing an acting career. The actor continues to inform about Asian stereotypes in the American media: https://youtu.be/lGdft0iP2bk

To celebrate our 40th year anniversary of grant making, programming, and partnerships that connect Californians to each other, California Humanities invited ...

05/18/2023

⭐California Documentary Project grantee spotlight ⭐

A recent recipient of a CDP Research and Development grant, THE INVINCIBLE MR HONG, will examine 70 years of Asian/Asian American cultural representation through the life of character actor James Hong. Arguably the world’s most prolific actor, Hong has amassed more than 650 credits to his name on the stage and screen, often as the face of caricatures that shape American perceptions of Asians for generations, from sinister warlords to Charlie Chan’s #1 Son. This feature-length documentary will be produced by Renee Tajima-Peña and directed by filmmaker Kimmie Kim.

📷 A still of James Hong from the California Documentary Project supported HOLLYWOOD CHINESE (2007)

05/17/2023

California Humanities Awards 21 Humanities for All Quick Grant Projects to Support Community, History, & Storytelling - California Humanities

California Humanities is proud to announce that 21 new small-scale humanities projects will receive $100,220 in funding through the Humanities for All Quick Grant program.

This year, California-based nonprofits will support programming around subjects such as urban American Indian history, the climate crisis, women in jazz, and historic sites in San Jose. Read about all of this spring's grantees: https://bit.ly/45bIf6Q

Your Neighborhood Museum
Beast Crawl Lit Fest
IDEAS at USC
Danza de los Diablos de Santiago Juxtlahuaca.Barrio de Santa Cruz
Arts Contra Costa County - artsccc
Visual Communications
SFJAZZ
Kelley House Museum
SV De-Bug
Invertigo Dance Theatre
Marcus Foster Education Institute
SEEfest
Hi-Desert Fringe: theatre on the edge
SDEAG - The San Diego Entertainment & Arts Guild
Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum
Ventura County Arts Council
San Diego Children's Discovery Museum
Grace Hudson Museum - Sun House & Wild Gardens
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Peralta Hacienda Historical Park
Echo Park Film Center

May 17, 2023—(Oakland, CA)— California Humanities is proud to announce that 21 new public humanities grantees will receive $100,220 in funding through the Humanities for All Quick Grant program.

05/16/2023

San Jose Taiko's Japantown Immersive returns on May 20! The organization is celebrating 50 years in 2023 by bringing back this popular open-street event, which dives into humanities education with performances, activations, and more. Mark your calendars for this community event celebrating SJT, Japantown, and the deep ties between the two. Supported by a Humanities for All Project Grant.

Learn more: https://taiko.org/japantownimmersive

05/15/2023

How to Have an American Baby

Ticket sales are now open for the West Coast premiere of How to Have an American Baby, happening at the San Francisco documentary Film Festival on Saturday, June 3 at the Roxie Theater.

This is hometown feature debut for filmmaker Leslie Tai, who grew up in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco. We spotted a Q&A feature with Leslie in the local SF Sunset Beacon!

Synopsis: HOW TO HAVE AN AMERICAN BABY is a kaleidoscopic voyage into the booming shadow economy catering to pregnant Chinese tourists who travel to Southern California on “birthing vacations”—in order to obtain U.S. citizenship for their babies.

🎟️: https://bit.ly/3LRTFUd

https://sfrichmondreview.com/2023/05/06/local-filmmaker-debuts-how-to-have-an-american-baby/

Centerpiece Film - There is a city in Southern California that is teeming with pregnant women from China. How to Have An American Baby is a kaleidoscopic voyage, told through multiple perspectives, into the booming shadow economy of Chinese birth tourism that has taken over the Chinese enclaves of L...

05/13/2023

Catch up on a recent interview with Lucy Burns and Karen Umemoto, whose Never Forget: Filipinx Americans and the Philippines Anti-Martial Law Movement is documenting the little-known transnational history of Anti-Martial Law Movement (AMLM) in California and its impact on the Filipinx community through the development of a digital curated exhibit of political posters, along with interpretive content (including oral histories) and public programs.

📖 https://bit.ly/40SHRqb

cc UCLA Asian American Studies Center

05/12/2023

Literature & Medicine®: Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare - California Humanities

🩺☤♡ Today we celebrate International Nurses Day!

We’d like to acknowledge the wonderful nurses and other healthcare professionals who participate in our Literature + Medicine program, which aims to improve the quality of health care services delivered to patients by offering health care providers the time, resources, and support to read and discuss works of literature.

Based at Veteran’s Affairs Medical Centers in Fresno, San Francisco, Sacramento, Palo Alto, and the Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, program facilitators have reported that Literature & Medicine has resulted in greater understanding among participants, increased awareness, and knowledge of oneself, others, and greater connection to their field of practice.

💻 Learn more about Literature + Medicine firsthand: https://bit.ly/3YOQ7rb

Since 2010, California Humanities has presented Literature & Medicine, a humanities-focused professional development program for healthcare providers at Veteran’s Affairs Medical Centers in Fresno, San Francisco, Sacramento, Palo Alto, and at the Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center.

05/11/2023

⭐California Documentary Project grantee spotlight ⭐

PROUD Stutter: BRINGING UNHEARD STORIES OF PEOPLE WHO STUTTER IN CALIFORNIA TO THE MAINSTREAM, led by Maya Chupkov, is a documentary podcast that expands on the often-misunderstood stuttering experience through authentic, research-based storytelling, that focuses on the past, present, and future of the stuttering community in California.

A 2023 CDP Production grantee, Chupkov will develop the podcast’s third season with new stories and explorations.

A Bay Area resident, Chupkov has been a leading advocate to establish a statewide Stuttering Awareness Week (May 8-13), and recently celebrated San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors’ support of this effort following a unanimous vote in April 2023.

📷 PROUD STUTTER logo courtesy of Maya Chupkov.

05/10/2023

California Humanities Awards $90,000 to Six CDP NextGen Projects Supporting Youth Media Storytelling - California Humanities

📽️ 🎙️ California Humanities is proud to announce that six new projects will receive $90k in funding through the California Documentary Project (CDP) NextGen program. This program supports emerging documentary mediamakers ages 18 and under.

This year, California-based nonprofits will support youth media programming around subjects such as self-care, Indigenous storytelling, social justice, and other relevant community issues, while learning skills in media literacy, filmmaking, podcasting, interviewing, and more. Read about all of this year's grantees: https://calhum.org/cdp-nextgen-awards-2023/

Women's Voices Now
YR Media
CMAC
Media Arts Center San Diego
La Skins Fest
Justice for My Sister

Announcing our 2023 CDP Next grantees.

05/09/2023

BY MY SIDE

Tickets are now available for the world premiere of BY MY SIDE, screening as part of the Doc Shorts program at the GI Film Festival in San Diego on May 19.

BY MY SIDE is an intimate portrait of three veterans suffering from the “invisible wound” called post-traumatic stress disorder, and the hope they unexpectedly find in the heart of a faithful service dog. California Humanities was proud to support this film through the California Documentary Project.

The GI Film Festival is a multi-day showcase of films for, by, and about military and veteran experiences. BY MY SIDE has been nominated for Best Documentary Short and the Founders’ Choice Award.

🎟️ Grab your tickets: https://bit.ly/3p9dHSI

The three veterans and their families bravely share their pain, fear, and the difficult realization that they’ve lost time and love that they may never get back again. All three found hope where no one had looked—in the heart of a faithful service dog.

05/08/2023

Chicano Park, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2017, is a focal point for San Diego’s Barrio Logan community and beyond, a site of social, cultural, and political significance. Located in one of San Diego’s oldest Mexican-American neighborhoods, it is a testament to the activists who throughout the years have advocated for a space where families can gather and where people can celebrate their shared cultural heritage.

One of our newest Civics + Middle Grades grantees, Outside The Lens will develop a program for youth in grades 6-8 to study this significant site, and how the practice of civil disobedience here can serve as a model for present-day civic engagement. Partners include Barrio Logan College Institute and Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center.

https://www.facebook.com/OutsideTheLens/posts/pfbid031jJE1Yy7dfmoh7F7JmAtEi4gaUZBjJ7G6bd4kQgHAy7fENsnwqQiu2sBCsakKTXrl

05/06/2023

APA Heritage Month Spotlight: Lucy Burns and Karen Umemoto of Never Forget - California Humanities

In recognition of , we interviewed Lucy Burns and Karen Umemoto, directors of the Humanities for All Project-supported Never Forget: Filipinx Americans and the Philippines Anti-Martial Law Movement, based at UCLA.

This project is documenting the little-known transnational history of Anti-Martial Law Movement (AMLM) in California and its impact on the Filipinx community through the development of a digital curated exhibit of political posters, along with interpretive content (including oral histories) and public programs.

Read the interview and mark your calendars for the virtual program launch on June 6! https://bit.ly/40SHRqb

cc UCLA Asian American Studies Center UCLA Asian American Studies Department

Above: Poster from The International Day of Protest on September 21, 1985 against the “US-Marcos Dictatorship,” held on the anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines. The protest […]

05/05/2023

🔦 California Documentary Project (CDP) grantee spotlight 🔦

One of our recently-announced CDP Production grantees is ADELANTE, led by filmmaker David Alvarado. This 90-minute documentary film will center on the “godfather of Chicano theater and film,” Luis Valdez, and his use of storytelling as a force for social justice.

Valdez is one the most important and influential American playwrights living today. His internationally renowned, and Obie award-winning theater company, El Teatro Campesino (The Farm Workers’ Theater) was founded by Luis in 1965 – in the heat of the United Farm Workers (UFW) struggle and the Great Delano Grape Strike in California’s Central Valley. The company, together with Valdez’s own plays and subsequent role as an educator at California universities, have made significant contributions to the fabric of California life and beyond.

We are looking forward to following along with the production of this documentary!

📷: ADELANTE film marquee, courtesy of the project directors. Structure Films

05/04/2023

: One of the people that the documentary Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019) highlights is Academy Award winner Ben Burtt, the legendary sound designer whose work brought to life iconic films including STAR WARS (1977). Known for using everyday objects to create unique and memorable sounds, he famously used the sound of a broken TV set to create the sound of a lightsaber, and the sound of a slowed-down car engine to create the distinctive roar of the TIE fighters.

MAKING WAVES is having its PBS premiere this month! Supported by the California Documentary Project with a Production grant in 2017, this documentary reveals the hidden power of sound in cinema and in our lives. Through iconic film clips, interviews, and archival footage, the documentary captures the history, impact, and creative process of this overlooked art form and the artists behind it.

Visit our website for the airdates: https://bit.ly/3LAY6E7

📷 Midge Constin, director of MAKING WAVES, in conversation with Ben Burtt at an event hosted by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 22, 2023. Photo by

05/03/2023

⭐ May Grantseeker Workshop TOMORROW ⭐

Want to learn more about California Humanities’ 2023 grant opportunities and ask our staff some of your questions? Join our FREE virtual Grantseeker Workshop on May 4, 2023 from 11 am-12 pm PT. RSVP: http://bit.ly/3o5sey8

05/02/2023

Read more about what recent Civics + Humanities Middle Grades grantees East Bay Sanctuary Covenant and Amplifying Sanctuary Voices will embark on with their new project focused on middle school students. ⭐

EBSC and Amplifying Sanctuary Voices (ASV) are thrilled to be partnering with Voice of Witness and Youth UnMuted on a new project!

This project will build on ASV’s multimedia migration stories to create resource guides for middle school educators and students. ASV and its youth advisory board will adapt existing materials for middle school students and organize classroom presentations and field trips to ASV exhibits such as the one that is currently at City College of San Francisco (2nd floor Rosenberg Library).

ASV exposes students to first-person narratives, highlighting different aspects of home and displacement and representing people from different countries living in California. We are thrilled to partner with middle school students to bring this knowledge to more youth!

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.

Read more here: https://calhum.org/california-humanities-awards-180k-to-14-civics-projects/

05/02/2023

We are excited to be a community partner for a special screening of F***y: The Right to Rock at , celebrating Asian American Stories from May 11-21, 2023 and presented by Center for Asian American Media.

Happening on May 19 at 5:30 pm at the SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, this documentary tells the story of the all female rock band F***y, and their improbable journey during their 70s heyday. California Humanities was proud to support this film through the California Documentary Project.

Filmmaker Bobbi Jo Hart, F***y legends Jean Milllington, June Millington, Brie Darling, Alice de Buhr and Patti Quatro expected to attend for a post-screening Q&A.

🎟️ Grab your tickets and read more info here: caamfest.com

05/01/2023

🇲🇽💀🎞️️ Coming up on May 19-21 in Santa Ana! Festival De Trash-Mex at The Frida Cinema will be three nights of genre six classic “Trash-Mex” Mexican film screenings, with original Mexican film memorabilia displayed in the theater, live music, and more!

Don't miss this specially curated film festival like no other, including a variety of different genres & titles that have not been played in theaters for many years. All films will be presented in the double feature format, with two movies for the price of one!

🎟 Visit thefridacinema.org for the lineup and tickets

Supported by a

📷: Festival de Trash-Mex poster courtesy of The Frida Cinema

04/29/2023

Calaveras County video-making classes: 📝🎬🎥

Join free film classes with Calaveras Community TV (CCTV) every Monday, with special invitations to ages 16-30 to get trained in filming, creating video programs, interviewing, audio techniques, editing, transcribing & captioning, and more. After classes are completed, students will be offered paid opportunities for capturing the stories of local elders on film and audio.

These classes are part of the project, "Oral History from the Heart of California Gold Country,” led by Manzanita Writers Press in San Andreas, California, and supported by a Humanities for All Project Grant. For more information, contact Monika: [email protected] or Sarah at CCTV.

🗓️ Every Monday, 4-5:30 pm
📍 Calaveras Public Access TV Studio
429 East Saint Charles Street | San Andreas, CA 95249