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| Funded in part by the Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant Program. |
The
Black History Commission of Arkansas is accepting applications for Curtis
H. Sykes grants and will make a presentation about the grant upon request.
“The Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant Program has helped fund more
than 100 projects that have saved or highlighted African American history in
Arkansas,” said Tatyana Oyinloye, African American History coordinator
for the Arkansas State Archives. “It’s important that we continue to preserve our
history because it is part of our collective history and identity. Without this
grant, important aspects of Arkansas’s African American history would have been
lost or forgotten.”
Oyinloye presented information about the grant program and
application process during a workshop this past Tuesday at the Elaine Legacy
Center at 313 College Ave. in Elaine, Arkansas. Information at the workshop
included an overview of the Black History Commission of Arkansas, which funds
the program; criteria for applying for a grant; activities not funded for
grants; and how to develop a project budget and budget justification. The workshop was free and was sponsored by
the Phillips County African American Cemetery Association.
More workshops may be presented upon request, Oyinloye said.
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| Funded in part by the Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant Program. |
The Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant Program offers grants
that provide support for African American historical preservation and public
programming projects in Arkansas. The grants are open year-round to individuals
and groups.
The
most recent grants were approved in November and included three book
projects and a play. The grant will help pay for a theater performance of "Death by Design," which will be at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center on Feb. 28 and 29. The
play is about events leading up to a fire in 1959 that burned down a dormitory
and killed 21 boys at the Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Arkansas.
The grant also has helped fund major events, such as “A Centennial Commemoration: Historical Contributions of African AmericanPsychologists from Arkansas,” which is planned as part of the 2020 Black
History Month Celebration at Philander Smith College on Feb. 28.
The Sykes grant programs has funded more than 100 projects
statewide since it started in 1997. Past projects have included historical
research, exhibitions, workshops, publications, oral history interviews,
documentary films, cemetery preservation and documentation. The maximum amount
for the grant is $3,500 per project.
For more information or to set up a workshop, contact
Tatyana Oyinloye at 501-682-6892 or at tatyana.oyinloye@arkansas.gov. For
information on the workshop in Elaine, Arkansas, contact James White at
870-714-0307.
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| About 20 people attended a workshop Feb. 4 for the Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant Program. The event was presented by Tatyana Oyinloye, our African American History coordinator, at the Elaine Legacy Center in Elaine, Arkansas. |
