The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities (OCH) has received a grant of $100,000 from the Social Science Research Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Sustaining Humanities Infrastructure Program (SHIP). These awards support colleges, universities and nonprofit humanities research or educational organizations to restore, sustain and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to bolster under-supported humanities programming with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
One of 21 grantees from the across the country, the OCH will use the funds to support a project titled Pathways to Freedom: Re-energizing the Public Humanities in Tulsa. The main thrust of this endeavor will be the reactivation of The University of Tulsa’s Henry Zarrow Center for Art & Education as a key site for bringing the distinctive tools of the humanities to bear on urgent community challenges.
“This generous funding provides the OCH an exciting opportunity to fully activate the Zarrow Center in Tulsa’s Arts District as an active cultural hub for both the university and the region as whole,” said OCH Director Sean Latham. “We’ll work with diverse community partners to fill the space with exhibitions, lectures and performances all designed to explore the complex idea of freedom as a fundamental part of our legacy, identity and future.”
In concert with the OCH’s 2022-23 theme “Freedom,” the Zarrow’s SHIP-supported reactivation will focus on three topics:
- The history and future of tribal sovereignty in Oklahoma
- The state’s historic all-Black towns
- The musical legacy of the Dust Bowl
SHIP funds will also enable the hiring of a post-doctoral assistant director, an emerging scholar who will gain mentoring and practical management experience in the public humanities.
Craving a space for collaboration, research synthesis, deep thinking and community engagement? At the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, we’re eager to welcome you to our vibrant community.