Cultural innovation continues to grow across the state, and Wyoming Humanities is proud to announces that it has provided thousands of dollars in Spark Grants to three organizations this month.

Projects are selected based on communities’ needs and programs designed to spark new insights and perspectives. Funding is provided by the state of Wyoming through the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Grantees, who receive up to $2,000 with this opportunity, provide equal or greater matching funds and in-kind contributions. WYH grants generate significant social and economic impact five times greater than state funding.

The April recipients:

• Alliance for Historic Wyoming: These funds will support the publication of news articles via Public News Source via radio and print media. This would allow the organization to reach an audience of up to 1.6 million in the coming year, covering topics that impact historic places in Wyoming as well as highlighting lesser known historic places in the state such as African American communities and the Arapaho Ranch outside Thermopolis, a Natural Grass-fed Certified cattle ranch owned by the Northern Arapaho tribe since 1940, and more.

• Shoshone Hot Springs Board: Shoshone Tribal Elders on the Hot Springs Board will travel to Yellowstone National Park for planning and participation during Yellowstone National Park’s 150th anniversary.  These elders will work to create a cultural campsite near Roosevelt Arch and Sheepeaters camp in Yellowstone Park. Ultimately, there will be cultural interpretations and demonstrations connecting the Shoshone to the mineral hot springs, as well as education about Shoshone history, treaties and wars.  

• Heart Mountain Foundation:  This exhibit at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center will focus on Bob Kuwahara, one of the first Japanese American animators hired by Disney Studios. His career was cut short when he and his family were incarcerated at Heart Mountain in 1942 because of their Japanese ancestry. Kuwahara would never regain the level of success he had before World War II, but he continued animating. The exhibit will also touch on the lives of other incarcerated animators.

For more information about Wyoming Humanities and its grant programs, visit thinkwy.org/grants.

‍