HUMANITIES IN RECOVERY
Supporting cultural life, community knowledge, and creative practice after disaster.
Following the devastation caused by Super Typhoons Sinlaku and Bavi, the Northern Marianas Humanities Council paused portions of its regular programs and projects and redirected resources toward relief, recovery, and resilience efforts across the CNMI.
For the Council, cultural recovery meant looking beyond physical damage. Storms can interrupt the work of artists and cultural practitioners, displace community activities, damage the tools and materials people use to practice and teach, and threaten records and objects that preserve family and community memory.
Drawing on its grantmaking experience, partnerships, and community networks, the Council responded in several ways—supporting organizations, helping individuals and cultural artists resume their work, teaching people how to protect treasured records and artifacts, and documenting community experiences of the storms themselves.
8 COMMUNITY PARTNERS・28 MICROGRANT AWARDS ・$27,000 PLEDGED TO PARTNERS
Supporting Cultural Work
Through the Cultural Resilience Partnership Program, the Council pledged $27,000 to assist eight CNMI nonprofit organizations through a combination of funding, consultation, procurement support, and documentation of humanities-based work.
The Navigating Sinlaku Microgrant Program provided assistance to individuals and organizations whose humanities activities were disrupted by the storms, helping recipients replace materials and equipment, restore workspaces, resume workshops and public programs, and continue engaging their communities.
With funding from CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund), the Cultural Craft Artist Recovery Microgrant Program provided direct assistance to cultural artists whose practices were affected by the typhoons. The recipients represent a remarkable range of living cultural practice—from weaving, shell jewelry, and woodcraft, to floral and cultural adornment, beadwork, regalia making, and cultural education.
What Recovery Makes Possible
Also in this issue: Cultural Artist Spotlight recipient Maiden Venus Tumada is among the artists supported through the Cultural Craft Artist Recovery Microgrant Program.
Preserving What Matters
Recovery also meant protecting what communities carry with them.
Through Treasures of the Marianas, the Council offered workshops focused on saving important records and artifacts from disasters, helping residents consider how photographs, documents, heirlooms, and other meaningful materials can be better protected before and after emergencies.
Village Diaries turned to another form of preservation: people’s experiences. Through interviews conducted with residents following Super Typhoon Sinlaku, the project documented community memories and perspectives while the experience of the storm and its aftermath remained immediate.
Made Possible Together
These efforts would not have been possible without the generosity of our donors and partners, including the NMI Peace Corps Volunteers, the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+), and FEMA’s Heritage Emergency National Task Force.
