Revised
4/9/01

Great Lakes Culture Program
Michigan State University
Recent Planning Activities

Gatherings
· Great Lakes Folklore (Milwaukee) ~ February 2000
· Great Lakes Collections (Chicago) Newberry Library ~ May 2000
· Great Lakes Area Directors of State Humanities Councils (Chicago) ~ May 2000
· Great Lakes Archaeology (Minneapolis) ~ November 2000
· Great Lakes Vernacular Architecture and Heritage Landscapes (East Lansing) ~ February 2001
· Great Lakes Labor History (East Lansing) ~ February 2001
· Great Lakes Expressive Culture (East Lansing) ~ February 2001
· Great Lakes Native Culture (East Lansing) ~ February 2001
· Great Lakes Public History (East Lansing) ~ February 2001
· Great Lakes Identity: Social & Geographic Boundaries (East Lansing) ~ February 2001
· Great Lakes Foodways (East Lansing) ~ March 2001
· Great Lakes Linguistics (Columbus) ~ June 2001
· Great Lakes Press/Publications Directors (East Lansing) ~ Spring 2001 (approval pending)
· Great Lakes Maritime Heritage (East Lansing) ~ June 2001
· Topics under consideration: Great Lakes Heritage Corridors, Great Lakes Literature, and Great Lakes Urban Architecture and Planning

Conferences
· Mapping Great Lakes Identity: Past, Present & Future (East Lansing) ~       February 16-17, 2001
· Imagining America/Imagining Michigan (East Lansing) ~ Fall 2001

Festivals/Special Events
· New Annual Great Lakes Folk Festival (East Lansing) ~ beginning in August       2002
· Forum: Understanding Farmstead Architecture: The Great Lakes Farmstead      (East Lansing) ~ March 9, 2001
· French Colonial Society Meetings/Detroit 300 (June 2001)

Awards Program
· Best book on Great Lakes culture: Presented to Ojibwa Singers by Robert McNally, Oxford University Press
· Best Great Lakes culture web site: Presented to Great Lakes Information Network
· Best exhibition on Great Lakes culture: Presented to "Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American Heartland"
· Best manuscript (publication prize) Great Lakes Writers Series (approval pending)

Communications
· Center for Great Lakes Culture Brochure ~ March 2000
· Center for Great Lakes Culture Web Site ~ April 2000
· Center for Great Lakes Culture Electronic Digest/Updates ~ Fall 2000
· Newsletter (electronic version) ~ Spring 2001
· Publication (hard copy) ~ Spring 2001 (2 annually)
· Survey of Great Lakes collections ~ 2001
· Listserv with NEH Regional Center Planning Grant recipients and State Humanities Directors (2001)
· Listserv of CGLC Interest Group (January 2001)
· Disaster Planning Electronic Resource on web site (January 2001)
· Consultations with other regional humanities centers (Spring 2001)

Center for Great Lakes Culture Fellowships (4)
· Center for Great Lakes Culture Fellowships at Newberry Library (2) ~ 2000-2001
· Center for Great Lakes Culture Fellowship (1) (open to scholars/curators/community scholars involved in inventorying/documenting Great Lakes culture) ~ 2001
· Center for Great Lakes Culture Fellowship (1) (open to MSU faculty member involved in documenting Great Lakes culture) ~ 2001

Curriculum Development
· Inventory of courses with Great Lakes content at MSU ~ Spring 2000
· Development of areas of concentration for students (undergraduate and graduate on Great Lakes culture) ~ 2001
· Inventory of programs with Great Lakes focus in region ~ Spring 2001
· Telluride Association: Education partnership established ~ May 2000

Recent Collection Development Activity
· Michigan Writers Collection: New Acquisitions/Richard Ford papers/MSU Libraries
· Jim Cash and Jack Epps Collections/MSU Libraries
· Michigan Cookery Collections/MSU Libraries
· Vincent Voice Library/Oral Histories of Michigan Supreme Court Justices/MSU Libraries
· Great Lakes Native baskets/fieldwork reports/MSU Museum
· Great Lakes folklife fieldwork reports/MSU Museum
· Bay City Archaeology Collections/MSU Museum

Exhibition Planning
· Planning underway with Arts Midwest for an exhibition on Great Lakes Culture/connections with water (rivers and lakes)

Development Activities/Endowments Established
· Great Lakes Culture Endowment ($35,000/private anonymous gift) ~ June 2000
· Great Lakes Traditions Endowment at MSU Museum ($80,000) ~ June 2000

Grant Activity
· Great Lakes Folk Festival Planning Grant (National Endowment for the Arts/Heritage & Preservation Program $30,000)
· Incubator Grant, Michigan State University ($75,000)
· Exhibition Planning Grant, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs ($20,000)
· Great Lakes Folk Festival Planning Grant, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs ($70,000)
· NEH State Encyclopedia Planning Grant (participating partner/MHC) in partnership with Michigan Humanities Council ($50,000)

Major Donor Activity
· Major Donor Prospect List in Development/Initial Solicitation ~ 2001-2002
· Major Donor Events are being planned ~ 2001
· Endowed Gift Opportunities Summary (Fall 2000)