2024 Award Recipients

We are pleased to announce this year’s recipients of IANH grants!

The Church Street Alliance for Family Engagement PTA in Hamden will conduct a week-long Multicultural Festival, during which students will be immersed with specific countries and cultures.  In a schoolwide celebration, they will then pass along their learning to other students and to the families of the school.  Also, during the school year, a Cultural Exposure Project will provide opportunities for student to experience history and traditions in Connecticut through a variety of focused field trips.

The Collective for Refugee and Immigrant Women’s Wellbeing has been facilitating two projects with a group of women from rural Afghanistan to provide opportunities for these women to tell their stories.  In Photovoice, participants photograph, record and reflect upon their experiences.  In a Fabric Arts Workshop, the group is involved in a process of developing ideas of “home” into a finished textile piece and narrative.  Public exhibits of these projects in the New Haven community will offer a forum for discussion, building social connections, and enhancing intercultural understanding.

LEAP (Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership) will embark on a project called “Cultural Connections through Art and Music” for the 700 New Haven youth ages 7 – 12 in its summer and after-school programs.  Students will have classes in enriching activities like African dance, Brazilian Capoeira (ceramics focusing on African and Asian traditions) and painting inspired by international artists.  Each session will culminate in an Expo with each group of students sharing what they have learned with each other and with their families.

Music Haven will undertake a project called “Voices: Untold Stories” which will present the stories of local refugees and immigrants and their unique experiences.  “Storytellers” from Iraq, Afghanistan, Republic of Congo, Mexico and Ukraine will share their stories through interactive workshops involving music shared by Music Haven’s professional musicians and their students.  Audience members will also participate by sharing their own stories, which will elicit musical improvisation.  Music Haven’s high school students will plan and assist with up to ten workshops, and the culmination will be a film documenting the project, which will be shared with the community.

The New Haven Symphony Orchestra will offer Free Family Concerts at the New Haven Green, the Stetson Library Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library, and the Reggie Mayo Early Learning Center.  The concerts showcase diverse books and stories and provide an introduction to the orchestra and to other cultures.  For example, one concert will feature the story of Anansi, the Spider, a folk tale from the Akan people of Ghana that promotes an understanding of the importance of fairness and sharing.