The Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) at the University of Wisconsin—Madison is delighted to announce that the “East Asia in the Upper Midwest” library program, now in its sixth year, is accepting applications through March 23. Full details, ideas for materials and programming, and a link to the application can be found at https://eastasia.wisc.edu/eainwisconsin.
Launched in 2020, the program offers grants of up to $1,000 per library to augment collections with East or Southeast Asia-related materials, and to design new book clubs and related programming.
Now funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, this year the program will offer new pilot grants to screen films about East Asia. It will also expand access by accepting proposals from not just Wisconsin libraries, but also from libraries in Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Examples of how libraries have used the grant include funding for:
- Specialty items like cookbooks, language learning materials, travel guides, and even a full-sized dragon dance puppet
- Entire Manga sets
- East Asian titles for book clubs
- Supplies for Lunar New Year projects, tea tastings, sushi making, mahjong nights, etcetera
- Honorariums for talks about East Asian history, Qigong meditation techniques, and an “Asia Cultural Day”
- Adding titles about East Asia to the statewide Wisconsin Digital Library
“We are delighted to be able to assist our hard-working librarians in their important work of bringing high quality programs to their local communities,” said CEAS assistant director Laurie Dennis. “The last grant cycle helped Waupaca Public Library celebrate the 30th anniversary of Waupaca’s sister city relationship with Mitoyo City, Japan; funded audio books to the Verona Area International School’s K-5 Chinese immersion program; and offered honorariums for presentations about tea in both Sheboygan and Dane county libraries. These are just a few examples of the many ways these grants are used by individual libraries, alongside the purchase of books of all types that increase understanding of East Asia.”
CEAS once again partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Library Association, and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center to plan and promote this program.