WATERLOO -- Humanities Iowa, the state arm of the National Endowment for the Humanities, awarded the Waterloo Center for the Arts $10,965 for a conference and symposium on Haitian and Afro-Caribbean art.

The three-day event, titled "Inception, Intersection, Connection, Directions: Examining Haitian and Afro-Caribbean Art," is part of an effort to highlight the Center's Haitian art collection, the largest such collection in North America. It is scheduled for Sept. 25-28.

"This is part of an effort to draw attention to the unique resource the Haitian collection is," said Kent Shankle, the curator for the Center for the Arts.

That collection includes more than 1,000 pieces and varies from paintings to steel drum sculptures to beaded and sequined voodoo flags.

In addition to the conference and symposium, the Humanities Iowa money also will allow the Center to produce a catalogue that will document the Haitian art collection. Shankle said the catalogue will be "a great tool we can use with our visitors."

Christopher Rossi, the executive director of Humanities Iowa, added that the grant will help draw attention to a rich collection of art with which many Iowans may not be familiar.

The grant to the Waterloo Center for the Arts was just one of 11 grants totaling $119,282 awarded to non-profit organizations by HI during their board of directors meeting June 13-14. In all, Humanities Iowa serves more than 70,000 Iowans with humanities programming and projects.