Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Announces Grant Recipients
Date Posted: 1/12/2007
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Board of Directors of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area today announced 18 grants totaling more than $340,000 in funding designed to preserve and promote Western North Carolina’s heritage.
After announcing its grants program in June 2006, the Heritage Area received a total of 39 applications. This year’s grant cycle focused on projects identified and included in local heritage development plans prepared by volunteer Heritage Councils in the Cherokee Qualla Boundary and in each of the 25 counties that comprise the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.
“We’ve seen a lot of great project ideas come from local community planning,” says BRNHA Executive Director Penn Dameron. “We are keen to help move these project ideas forward, especially those that will have a regional or multi-county impact.”
Grants announced include:
•$27,100 to the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, to fund a project that will strengthen farmers’ markets across central Western North Carolina and promote local agricultural heritage;
•$25,000 to the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, for expansion of the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program to three new counties (Madison, Mitchell and Buncombe). The on-site after-school program uses traditional musicians to teach Middle School students how to play mountain music while learning about community heritage;
•$14,750 to The Conservation Fund, for a documentary video about the relationship between the Appalachian Trail and the Town of Hot Springs;
•$11,350 to HandMade in America, to extend its Appalachian Quilt Trail project to Avery and Watauga Counties;
•$31,683 to the Land-of-Sky Regional Council of Governments to design and establish a pilot open space preservation project for Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania Counties;
•$25,399 to Mars Hill College, to redesign a WNC Hooked Rug exhibit and create exhibits about Bascom Lamar Lunsford and the WNC Farmers Federation at the College’s Rural Life Museum;
•$25,000 to Mitchell County Development Foundation, to expand retail space for the Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree Project and develop a craft demonstration center;
•$7,680 to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, to create a promotional video for the Museum and to expand its website;
•$26,000 to the North Carolina Arboretum Society, to support the creation of a springhouse exhibit – highlighting elements of the region’s natural, agricultural, and craft heritage – in the Arboretum’s new demonstration greenhouse;
•$7,016 to Old Wilkes, Inc., for an interactive exhibit at the Wilkes Heritage Museum focused on the music of the BRNHA region;
•$22,068 to Penland School of Crafts, for a national and regional print advertising campaign showcasing the Penland School, the Asheville Art Museum, and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone;
•$5,000 to the Save Our Wilkes County History Committee, to fund videotaping of 100 oral histories of area residents;
•$20,000 to the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, to support the production of a biographical musical play about Bascom Lamar Lunsford;
•$15,000 to the Stecoah Valley Arts, Crafts & Educational Center, to expand and enhance its “Appalachian Evening” concert series by adding a dinner experience featuring traditional food of the Southern Appalachian Mountains;
•$23,000 to the Swain County Economic Development Committee, to add a kiln shed and kilns to the Heritage Arts Institute at Southwestern Community College;
•$15,000 to the Town of Dillsboro, for development of a master plan for the preservation of the Monteith Farmstead and the creation of an Appalachian Women’s Museum.
•$20,000 to Tryon Arts & Crafts, Inc., for the development of a heritage gallery area;
•$20,000 to Wilkes County for a project feasibility and economic impact study of the multi-county Yadkin River Heritage Corridor Partnership initiative.
Dameron said, “These grant awards total $341,046. More importantly, the required local matching funds for these projects add up $743,973. Therefore, the total economic impact in the BRNHA from this year’s grants alone is almost $1.1 million. That is especially impressive considering that our total federal appropriation for 2006 was about $770,000.”
Funded by the federal dollars the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area receives, the grant awards will help support diverse initiatives across the North Carolina mountains, focusing on craft, music, natural heritage, Cherokee traditions, and the region’s legacy in agriculture.
Established by Congress in 2003, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area recognizes and celebrates the natural abundance and richly varied cultural history of the North Carolina mountains. The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area is comprised of the counties of Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey as well as the Qualla Boundary.
The Heritage Area board and staff foster close working relationships with, and assist, all levels of government, the private sector, and local communities in managing, preserving, protecting, and interpreting the cultural, historical, and natural resources of the North Carolina mountains while helping to develop economic opportunities. The Heritage Area’s Board of Directors is appointed by AdvantageWest, HandMade in America, the Education and Research Consortium of WNC, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Governor.
For more information, contact:
Penn Dameron
Executive Director
Blue Ridge National Heritage Area
3 General Aviation Drive
Fletcher, NC 28732
Office: 828-687-7234, extension 115
Mobile: 828-329-1561
pdameron@awnc.org
www.blueridgeheritage.com
The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government.
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"As a life-long resident of western North Carolina I can’t imagine a more beautiful or diverse place to live and work."
D. Samuel Neill
Attorney-At-Law & AdvantageWest Board Member
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