The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area (BRNHA) Partnership has announced its 2012 Heritage Grants Program, which will provide funding for projects that preserve, interpret and promote Western North Carolina’s rich agricultural, craft, Cherokee, music and natural heritage. These five distinctive legacies earned the region a Congressional designation as a National Heritage Area in 2003.
“Western North Carolina is such a special place to live and to visit,” said BRNHA Executive Director Angie Chandler. “Our grants help preserve our heritage while boosting visitor spending and other investments in our towns and communities.”
Nonprofit organizations, academic institutions and units of state and local governments are eligible to apply. Applicants must provide at least an equal match. The total pool of funding for the 2012 grant cycle is $225,000.
“This year we are putting out a special call for music heritage projects, to help expand and raise awareness of the Blue Ridge Music Trails which were started years ago,” said Chandler.
Over the past nine years, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership has awarded 91 grants totaling more than $1.5 million to projects that preserve, interpret and develop the heritage resources of the region. These awards have leveraged more than $2.6 million in state, local and private matches.
Grants awarded in previous cycles have supported historic building renovations, indoor and outdoor exhibits, oral history projects, video documentaries, interpretive programs, visitor brochures, Junior Appalachian Musician programs and the promotion of local foods and farms. The grant projects have provided engaging and authentic heritage experiences to hundreds of thousands of visitors and residents.
The deadline for grant applications is Dec. 14. Grant information sessions will be held around the region in September. Complete information on the 2012 Heritage Grants Program can be found at www.blueridgeheritage.com.
– article submitted by Jill Jones