WNC nonprofit happiness: Blue Ridge National Heritage makes 22 grants

Posted on — Jeff Fobes

Blue Ridge National Herigate Area Partnership just announced its latest round of grants to 22 WNC nonprofits totaling $170,000.

  •     Appalachian Barn Alliance: $7,000 to create a historical archive and a self-guided driving tour of old barns in Madison County
  •     Appalachian State University: $7,500 to work with local schools to develop multimedia lesson plans about North Carolina’s music traditions for 8th grade students
  •     Asheville Art Museum: $5,000 to begin development of an exhibit on the role of women in the Craft Revival
  •     Blue Ridge Conservancy: $7,000 for outdoor and online exhibits showcasing the natural and cultural heritage of the Middle Fork River and Greenway in Watauga County
  •     Clay County Historical & Arts Council: $6,000 for interpretive landscaping with native plants and heritage fruit trees at the Old Jail Museum in Hayesville
  •     Fines Creek Community Association: $3,950 to enhance the Fines Creek Community Center as a venue for indoor and outdoor traditional music performances in Haywood County
  •     Forest History Society: $8,000 to support the production of a 30 minute documentary about forestry pioneer Carl Schenck for public television and for use at the Cradle of Forestry
  •     Graham Revitalization Economic Action Team (GREAT): $13,050 to build a Cherokee-themed outdoor classroom with interpretive signage next door to Robbinsville High School
  •     Isothermal College: $8,000 to upgrade WNCW’s studio B in order to provide a state-of-the-art facility for recording and broadcasting regional and traditional musicians.
  •     John C. Campbell Folk School: $10,000 for renovations and improvements to the interpretive Rivercane Walk and Little Brasstown Creek Park on the school campus
  •     Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies at Mars Hill University: $5,000 to support a documentary film about Madison County master fiddler Roger Howell
  •     Mayland Community College: $15,000 for architectural designs to establish a heritage crafts training center on campus
  •     Mount Airy Museum of Regional History: $6,500 to support the development of  traveling exhibits on dulcimer makers
  •     Muddy Sneakers: $7,000 to expand its outdoor experiential education program to additional schools in Henderson and Buncombe counties
  •     Museum of the Cherokee Indian: $10,000 to train tour guides for Cherokee heritage sites across eight far western counties
  •     North Carolina Trail of Tears Association: $5,000 to develop a website and brochure showcasing Cherokee Trail of Tears interpretive sites in six far western counties
  •     Parkway Playhouse: $6,000 for upgrades to the Burnsville theater’s lighting and sound systems to support further music programming
  •     Penland School of Crafts: $10,000 to establish a rotating interpretive exhibit about the school’s craft heritage in the visitor center on campus
  •     Smoky Mountain Host: $7,000 to create a pocket guide to rivers in seven far western counties and a companion website
  •     Surry Arts Council: $5,000 for sound system and exhibit improvements at the Earle Theatre/Old-Time Music Heritage Hall in Mount Airy
  •     Town of Lansing: $10,000 for renovations to two historic barns to create an indoor stage and dance hall for traditional music events
  •     University of North Carolina-Asheville: $8,000 to create interpretive pollinator meadows on campus and hold a how-to workshop for property managers.

    Funded by the federal dollars the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership receives, the grant awards will help support diverse initiatives across the North Carolina mountains and foothills, focusing on craft, music, natural heritage, Cherokee traditions, and the region’s legacy in agriculture. These five facets of the region’s heritage earned the 25 counties of Western North Carolina a Congressional designation as the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area in 2003.

 

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About Jeff Fobes
As a long-time proponent of media for social change, my early activities included coordinating the creation of a small community FM radio station to serve a poor section of St. Louis, Mo. In the 1980s I served as the editor of the "futurist" newsletter of the U.S. Association for the Club of Rome, a professional/academic group with a global focus and a mandate to act locally. During that time, I was impressed by a journalism experiment in Mississippi, in which a newspaper reporter spent a year in a small town covering how global activities impacted local events (e.g., literacy programs in Asia drove up the price of pulpwood; soybean demand in China impacted local soybean prices). Taking a cue from the Mississippi journalism experiment, I offered to help the local Green Party in western North Carolina start its own newspaper, which published under the name Green Line. Eventually the local party turned Green Line over to me, giving Asheville-area readers an independent, locally focused news source that was driven by global concerns. Over the years the monthly grew, until it morphed into the weekly Mountain Xpress in 1994. I've been its publisher since the beginning. Mountain Xpress' mission is to promote grassroots democracy (of any political persuasion) by serving the area's most active, thoughtful readers. Consider Xpress as an experiment to see if such a media operation can promote a healthy, democratic and wise community. In addition to print, today's rapidly evolving Web technosphere offers a grand opportunity to see how an interactive global information network impacts a local community when the network includes a locally focused media outlet whose aim is promote thoughtful citizen activism. Follow me @fobes
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