Four Rivers Announces FY2013 Mini-Grants Program

Annapolis, MD – Four Rivers: The Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town & South County announces guidelines and criteria for the FY2013 Mini-grant program. Made possible for the tenth year through financial support from Anne Arundel County, the City of Annapolis and the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, Four Rivers’ mini-grants assist local heritage-related non-profit organizations in developing new heritage and preservation-related programs, activities, products, and events.

Examples of eligible projects include new heritage tours, maps, interpretive brochures, podcasts, and other heritage-related publications; educational public programs, exhibits, and/or events; and heritage tourism-related website development. Heritage tourism-related programs for K-12 students, home-schooled students, and/or after-school educational programs, and educational seminars, workshops, and conferences that encourage or enhance preservation, revitalization, and interpretation of the area’s natural, cultural and historic resources are also eligible. Some marketing expenses are eligible to be funded through mini-grants. Mini-grants shall not be used for administrative expenses or capital projects. Salaries or staff time are eligible as match only, for that portion of a staff person’s time dedicated solely to a funded project (not to exceed 35% of total required project match).

Past mini-grant supported projects within the heritage area include: “Paddle Through History” kayak tours of the Rhode River and Back and Spa Creeks; brochure development for numerous heritage organizations, including the Annapolis Maritime Museum, Galesville Heritage Museum, Charles Carroll House, Captain Salem Avery Museum, and the West/Rhode Riverkeeper; website development for the Galesville Community Center Organization, and website upgrades for Historic London Town and Gardens and the Charles Carroll House; archeological research by the Lost Towns Project; a National Register nomination of Batchelor’s Choice Plantation and Servant’s Quarters, an 18th-century historic resource in southern Anne Arundel County; a regional Civil War cultural resources guide and a Parole oral history project by the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation; an orientation video about the Annapolis Maritime Museum to be shown in the Museum’s Bay Room and on their website; museum exhibits at Historic Annapolis Foundation’s William Paca House and the Historic Annapolis Museum; the revised Eastport Walking Tour; a visitors’ kiosk at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; conservation of Francis Scott Key’s will at St. John’s College; and many more. A complete list of past mini-grant awards is available on the Four Rivers website.

Applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposal with heritage area staff prior to application submission. Mini-grant applications are available online (see our “Mini-Grants page) or by calling the Four Rivers Heritage Area office. The deadline for submission of mini-grant applications (original and 7 copies) is Friday, October 5, 2012. Mini-grant proposals will be evaluated by a Four Rivers Grants Committee, and awards will be announced by November.

For more information, please visit the “Mini-Grants” page on our website, www.chesapeakecrossroads.org, or contact Executive Director Carol Benson at 410-222-1805 or by e-mail at [email protected].