FLORENCE – The deadline to apply for the next round of Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area community grants is 5 p.m., Monday, Dec. 15. Grant awards from $1,000 up to $10,000 are available for heritage-focused projects in MSNHA’s six counties: Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone and Morgan. To be eligible, proposed projects must focus on assessment, preservation activities, interpretation, archiving or workshops and training sessions and be connected to one of the MSNHA’s themes: music, Native American culture or the Tennessee River. Guidelines, applications and instructions are at msnha.una.edu.
“Our grants program is one of the main ways MSNHA partners with community groups to help preserve, protect and promote
Carrie Barske
northwest Alabama’s cultural heritage,” said MSNHA director Carrie Barske. “Our mission is to work with communities to tell stories about our area’s history and to offer opportunities for learning about and appreciating our area’s cultural and natural resources.” In the previous grant cycle, which closed in April, MSNHA approved nine grant awards for a total of more than $60,000–the largest total award amount since MSNHA opened its grants program in 2015. Those awards were an exhibit of local textile history, submitted by Alabama Chanin, a clothing and design business, in Florence; the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention, submitted by the Athens State University Foundation; Native American interpretive panels in Delano Park, Decatur, submitted by the Delano Park Conservancy; local musical performances, submitted by the University of North Alabama’s Department of Entertainment Industry; installation of a new heating and airconditioning system for the Jackson House, in Moulton, submitted by the Jackson House Foundation; the W.C. Handy Music Festival, submitted by the Music Preservation Society Inc.; Oka Kapassa—Return to Coldwater, submitted by the Oka Kapassa Festival Committee; and repairs and restorations to the Karsner House, in Florence,submitted by Florence Main Street.
“This probably will be the only grants round until fall of 2019,” Barske added, “so anyone who was thinking about applying in the spring should consider applying this time.” For more information on MSNHA or its grants program, email msnha@una.edu or visit msnha.una.edu.
Media Release/Cathy Wood, media coordinator & grants administrator/Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area
