Essex Heritage Commission to provide local grants

SALEM – When the Lynn Museum & Historical Society launched a project last year entitled “24 Hours in the Life of Lynn: A Photo Documentary,” a portion of the funding came from an Essex Heritage Commission grant.A summer concert and picnic held by the Friends of Lynn Heritage State Park focusing on historic music was also made possible by seed money from the commission.Students at the Higgins Middle School in Peabody engaged in an educational chocolate bar project during the past school year, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem created a Fun with Architecture Discovery Guide to introduce Salem’s architectural elements. Both activities were kick-started with funds from commission grants.Annie Harris, the commission’s executive director, said applications are now available for the 2008 Partnership Grant Program.For more than 10 years, the program has provided match funding to projects that encourage greater understanding, interpretation or enhancement of the unique historic, cultural and natural resources with the Essex National Heritage Area, she said.The program is open to Essex County non-profit organizations, cities and towns, and government agencies. Grants range from $1,000 to $7,500 per project.According to Harris, this year grants will be awarded in four categories: Thomas M. Leonard Educational Grants, Heritage Interpretation and Programming, Heritage Preservation and Resource Stewardship and Archives and Historical Records.Proposals that link together resources and communities and increase the public’s understanding of the Heritage Area’s historically significant themes of early settlement, maritime era and industrial development are encouraged, she said.The Salem-based commission is also urging communities that participated in the 2004/2005 Essex County Heritage Landscape Inventory project to apply for funds for activities that further the conservation of the properties and places of the heart that were deemed at risk.The Partnership Grant Program is designed to provide seed funding that would foster partnerships and encourage collaboration among organizations and municipalities to preserve and promote the unique resources and heritage of Essex County. Since the program began in 1998, the commission has awarded a total of $1.5 million to 266 matching grants that have generated an additional $4.56 million in educational and historic preservation projects in the region.In 2007, 38 matching grants totaling $112,000 were awarded to organizations in 18 communities, providing financial support to projects that encourage education, interpretation and preservation of the unique historic, cultural and natural resources within the Essex National Heritage Area.For more information about the Partnership Grant Program and to download the 2008 grant application, visit the ENHC Web site at www.essexheritage.org or contact the commission at 978-740-0444.The deadline for submitting grant applications is March 3 at 5 p.m. Recipients will be notified in June.