Annapolis, MD – Four Rivers: The Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town & South County announces guidelines and criteria for the FY2012 Mini-grant program. Made possible for the ninth 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. Mini-grant awards of up to $2,500 are available for projects within the heritage area that incorporate regional historic, cultural, and natural resources, collaborative partnerships, and the heritage area’s regional interpretive themes. More information about themes and suggested activities can be found in our state, county and city-approved Management Plan, available on our website. Educational programs and activities related to statewide tourism initiatives such as the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 are encouraged, and those that include new technology, foster environmentally-friendly heritage activities and/or create new heritage-related programming in the arts.

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. The grant criteria and application form, as well as a complete list of past mini-grant awards, are 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 or by calling the Four Rivers Heritage Area office. The deadline for submission of mini-grant applications (original and 7 copies) is Friday, October 7, 2011. Mini-grant proposals will be evaluated by a Four Rivers Grants Committee, and awards will be announced in December.

For more information, please visit the "Mini-Grants" page on our website, www.fourriversheritage.org, or contact Executive Director Carol Benson at 410-222-1805 or by e-mail at heritage_area@aacounty.org.