Natural and Cultural Resources Recent Grants

Photo courtesy of Mountain BizWorks' Craft Your Commerce

  • Carolina Climbers Coalition
    Henderson
    Grant Amount: $35,350
    Fiscal Year 2024
    to create sustainable access for hikers, climbers, and visitors to Raven Rock and Hickory Creek Boulders, located near Gerton, NC.
  • Polk County Film Initiative
    Buncombe, Jackson, Polk, and Rutherford
    Grant Amount: $26,950
    Fiscal Year 2024
    for students and interns to participate in programming tied to the Tryon International Film Festival as a way to broaden interest in media arts and arts career opportunities.
  • RiverLink
    Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood, Madison, Transylvania, Yancey, Mitchell, and Avery
    Grant Amount: $50,500
    Fiscal Year 2024
    to implement a multi-channel public awareness and digital marketing campaign.
  • Eagle Market Street Development Corporation (as fiscal sponsor for the Catawba Vale Collaborative)
    McDowell
    Grant Amount: $225,000 over three years
    Fiscal Year 2023
    to support internal capacity needs related to the Catawba Vale Collaborative’s efforts to bring equitable community development to Old Fort in McDowell County.
  • Foothills Conservancy of WNC
    McDowell
    Grant Amount: $31,000
    Fiscal Year 2023
    to complete the final pre-construction work necessary to develop the 10-mile Wolfpen Loop Trail on permanent conservation lands in McDowell County.
  • Madison County Arts Council
    Madison
    Grant Amount: $50,000
    Fiscal Year 2023
    to develop the final engineering and architectural designs for Phase 2 renovations of the Arts Center.
  • Mainspring Conservation Trust
    Swain and Jackson counties and the Qualla Boundary
    Grant Amount: $40,000
    Fiscal Year 2023
    to support the completion of due diligence efforts needed to acquire and remove the Ela Dam, an aging dam and reservoir in Swain County, NC, adjoining the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' Qualla Boundary.
  • Toe River Arts Council
    Mitchell and Yancey
    Grant Amount: $10,000
    Fiscal Year 2023
    to support the marketing and promotion of its Cynthia and Edwina Bringle documentary to capture the twin sisters' artistic role and influence in the Toe River Valley and the broader craft world.
  • The Wilderness Society
    WNC Region
    Grant Amount: $15,000
    Fiscal Year 2023
    to provide additional facilitation support for the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership during the critical first 18 months of implementation of the US Forest Service Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest management plan.
  • Wildlands Network (as fiscal sponsor for the Safe Passage Fund Coalition)
    Haywood
    Grant Amount: $30,000
    Fiscal Year 2023
    to improve communications and outreach work in order to raise financial and public support for mitigation measures to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions along a 28-mile stretch of Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge.
  • Camp Grier (as fiscal sponsor for the Catawba Vale Collaborative)
    Avery, Burke, and McDowell
    Grant Amount: $52,500
    Fiscal Year 2022
    to support the design and construction of a series of monuments that combine stone architecture with archaeologically-generated stories at specific locations along a new 42-mile trail expansion on USFS land surrounding the Town of Old Fort.
  • Green Built Alliance
    Buncombe
    Grant Amount: $8,500
    Fiscal Year 2022
    to engage with Taproot Consulting in the development of a three-year strategic plan.
  • Local Cloth
    WNC Region
    Grant Amount: $49,742
    Fiscal Year 2022
    to launch Blue Ridge Blankets and, thereby, to support and develop the region’s fiber-arts economy, particularly within the 100-mile region surrounding Asheville.
  • Mountain BizWorks
    WNC Region
    Grant Amount: $36,300
    Fiscal Year 2022
    to increase the geographic reach and economic benefits of the Craft Your Commerce program by building on the successes and lessons of the three-year pilot.

Natural and Cultural Resources Grant History