Tourism Cares awarded $90,000 in grants to nine non-profits as part of its Worldwide Grant Program for winter 2008. With matching funds from the majority of recipients, a total of $180,000 will be presented to the organizations for projects varying from brick-and-mortar improvements to conservation and sustainable tourism initiatives. This season, grant recipients included international programs in Ecuador - one on the mainland and one in the Galapagos Islands - and one in China.
Aid to Artisans (Hartford, Conn., for the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador): Innovative Recycled Glass Treasures Project for Sustainable Tourism to Benefit Local Communities - $10,000
Since its inception in 1976, Aid to Artisans (ATA) has sought to offer creative and practical assistance to artisans worldwide. By training craftsmen in product development, business skills and developing new markets, ATA provides sustainable economic benefits while nurturing artistic traditions and preserving cultural vitality. The Tourism Cares grant will help address the challenge of waste management, an issue borne of excessive tourism, while attending to the scarcity of raw materials available to indigenous Galapagos artisans. The program will allow local artisans to create new keepsakes for tourists using discarded glass from the tourism industry. Lindblad Expeditions, Inc., a firm committed to respectful and sustainable adventure tourism, is matching funds.
Corporation for Jefferson’s Poplar Forest (Forest, Va.): Restoration of Thomas Jefferson’s Wing of Offices - $10,000
Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s private retreat, is considered the founding father’s most mature architectural masterpiece, borrowing influences from Renaissance Palladian, 18th-century French and British styles. The Wing of Offices, dating from 1814, was designed and built by Thomas Jefferson and contains a storage room, kitchen, laundry/cook’s room and smokehouse. The Tourism Cares grant will restore key quarters of the wing, assisting with the purchase of glass and hardware for doors and windows, as well as other construction materials. The restoration, which aims to use early 19th-century materials, tools and building methods, will enable the full architectural design of Poplar Forest to be seen by the public for the first time in 160 years.
Fundación Condor (Otavalo, Imbabura, Ecuador): Sustainable Ecotourism Model for Birds of Prey Conservation and Environmental Education, Working with Indigenous Andean Community - $10,000
Fundación Condor (Condor Foundation) created the Parque Condor (Condor Park) to promote its mission to protect, rehabilitate and reintroduce birds of prey—including Ecuador’s national symbol, the endangered Andean condor—to the wild. The park is situated on a beautiful site in northern Ecuador, in front of the Imbabura Volcano and near the well-known Indian market town of Otavalo. The Tourism Cares grant will be channeled toward working with the indigenous community to stimulate rural development and to promote sustainable ecotourism.
Longue Vue House and Gardens (New Orleans, La.): Preservation Project to Renew Landscape - $10,000
The internationally recognized Longue Vue House and Gardens is a classical revival mansion plotted on eight acres of magnificent gardens. Originally established in 1924, the house and gardens have become an integral part of New Orleans’ heritage. Through its programs, events and exhibitions, Longue Vue seeks to preserve and use its historical and artistic legacy to both educate and inspire. After the site lost two-thirds of its gardens during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, a landscape renewal project was put in place to recapture key aspects of the original property. The Tourism Cares grant will help purchase indigenous trees and shrubs in efforts to restore the original landscape character.
The Mountain Institute (Washington, D.C., for Diqing Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China): Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve Ecotourism Trail Development - $10,000
With programs in the Andean, Appalachian and Himalayan mountain ranges, The Mountain Institute seeks “to improve mountain livelihoods, conserve mountain environments, and support mountain cultures.” Bordering the Tibet region of northwest Yunnan, China, the Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve is in the center of the Three Parallel Rivers region, a global diversity hotspot. The area is home to 19 minority groups and some of the world’s most obscure animals, including the endangered golden monkey and snow leopard. The Tourism Cares grant will aid in the design and construction of a 32-mile ecotourism hiking trail through the buffer zone of the nature reserve. The trail supports a larger sustainability program to minimize the negative environmental impact of visitors.
Pleasant Home Foundation (Oak Park, Ill.): Restoration of Pleasant Home, a National Historic Landmark Designed by George W. Maher, a Prairie School Architect - $10,000
Pleasant Home Foundation is dedicated to restoring and preserving the 1897 John Farson House and adjacent grounds as a historic house museum. The 30-room mansion, also called Pleasant Home, is among the earliest and most prominent examples of Prairie-style architecture. It is also the only design by renowned architect George W. Maher that is open to the public. The John Farson House serves as an educational, recreational and cultural resource for more than 20,000 international visitors annually. The Tourism Cares grant will help with brick and limestone repairs, a crucial phase in the restoration and preservation of the museum.
Pony Express Historical Association, Inc. (St. Joseph, Mo.): Urgent Project to Install a New Roof on the Patee House Museum - $10,000
Home to the Patee House Museum and the neighboring Jesse James Home, the Pony
Express Historical Association seeks to interpret the early developmental history of
St. Joseph in the 1920s, from the days of the Pony Express—an enduring symbol of the American frontier—and the infamous Jesse James. In 1860, the Patee House Museum served as the headquarters and starting point for the present-day 1,800-mile National Park Service Pony Express National Historic Trail. The Tourism Cares grant will address the dire need to replace the roof, protecting the museum’s priceless antiquities and artifacts.
Student Conservation Association, Inc. (Charlestown, N.H.): SCA U. S. National Park Ambassadors Program - $10,000
Founded in 1957, the Student Conservation Association (SCA) is a nationwide conservation group of high school and college volunteers devoted to protecting and restoring America’s parks, forest and other public lands. The association seeks “to build the next generation of conservation leaders and inspire lifelong stewardship of the environment and communities by engaging young people in hands-on service to the land.” The Tourism Cares grant will support 12 interns in providing outreach and education to visitors at 12 of the nation’s most treasured national parks. The funds are matched by an endowment from the National Park Service, SCA’s 50-year partner.
Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): Project to Conserve and Restore the Exterior Façades of the Corcoran Gallery of Art - $10,000
Founded in 1869 by William Wilson Corcoran, the Corcoran Gallery of Art is the oldest art museum in Washington, D.C., and one of the three oldest museums in the country. This historical site, with a renowned permanent collection, is essential to the cultural heritage of the nation’s capital. The Tourism Cares grant will help stabilize and restore the masonry on the exterior façades of the gallery. Save America’s Treasures, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is providing a challenge grant for these funds.