HPP Announces 2009 Grantees

The Heritage Philadelphia Program Proudly announces our 2009 grantees. Below are the organizations and projects that were funded; please visit our website for more details.

Cliveden of the National Trust ($200,000) to renovate Upsala, an 18th century neighboring house, for community programming. The renovated building will be used as a center for community revitalization, including neighborhood safety meetings, a teen writers’ workshop, and a resource center for the area’s many historic houses. The work on the building will include construction of an accessible entrance and restroom, and installation of new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. The adaptive re-use of Upsala will also allow office space to be removed from Cliveden, providing for more effective preservation of the National Historic Landmark building, site of the 1777 Battle of Germantown.

Fairmount Park Art Association ($199,720) to implement “Museum Without Walls: AUDIO”—individual audio programs on 35 public art pieces in Philadelphia that will be accessible by cell phone or podcast. Working with a team of professional audio producers and historians, the Fairmount Park Art Association (FPAA) will create interpretive audio programs that interested “visitors” can access through their cell phone as they walk, jog, or bike past an artwork. These pieces can also be downloaded to an MP3 player from the FPAA website. The audio programs are designed to incorporate what FPAA calls the “authentic voice”—the story of each piece as told by people with important connections to it.

Historic Germantown Preserved ($200,000) to implement “Germantown Works,” a series of history-based projects that include youth employment training and intergenerational programming. Historic Germantown Preserved is a collaborative of 14 historic houses and sites in Germantown working together to develop coordinated programming that is responsive to community concerns. The “Germantown Works” projects will combine historic perspectives on work and industry in Germantown with programs designed to create work for young people.

Philadelphia Folklore Project ($70,000) to pilot the Community Documentation Workshop. The Philadelphia Folklore Project (PFP) will select a group of community participants from diverse immigrant groups in the city for an eight-month training program in documenting community history and folklore. The training will provide participants with skills to document a variety of cultural experiences in their own communities as well as opportunities to develop exhibitions based on their research and findings. These exhibitions will be installed in PFP’s gallery space. PFP will use the pilot project to develop on-going workshops and a new, community-driven approach to exhibitions.

Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates ($200,000) to implement “Journeys South,” exploring South Philadelphia’s immigrant history through public art projects that include photography, installation, and lighting. Mural Arts Advocates will host four artist residencies, during which the artists (RA Freidman, Kate Slovich, Michelle Ortiz and Tony Rocco, and Phoebe Zinman) will work with historians and members of the community to develop their projects, based on immigrant stories and histories of the neighborhood. The resulting artworks will be installed in public spaces in the neighborhood, and will be unveiled to the public during a month-long festival in the summer of 2010. Mural Arts will also partner with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s internet-based PhilaPlace project, expected to launch later this year, in order to document the artworks and research.

Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia ($56,350) to plan and pilot a training and technical assistance program for African American historic churches and historic house museums. Building on the Alliance’s successful neighborhood preservation program, these projects will provide opportunities for important collaboration among these sites. Training will offer congregations resources for capital fundraising and the development of new community partnerships. The Alliance will also work with the growing number of African American historic sites to assess and develop collaborative interpretation and marketing efforts.

Wyck Association ($75,000) to develop an interpretive plan for Wyck, a National Historic Landmark house and garden in Germantown. Working with expert advisors from a variety of fields, including historic preservation, urban agriculture, and sound art, along with representatives of local community organizations, Wyck will develop a plan for inventive future educational and community-focused programming. This planning process is part of Wyck’s goal of developing their historic site as a community resource, building on the success of the Wyck Home Farm program, which combines a farmers market with history and educational programming.