Fort Oglethorpe’s Thriving Communities team finalizing art grant proposal
Fort Oglethorpe’s “Thriving Communities” team is finalizing its proposal for a $20,000 arts grant to further its efforts to bring art and culture to the historic city.
For the past few months, the team has been organizing its proposal to hopefully garner the funding to create an interactive art walk along the city’s walking trails near City Hall.
The Thriving Communities initiative is made up of a group of volunteers who are working with Thrive Regional Partnership and the Lyndhurst Foundation to develop economic strategies of how to build on the city’s arts and culture.
During the Sept. 24 City Council meeting, City Manager Jennifer Payne-simpkins explained that the proposal includes several attractions with historical ties.
“The group is finalizing a proposal to make various artistic improvements to public property along our multi-use trails, basically from Gilbert-stephenson Park to right by Walgreen’s and City Hall,” Payne-simpkins said.
Payne-simpkins added that the proposal includes five art attractions, three painted benches, and three pathway games that will include an original mural to depict the history of the city.
“They would also like to transform the privacy fence behind the shop into an art wall featuring local artistic work to be displayed for six months, and also paint park benches to tell our history and our story,” she explained. “There will also be a Fort Oglethorpe steel, face-plated sign for folks to come and take selfies with, and we all know how viral that can be. It’s a great idea.”
Sixth Cavalry Museum Director Chris Mckeever, who’s been a driving force on the Thriving Communities team from the beginning, says the team will present their proposal.
“On Oct. 2, we have been invited to the Hunter Museum to spend the day with funders, their board members, and the other folks involved with this big undertaking,” Mckeever said Sept. 10. “Then from 1:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon, we will present our project and that becomes part of the $20,000 grant that we’re going to the Lyndhurst Foundation for.”
Mckeever said that if the grant is received, the team will then move forward with the plan to create an artistic historical narrative through the city’s walking trails.
“We’re very excited about where this process is going to take us. There are a lot of possibilities with this,” Mckeever said.