Walker County African American Historical & Alumni Association Inc. recipient of $10,000 in grants
GEORGIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS FY22 VIBRANT COMMUNITIES GRANT — $5,000
Walker County African American Historical and Alumni Association Inc. (WCAAHAA) announces it has been awarded a Vibrant Communities grant by the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA), a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Fifty-seven entities in 43 counties statewide received grants through the 2022 program.
The funding will be used for the Buildings We Built exhibit programming by WCAAHAA and scheduled as the premiere exhibition at the Walker County’s new African American Museum and Cultural Center in the Wardlaw Building, LaFayette, Ga.
“Art events supported by the Vibrant Communities grants will help jumpstart tourism and bring communities together in all parts of Georgia,” said Georgia Council for the Arts Executive Director Tina Lilly. “As the effects of a worldwide pandemic are still being felt, we are especially happy to announce this funding to help support the work of our grantees as they reconnect and engage with Georgians of all ages.
Georgia Council for the Arts received Vibrant Communities grant applications from schools, libraries, cities, historical societies, community theatres, Boys & Girl Clubs, and arts and other related organizations from across the state.
For 21 years, WCAAHAA has worked diligently to fulfill its mission to “teach ourselves and others, document and preserve the history of African Americans of Walker County, Georgia.” Also, WCAAHAA assists far northwest Georgia counties in preservation and highlighting their African American legacy as Chattooga, Catoosa, Dade, Murray and Whitfield counties.
The Georgia Council for the Arts FY22 Vibrant Communities grant will assist WCAAHAA’s funding of Walker County’s African American Cultural Center’s spring, 2022 premiere exhibit, Buildings We Built. This exhibit focuses on the buildings built by African Americans in Walker County and the organizations housed in those buildings and how those organizations economically and socially impacted Walker’s African American communities, as well as the economics of Walker County as a whole.
Buildings built by African American churches, civic organizations and businesses will be highlighted in photography and drawings as well as Walker County’s and LaFayette city’s segregated schools. WCAAHAA is hoping the drawings, at some date, will be part of a coloring book for elementary age children.
The FY22 Vibrant Funds will assist Walker County economically by providing funding for a new tourism, historical and artistic attraction in Walker County, and furthering WCAAHAA forward movement in the telling Walker County’s history beyond the year 1865 with inclusion and recognition of the accomplishments of Walker’s African Americans. The exhibit will highlight the talents of local artists and photographers of Walker County and far Northwest
Georgia counties such as Chattooga.
Funding for the Vibrant Communities grants is provided through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly. Grant applications were reviewed by Peer Review Panels, which included fellow professionals who are experienced in the arts discipline or type of grant being reviewed or are Georgia citizens with a record of involvement in arts activities, experience and knowledge.
Georgia’s creative industries have a reported $62.5 billion impact on the economy, generating roughly $37 billion in revenue and accounting for about 200,000 jobs in the state.
LYNDHURST FOUNDATION GRANT CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — $5,000
Walker County African American Historical and Alumni Association Inc. (WCAAHAA) announces selection by the Lyndhurst Foundation to receive a grant supporting Walker County’s African American Museum and Cultural Center’s spring, 2022 Buildings We Built exhibit.
This grant will be used as a match for the FY22 Vibrant Communities Georgia Council for the Arts grant. Also, a small portion of the Lyndhurst Foundation grant will support WCAAHAA’s African American History Month 2022 primary and secondary school project.
“The Lyndhurst Foundation identifies and invests in initiatives, institutions, people, and programs that contribute to the long-term livability of the greater Chattanooga region.” They “focus on education, conservation, arts, culture, economy, urban design and development, neighborhood revitalization, and physical health.”
Their geographic area includes the tri- state, 16-county region surrounding Chattanooga. In Georgia, this area includes Dade,
Catoosa, Whitfield, Murray and Walker counties.
“The Lyndhurst Foundation had its beginnings in the broad local and regional philanthropic activities of Thomas Cartter Lupton, a pioneer of the Coca-Cola bottling business.”
After an evaluation of Walker County’s African American Museum and Cultural Center, and the City of LaFayette Memorial Park Task Force (The Task Force) efforts, Ms. Kathleen Nolte, Lyndhurst’s program director for arts and culture and special initiatives, saw value in those projects and requested updates as the Task Force moved forward. WCAAHAA presented to Ms. Knolte the 21-year history of WCAAHAA’s community efforts using traveling exhibits made of poster boards to tell the stories of African Americans of Walker County and northwest Georgia, and Walker County’s new African American Cultural Center’s Buildings We Built premiere exhibit. Ms. Knolte carried this mission to the Lyndhurst Foundation, and a grant was approved.
Also, the grant includes support of WCAAHAA’s 2022 African American History Month Cultural Center’s T-shirt design contest. Every student in Walker County’s primary and secondary schools, public and private, may enter a design for the T-shirt. There will be monetary prizes for first, second and third place winners in three categories: elementary, middle and high school. Additionally, Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s Youth For Success Academy students under the age of 19 may enter the T-shirt design contest. The first 20 schools with students expressing interest in the Tshirt design contest will receive a complimentary copy of the book, Appalachian African Americans Northwest Georgia Walker County, for inspiration.