Chamber music with educational discussions.
An archaeological investigation with a public program about the findings.
History projects by students.
These are among the 11 programs in the Heritage area that are receiving mini-grants in the latest round of awards from Four Rivers: The Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town and South County. The nonprofit's mission is to support the heritage area through education and promotion. The grants, announced last week, are the most Four Rivers has ever awarded and the largest sum the agency has awarded in a single year, officials said.
Overall, the projects range in scope and price, from less than $5,000 to more than $28,000. Carol Benson, executive director of Four Rivers, said the range reflects the variety of projects and needs of the nonprofits. But all, she said, are designed to encourage heritage tourism and historic preservation, and add to visitors' cultural and informative experience. At the same time, they are an economic boost.
"It is very important for a lot of the organizations, especially this year, for the smaller ones," Benson said.
Partnerships with schools and among nonprofits is a recent trend and has the potential to draw more visitors to events and sites, she said. Students' parents may be intrigued by what children are doing. People who attend an event jointly run by two nonprofits because of interest in one of them may develop interest in the other.
The maximum amount for a mini-grant is $2,500.
The mini-grants include some for components of bigger programs, such as the forthcoming signature exhibit, "Oysters on the Half-Shell," scheduled to open in March at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. The exhibit will cost about $250,000, much of which is being funded by substantial grants and gifts.
The Four Rivers grant, about $2,500, will go toward the museum's first comprehensive brochure. The idea is to advise visitors of what the small campus, the former home of an oyster packing company, has for them to explore - a starting point of sorts.
"We've never had that definitive brochure that says 'This is what you can see here, this is what we have here,' " said Jeff Holland, museum director.
The first permanent exhibit will focus on oysters.
"It's going to be all about the hardworking people who made their living either working on the bay or at McNasby's, the oyster packing plant," Holland said.
It will include re-created shucking stalls, sounds of the work, touch screens, an oyster workboat and an oyster reef in an 800-gallon aquarium, where people can dump murky water in and watch the water clear as it is filtered by the living oysters, Holland said.
Each Four Rivers grant must be matched by the recipient organization. In most years, the total dollars Four Rivers has for grants is $20,000, but leftover money from previous years allowed this year's grants to reach $24,520, Benson said. This year, the sixth year of the mini-grants, Four Rivers also did more outreach to nonprofits, including holding a grant proposal-writing workshop. State officials have designated 11 heritage areas across Maryland.
Grant recipients and their projects
* The Historic Annapolis Foundation, for a new exhibit and living history interpretation about 18th-century printer and publisher Anne Catharine Green, at HistoryQuest in Annapolis.
* The Anne Arundel County Bar Foundation, for research to amplify its Crossroads of the Community exhibit at the Anne Arundel County Courthouse. Reference materials will be in the exhibit space and online.
* Banneker-Douglass Museum with the Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation, in cooperation with Anne Arundel County Public Schools, for an educational oral history project with Annapolis High School African-American history classes about the musical heritage of Carr's Beach.
* The City of Annapolis, Annapolis and Anne Arundel Conference and Visitors Bureau, and Downtown Annapolis Partnership, for a sign marking the entrance to the Visitor's Center and West Street at the boundary of the Annapolis Historic District.
* Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center in partnership with the Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society, for the creation and operation of a docent program for the center and its exhibits.
* Historic London Town and Gardens, in collaboration with Anne Arundel County Public Schools, for a program for Mayo Elementary fourth-graders to learn about trans-Atlantic trade during the 1700s. Student work will be displayed at London Town and online.
* Anne Arundel County Trust for Preservation, in collaboration with the Sands House, for an archaeological investigation at the Sands House and a public program about the results.
* The Shady Side Rural Heritage Society, for a brochure offering an ecological tour, including features of the bio-retention project that will be completed on the grounds of the Captain Salem Avery Museum in the spring.
* The Annapolis Chamber Players and the Charles Carroll House, for chamber music concerts with educational discussions featuring music from the 18th and 19th centuries.
* The Annapolis Maritime Museum, for its first brochure detailing the maritime experience offered by the expanded museum.
* The City of Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission, for a reprinting and Web-posting of its booklet, "Building in the Fourth Century: The Annapolis Historic District Design Manual."