MINNESOTA HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL GRANTS - Grants Manual

Heritage Tourism and Public Education Guidelines

Historic resources stand the best chance of being preserved when they are valued by community residents and visitors alike. How does a community promote a preservation ethic? Through education at all levels and, increasingly, through heritage tourism. Communities are learning that both residents and the traveling public want to experience places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past. For ideas on possible products to communicate those stories, see the guidelines for grants in History Projects: Interpretive Programs.

Projects in the Heritage Tourism and Public Education category lend themselves particularly well to partnerships and collaborations.

Eligible Projects

An archaeological field school with a public component.
Curriculum development focusing on the community’s historic resources.
Signage program for a historic district.
Regional Heritage Tourism website collaboration to promote a region’s historic resources.
Walking and Mobile tours, docent training and related podcasts.
- See Online Access for more advice on how to complete the application for Mobile Tours
Geocaching
- See Online Access for more advice on how to complete the application

Completing the Application

The following advice on how to complete the application will help you shape your project; suggestions are numbered to correspond to sections of the application form.

1. Project Description

Describe your proposed product or activity and discuss who will use it. Include sufficient references to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Archaeology and Historic Preservation sufficient to demonstrate that the project will conform.

2. Need and Rationale

How does this project fit into your current and future activities and, if applicable, those of your partner?

3. Work Plan and Timetable

What planning have you undertaken to prepare for this project?
Provide a timetable describing the work that will be accomplished and anticipated dates by which it will be completed. If your project is a collaborative one, discuss the roles of your partners and how those roles affect the project timetable.

4. Project Personnel

Some of the work for projects in this category is specialized and usually done by an outside professional. Explain how you will secure a qualified professional to complete the proposed work.
If a person from your organization will do some or all of the work, what work items will they complete and what are their qualifications and experience?
Who will oversee your project and what are their qualifications and experience?

5. Evaluation

Who is the intended audience for your project? What criteria will you use to evaluate the project’s success?

6. Enduring Value

When managed carefully, heritage tourism can help diversify a local economy and preserve a community’s unique character. Keeping this in mind, in what ways will your project have a lasting impact and value for the community?

7. Sustainability

How will the project’s product(s) be used? What is the plan for their continued use beyond the life of the grant? Will the materials be revised and reissued in the future? If the project involves collaboration, is it a sustainable partnership?

8. Budget

Provide a complete project budget on the budget worksheet, showing how each budget item was determined.