Two East Haven Organizations Set To Receive Humanities Grants

East Haven CT

17 January, 2022

12:03 PM

Description

EAST HAVEN, CT —The East Haven Arts Commission and the Trolley Museum are set to receive non-profit museums and cultural, humanities, and arts organization grants awards from CT Humanities, the independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Across the state, $16 million will go to 624 groups as part of the CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants. The grants are for organizations in their pandemic recovery and to help them maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public. Also, to connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure. For East Haven, the East Haven Arts Commission will receive $5,600. And the Shore Line Trolley Museum will receive $38,000. See a recent agenda for the East Haven Arts Commission here. Read the year-end update, "Making A Difference," from Shore Line Trolley Museum Executive Director John Proto here: 2021 was an unexpected year. In the face of the lingering Covid-19 pandemic, the Shore Line Trolley Museum's dedicated volunteers and staff safely moved passengers and made memories. Did you know that over 8,000 passengers rode the trolley in 2021? The museum carefully responded to ever-changing health guidance, which enabled some of our most popular events such as Pumpkin Patch, Visit With Santa and Museum in Motion to all take place. Thanks to a grant from the CT Department of Economic Development, Office of Tourism fully 40% of the year's ridership figures are from our regular summer operations, where our colorful trolley cars and the fresh shoreline air inspired thousands of families to join us for a safe ride back in time down the Branford Electric Railway. Visitors from down the street, across the state and beyond became our passengers, experiencing the thrill of our ride, many for the first time. Some became members and many returned for seasonal events. Thanks to support from our Board of Trustees, I was able to seize some dynamic opportunities for the museum. Over the course of the year, we applied for and won over $300,000 in competitive grants to support continued operations, Covid-19 safety measures for our visitors and volunteers, creating new educational programs, digitizing our photographs, and making some badly needed track repairs. You can find a breakdown of these awards at the end of this email. These were one-time funding opportunities that would not have existed in normal times, but with the assistance and dedication of the SLTM staff seeking out every potential funding source, the museum has endured. These wins have sustained the museum for the past year, but we are already looking to the year ahead. The 2021 Year-End Annual Fund Drive has a target goal of raising $24,000, matching a Community Foundation for Greater New Haven grant award to expand educational programs in the year ahead. In honor of this year's resilience, please consider making a gift to support a strong start as we begin another year. If you've already given, please accept our very sincere thanks. With your help, we will bring more new faces to the museum in 2022. With gratitude, John Proto, Executive Director See all CT Humanities grant awards here.