Heritage Community Grant Program
37 projects have been funded across the six coastal Mississippi counties since the start of the MGCNHA Heritage Community Grant program. These projects enhance local cultural and economic development. The following are a few examples of projects the MGCNHA has funded.
Select Awarded Grants
The Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain:
Three projects supporting the Shaw Homestead were funded in 2016, 2017, and 2020 in partnership with the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain and the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio. These projects resulted in a twelve-part podcast video series to educate people about buildings and sites on the homestead, the people that inhabited them, and the daily life of the Shaw’s, restoration of the Shaw Tractor and the Grist Mill Building, repairing the Smoke House, and repairing the ceilings in the kitchen and west bedroom on the homestead.
Alice Moseley Museum:
Received funding in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021. Funding helped with the hiring of an Art Manager to care for and promote the collections of Alice Moseley and teach locals to international communities about her art and its significance to Mississippi as related to national historical and cultural heritage. In 2018, funding went towards forming a classroom to teach about the arts, hold art events and contests for children, and provide educational resources in the museum, specifically visitor guides about the history. The most recent project was Painting the Coast, which converted 35 gallon syrup containers into trash receptacles painted by students and local artists, delivered to cities across the Mississippi coast.
100 Men D.B.A. Hall:
Received funding in 2018, 2022, and 2024. Projects supported many upgrades to the 100 Members Debating Benevolent Association: a mural on the building’s south side, an artist-in-residence cottage, a photography project highlighting people who have a history with the space, a recording studio, and a series of four weekend long events to celebrate the eras of the Hall’s past.
Mississippi State University:
Funded in 2022 and 2024 in partnership with the University Television Center, this project is currently ongoing. MSU will develop four half-hour video documentary that highlights Vietnamese American culture and the community’s struggle to maintain cohesiveness in the face of manmade and natural disasters, and the effects of upward mobility among those who live along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The first of four documentaries has been completed.
Waveland’s Ground Zero Hurricane Museum:
Waveland’s Ground Zero Museum received funding in 2018 for When Wind and Water Speaks- The Voices of Katrina, a permanent video exhibit featuring oral history from people who experienced Katrina. The former Reading Room in the museum was converted to the Oral History Room that houses the video of stories from Katrina survivors.
Disability Connection:
Received funding in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The primary project funded was updated digital resources for the Gulf Coast Heritage Information Center on the Disability Connection website. This included information on historic, natural, and cultural properties throughout the six coastal counties in Mississippi. Funding also supported the Celebrate our Waterway Tours videos, a film documentary, and printed brochures.
LaPointe-Krebs House:
Received funding in 2016 and 2017 in partnership with Jackson County Board of Supervisors. Projects supported restoration for the roof and chimney rehabilitation at the LaPointe-Krebs House. Funding also supported education of local 4th graders about the historical significance of the house.
Lynn Meadows Discovery Center:
Received funding in 2017. The project was a Story Walk On the Green at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center. Pages of a children’s book were posted along the sidewalks of the Center. The children’s story incorporates information on the resources the coast has to offer, and information was provided by DMR.
Stone County:
In partnership with the Stone County Economic Development Partnership, funding was awarded in 2015, 2016, and 2021. One project was Celebrating 100 Years, Stone County, where funding helped identify, created, developed and promoted heritage resources in the area and increased the awareness of the impact of Stone County in the development of the Gulf Coast Heritage Area. Additional projects helped further develop the Stone County corridor of the MGCNHA by identifying recording, preserving, presenting, and celebrating Stone County’s history, culture, people, and nature-based resources. The Influence of Music on Its Heritage project aimed to promote Stone County’s heritage events and integrate music into the Heritage Day event with demonstrations and performances.
Walter Anderson Museum of Art:
Received funding in 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024. One project was the Art in the Open Trail and Tour, a trail of public markers and installations celebrating the creativity of the MS Gulf Coast and nature through Walter Anderson’s eyes. Funding was also used to develop the Coastal Learning Garden, an outdoor space into an interactive living collection that connects the region’s flora with its cultural and ecological history. Included informational didactics, a custom-built bike rack, and signage that points to local partners. Most recently, a Living History project was funded to enhance environmental, social, and heritage connectivity in concert with WAMA’s growing facilities, exhibition spaces, and interpretive lenses. Project activities will occur in three targeted areas: dynamic and immersive exhibit spaces, historic preservation and heritage promotion, and documentation and education.
Hancock County Chamber of Commerce:
Received funding in 2020 to complete a visitor center at the Buccaneer State Park. The visitor center provides non-traditional touch points, serving as a referral and information center for visitors to learn about heritage resources and nature-based tourism across the Mississippi coast. This project also included constructing interpretative signage for the visitor center.
