The first round of grants have been awarded as part of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area designation that promotes Western North Carolina to travelers.

Twenty grants totaling more than $330,000 were made to governmental and independent operations located within the 25-county Blue Ridge area spanning from Cherokee to Surry counties. The U.S. Congress has designated the area — one of 27 of its kind across the country — as a place where “natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography.”

BRNHA directors are in the process of branding and marketing the area, and individual counties are working to bring each of their heritage tourism plans into effect. The grants BRNHA awarded are designed to help facilitate this process. More than 90 applications were received in this first grant cycle, applications BRNHA Executive Director Penn Dameron touted as highly competitive both for their quantity and quality.

“There is so much interest in our cultural heritage here in Western North Carolina,” Dameron said. “The board selected the projects which showed the most promise to both preserve that heritage and stimulate increased economic opportunity in the region.”

The BRNHA’s board of directors — appointed by HandMade in America, AdvantageWest, the Education and Research Consortium of WNC, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and Gov. Mike Easley — awarded grants in three general categories: living traditions, marketing, and product development.

Those awarded funds include: $10,000 for post-production and marketing of the film “Rank Strangers: The Story of Mrs. Hyatt’s OpraHouse” by 6:14 Films; $5,000 to Blue Ridge Food Ventures for development of a Web site and online scheduling; $29,900 to Cherokee County, for developing the Konehete Trails Network (contingent upon successful review by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History); $20,000 to the Cradle of Forestry for a new documentary film about the Biltmore Forest School; $38,000 to HandMade in America for development of the Appalachian Quilt Trails Project; $10,000 to John C. Campbell Folk School to produce a compact disc of traditional music of the mountains of southwestern North Carolina; $11,000 to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian to enhance heritage tourism in Cherokee; $6,000 to One Dozen Who Care Inc. to help preserve on film, on tape and in writing the African American musical tradition in Far Western North Carolina; $34,400 to the Partnership for the Future of Bryson City/Swain County to develop a Cultural Heritage Trail and Outdoor Museum; $20,000 to the Penland School of Crafts for expansion of its visitor lobby and gallery space.

For more information about the BRNHA, visit www.blueridgeheritage.com or contact Dameron at 828.687.7234, ext. 115.