Manhattan Organization Wins Technical Assistance Grant

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USCGC LILAC, Courtesy Historic Naval Ships Association.

ALBANY, NY (09/04/2013)(readMedia)-- The Preservation League of New York State has awarded a Technical Assistance Grant to a group directly engaged in the stewardship and public use of a historic maritime resource. A $3,000 grant to the LILAC Preservation Project will support the cost of a feasibility reuse study on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter LILAC, currently berthed at the Hudson River Park's Pier 25 at West Street and N. Moore Street in Manhattan.

USCGC LILAC is a 1933 lighthouse tender that once carried supplies to lighthouses and maintained buoys for the U.S. Lighthouse Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. Decommissioned in 1972, LILAC is now a museum ship owned by the non-profit Lilac Preservation Project. As America's only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender, LILAC is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is eligible to become a National Historic Landmark.

The Lilac Preservation Project operates the U.S. Lighthouse Tender LILAC as a center for maritime education and community activities, and will hire Walter Sedovic Architects based in Irvington, New York to create a restoration and adaptive use plan for the ship's cargo hold. This plan will address public accessibility, asbestos abatement, engine restoration, and creation of exhibit spaces.

"As an all-volunteer organization, it can be particularly hard for us to find the time to step back and plan big projects," said Mary Habstritt, Museum Director. "The TAG Grant will allow us to do just that for the biggest space on LILAC. We're delighted to have this help in moving ahead to make the cargo hold accessible and valuable for our visitors."

The Preservation League of New York State launched the Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program in 2012 to support discrete projects that preserve New York State's cultural and historic resources. Grants of up to $3,000 are available to not-for-profit arts and cultural groups and municipalities managing historic sites, museums, arts facilities and other culturally important institutions that are located in historic buildings and structures open to the public.

"In a very competitive grant round, applicants sought funds for technical studies to be carried out by preservation and design professionals which included building conditions surveys, engineering and structural analyses, and feasibility and reuse studies," said Erin Tobin, the League's Regional Director of Technical and Grant Programs in eastern New York. "The Preservation League is delighted to help advance the efforts of the LILAC Preservation Project with this grant."

Guidelines for application for the second of two grant rounds in 2013 are now available on the League's website. Applications must be received by September 16, 2013. A total of $11,553 is available statewide for the fall funding cycle, and funded work must be completed by the end of the calendar year. Each grant recipient must provide a $500 match and the cost of the project may not exceed $3,500.

The Preservation League of New York State is a private, not-for-profit organization that works to protect and enhance the Empire State's historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods. The Technical Assistance Grant Program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

"The TAG program builds on the record of excellence the League has established with the similarly NYSCA-funded Preserve New York Grant program," said Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League. "Our TAG program fills a significant funding gap. It is tailored to provide support to worthy projects in New York that are ineligible for grants from other sources, or may not have the scope or scale to compete at regional and national levels."

The following received TAG support in the first funding round of 2013: Montgomery County (2): Friends of Fort Plain; Mohawk Valley Collective; New York County: Lilac Preservation Project, New York; Niagara County (2): Heritage of Hope and Service, Inc., Niagara Falls; Tonawandas' Council for the Arts, North Tonawanda; Oneida County: Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, Utica; Ontario County: Victor Historical Society, Victor; Orleans County: Cobblestone Society, Albion; Saratoga County: Universal Preservation Hall, Saratoga Springs; Schoharie County: Town of Jefferson; Steuben County: Save the Lyon Commission, Inc., Bath, Suffolk County: Eastville Community Historical Society, Sag Harbor; Washington County: Whitehall Skene Manor Preservation, Inc., Whitehall.

For more information on the League's Technical Assistance Grant program, please call 518-462-5658 or visit the League's website at www.preservenys.org.