Niagara County Organizations Win Technical Assistance Grants

ALBANY, NY (09/04/2013)(readMedia)-- The Preservation League of New York State has awarded Technical Assistance Grants to two Niagara County groups directly engaged in the stewardship and public use of historic buildings. A $3,000 grant to Niagara Heritage of Hope and Service, Inc. will support the cost of an accessibility study at the former Holy Trinity School, and a $3,000 grant to Tonawandas' Council on the Arts will support the cost of an accessibility study for the Carnegie Art Center in North Tonawanda.

The not-for-profit group Niagara Heritage of Hope and Service will complete an accessibility study for a National Register-listed 1914 school building located in the city's ethnically diverse East Side. The former school is used for public education and social assistance programs. Its third floor features a gymnasium and a dining hall that reflects its Polish origins, but since the school is not fully accessible, these valuable spaces are underutilized. The study will be completed by Foit-Albert Associates of Buffalo and will help Niagara Heritage better realize the building's potential as a vibrant community center with an Ethnic Heritage Museum.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are grateful to the Preservation League of New York State," said Marg Domagalski, President of Niagara Heritage of Hope & Service. "This grant is paramount in realizing our long term goals to revitalize the building's future potential. We are excited to work with Foit-Albert Associates on this worthwhile project, which is in line with our mission to give back to the community."

North Tonawanda's former Carnegie Library, built in 1904, now serves the Niagara region as an arts and cultural center. Located in a park-like setting, it offers exhibits, classes, lectures and events. However, the center's exterior ramp, interior circulation plan and bathrooms do not meet accessibility standards. Tonawandas' Council on the Arts has commissioned Flynn Battaglia Architects of Buffalo to produce a study with design recommendations to help the Carnegie Art Center achieve universal accessibility in its handsome landmark building.

According to Mary L. Simpson, Executive Director of Tonawandas' Council on the Arts, "Our home, North Tonawanda's first public library, donated by Andrew Carnegie, has served the public for more than a century, first as a library and now as an art center. We are delighted to receive a Technical Assistance Grant to identify ways to create universal accessibility, so that everyone can participate in art, including individuals with physical and mobility challenges. Art is the essential foundation to cultural vibrancy and quality of life. This grant will help the Carnegie Art Center fulfill its core mission of art for all."

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 Tania Werbizky, the League's Regional Director of Technical and Grant Programs in western New York. "The Preservation League is delighted to help advance the preservation efforts of two Niagara County groups through these grants."

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 may be 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.