By Jordan Beach
Georgia Humanities recently announced the list of Georgia organizations receiving a grant from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Funk Heritage Center among those listed.
The CARES Act Emergency Operating Grants will provide $634,200 to 77 museums, libraries, historical societies, colleges and universities, and other cultural nonprofit organizations that offer humanities programming to Georgians. The Funk Heritage Center received $7,000 and will utilize the grant to shift much of the Center’s programming to an online platform. This will enable the Center to reach and expand its audiences, even during a time of social distancing.
“We at the Funk Heritage Center are extremely grateful for this assistance from the Georgia Humanities and the CARES act. These funds will allow the Funk to continue carrying out its important mission during a time which will prove challenging to us from a revenue standpoint,” said Funk Heritage Center Director Jeff Bishop.
After closing for two months, the Center plans to re-open on Tuesday, June 9 with new protocols and will not host large groups or school field trips until further notice. Bishop hopes to create online exhibits, programs and lesson plans to leverage collections that align with current curriculum requirements and develop ways to help parents and teachers get the most out of the Center’s resources.
“This grant will enable us to shift some of our resources online to continue reaching our core audience: the students of northwest Georgia. We want them to continue learning from our collections and exhibits by making them more accessible in an online format. This grant will help enable us to do that.
“Again, we want to thank Georgia Humanities, as well as the Reinhardt University administrative and support staff that made this grant possible,” Bishop continued.
Georgia Humanities will distribute this grant, issued from the National Endowment for Humanities, as part of the economic stabilization plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, working to provide relief to those impacted financially.
