Local History Funding Opportunity
Community groups have an opportunity to share in $190,000 in grants for local history projects as part of the second round of the State Government's Local History Grants Program.
The Local History Grants Program distributes small grants for community history projects across Victoria. Any Victorian community organisation can apply for a grant of up to $12,000 for a not-for-profit history project.
The Grants are part of a two-year program that aims to distribute $700,000 to support local history projects in 2006-08.
Koonda School children in 1903.
Colleen Jones, the author of Euroa Pistol Club - The First Fifteen Years said, "I understand how important it is to record the history of any club, church, trust or association. With each succeeding Committee, the risk of loss of data is possible, so it is important that the relevant information is collated and published in some way to preserve the association's beginnings and identity. This is especially necessary when records are inadequate and knowledge is only accessible through memory. Each recorded history, no matter how small, adds to the overall patchwork that makes up a community's knowledge of itself and its past."
In the past the program has funded the following activities:- Preparation and printing of local history books
- Recording of oral histories
- Preparation, display and traveling of exhibitions
- Conservation and cataloguing of documents and objects
- Web projects that provide local history Information
- Training local history skills.
The Victorian Government provides support for story-telling within and across communities as a means of building community connections, confidence and increasing individual skills. Researching, writing and publishing local and family history is a popular activity in Victoria and one of the ways in which Victorians connect with each other and find common ground, tolerance and acceptance. Support for these mostly volunteer activities will increase the skills of our volunteer local historians and help them to tell more stories from a broader and more inclusive range of Victorian communities.
Applications open on Thursday 18 January and close on Monday 26 March.
Successful applicants will be announced in June.
For more information visit www.grants.dvc.vic.gov.au, or phone the grants information line on 1300 366 356 (8.30am-10pm, Mon-Fri), for the cost of a local call or speak to Council's Grant Coordinator, Jodi Bjorksten on (03) 5795 2010.
For more information: Marli Kelly on 0409 410 178 [1 February 2007]
For details/interview call the Editor on (03) 5798 1858