NEWS FROM FOUR RIVERS
October 20, 2020
A Special Appeal to Our Stakeholders
Please help us get the word out -- share with colleagues and friends!

For the first time, under the direction of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA), our state funding partner, we are offering Emergency Operating Assistance to our partner organizations as part of our annual Mini-Grants program. The amount of funding available ($25,000) is based on a budget planned before the pandemic, and our funds won’t go far. That’s why we are asking you to consider a timely donation to our FY2021 Mini-Grant Fund.

Read more about our Special Fall 2020 Appeal to our stakeholders:
Thanks!
Check Out Our Recent Blog Posts!
During this time of curtailed activities due to COVID-19, we have been collecting online resources that readers can use while they practice social distancing in the home. If you haven’t been to our website recently, here are some posts you may have missed.

We will continue to gather resources to keep you informed and to keep all of us connected!





TODAY - Earth Optimism Webinar: Spying on Whales
Tuesday, October 20
7:00-8:00 pm
Organization: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 

We think of whales as icons of the sea, but the first whales were certainly not like the ones that you see today: They lived on land, had four legs, and were the size of a dog. How do we know about the deep past of whales, and what does that tell us about how evolution works? In the finale of SERC’s 2020 Earth Optimism series, get a closer look with Nick Pyenson, author of “Spying on Whales” and curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Dive in for the surprising backstory and a glimpse of our shared future with these enigmatic giants. The talk will span the poles to the equator; ice-locked waters to dry deserts; from millions of years in the past to our uncertain future.

Webinar: Thinking About Post-War Communities: Balancing Preservation & Good Planning
Thursday, October 22
2:30 – 3:30 pm
Preservation Maryland

America’s post-war communities are also now historic communities. What are the challenges in adapting these car-focused communities to a greener future? This session will challenge participants to examine these communities including an examination of the issues that arise when juggling their unique histories and layouts with more modern planning goals. This event is free to attend.

Colonial Cocktails: Lamb’s Wool and Hot Buttered Rum
Thursday, October 22
6:30 – 7:30 pm
Historic London Town House and Gardens
839 Londontown Road, Edgewater

From punches to bounces, syllabubs to juleps, colonists imbibed a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. At Colonial Cocktails, you’ll get to make and enjoy two historical drinks and learn about colonial tavern culture. In this session, you’ll whip up some fall favorites: Lamb’s Wool and Hot Buttered Rum, two warm drinks sure to keep you toasty as the leaves start to fall.

Participants must be 21+. For the safety of participants and staff, this event will be held outside with appropriate distancing, group sizes, and cleaning in accordance with CDC and local guidance.

Pre-Registration is required. Cost to attend is $25 for Members and $30 for Non-Members.
The Power of the Black Vote: Annual Symposium
Saturday, October 24
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Organization: Banneker-Douglass Museum

Join historians, artists, and educators to explore the history of African Americans and the vote in the State of Maryland.

This virtual experience includes:

  • A virtual tour of The Black Vote Mural Project
  • "We the People" Presentation by Cheryl McLeod, MCAAHC
  • Anti-Racism PSA
  • Educational Workshops
  • Interview with Eddie Brown, Brown Capital Management, "Black Economics and the Vote"
  • "The Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Battle for the Black Vote," by Lopez Mathews, MCAAHC and Howard University
  • Keynote Message by Dr. Ida E. Jones, Morgan State University
  • Musical Performances, and much more...

St. Anne’s Cemetery Tour
Saturday, October 24
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Organization: Hammond-Harwood House

Meet at the St. Anne’s Cemetery entrance, between Northwest Street and College Creek

Did you know that several of the Hammond-Harwood House’s former occupants are buried in St. Anne’s cemetery? On this interactive cemetery tour, visitors will discover the fascinating lives of the men and women who called the great house home. Stories of love, tragedy, and insanity will be unearthed in this hour long tour through the winding hills of the burying ground.

Participants will receive a half hour admission ticket to the Hammond-Harwood House Museum. Tour begins at the cemetery entrance, between Northwest Street and College Creek. 20% of the profits go towards preservation of St. Anne’s Cemetery.

Webinar: Tips for Writing Year-End Appeals
Tuesday, October 20
1:00 pm
Organization: Network for Good

End-of-Year fundraising is a chance to raise up to 50% of your annual budget.

Are you prepared to make the most of it? Panicking to write a winning appeal that inspires your donors to give generously?

Rachel Muir, CFRE is here to help! She’ll show you the most important parts of money-raising appeals and give you time-saving tips to help you prepare.

On Display Virtually at the Mitchell Gallery: “Toussaint L’Ouverture” series by Jacob Lawrence
On display in online gallery: October 7–November 17

This collection of prints is based on 41 tempera paintings from a series by the same name completed in 1938. Lawrence received his inspiration from C.L.R. James’ book, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (1938), a widely acclaimed history of the Haitian Revolution regarded as a seminal text in the study of the African diaspora.

Toussaint L’Ouverture was the commander-in-chief of the Haitian army who led the slave rebellion into a revolutionary movement against Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1800 L’Ouverture helped draw up Haiti’s first democratic constitution, but he was arrested by Napoleon’s troops and sent to Paris, where he died in prison in 1803. L’Ouverture is known as the “Father of Haiti.”

The works are on loan courtesy of the collection of Alitash Kebede of Los Angeles, CA. The exhibition and museum tour are organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles, CA.

Registration Open for the 2020 Architectural Fieldwork Symposium
Registration is now open for the Maryland Historical Trust's 2020 Architectural Fieldwork Symposium, which will be held virtually on October 29 and 30, from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm each day.

This event is free to attend, but pre-registration is required. Please register for each day that you wish to attend to ensure that you have a space reserved!

Architectural fieldwork and survey are the foundation of all preservation activities, and this annual event brings together field surveyors, architectural historians, preservation planners, and related practitioners from across the state to discuss recent projects, themes, and methodology.
MSAC 2020-21 Call for Judges/Coaches
MSAC relies on a diverse array of experts from across the state of Maryland to do the important work of supporting students, parents, and educators through the Poetry Out Loud competition. MSAC selects pre-regional, regional, and state judges and coaches with a focus on diversity of experiences, diversity of location, and expertise in supporting students throughout all levels of the competition. In particular, MSAC seeks theater artists, educators, professors, arts journalists, writers, actors, librarians, slam poets, and general poetry lovers as Poetry Out Loud judges and coaches. Judges and coaches must be Maryland residents. 
 
Selected judges and coaches serve a one-year term. Judges and coaches receive modest compensation for their service.
 
What does a judge or coach do? Selected judges and coaches: 
  • Attend orientation conference call(s) with MSAC Arts in Education Staff.
  • Judges digitally review video submissions at the pre-regional, regional, and/or state level.
  • Coaches attend four (4) rehearsal hours in December 2020.
 

Deadline: Monday, November 2 at 11:59 p.m.
Applications Open for 2021 Keep Maryland Beautiful Grants
The Forever Maryland Foundation in partnership with the Maryland Environmental Trust, a unit of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, is now accepting applications for the Keep Maryland Beautiful grants program.

Four different grants are being offered to help volunteer and nonprofit groups, communities, and land trusts support environmental education projects, litter removal, citizen stewardship, and solve natural resource issues in urban and rural areas. The deadline to apply for funding is Nov. 12, 2020. Awards will be announced in spring 2021.

The Keep Maryland Beautiful grants will be offered in two categories: Environmental Education, Community Initiatives, and Cleanups for community groups, local governments, and nonprofits; and Land Trust Capacity, Excellence, and Stewardship for local land trusts.
Open for Applications! Anne Arundel Arts and Cultural Resources Grant FY2021
The Arts Council of Anne Arundel County is pleased to again partner with the Anne Arundel County Office of Planning and Zoning Cultural Resources Division, which protects the County’s historic sites, buildings, archaeological sites and landscapes, to offer a FY2021 grant funding opportunity, the Anne Arundel Arts and Cultural Resources Grant FY2021.

These grants provide funding of up to $2,500 for public programming that utilizes heritage resources in Anne Arundel County in a new or innovative way; increases public access to historic sites; or improves or enhances how the public engages with heritage resources.

Preference will be given to complete applications submitted by smaller, new, or developing archaeological, historic, cultural, and historic preservation organizations. The grant application period will be open from October 5-30, 2020. Grant awards will be announced by December 9, 2020.
Four Rivers Heritage Area | 410-222-1805 | heritage_area@aacounty.org | fourriversheritage.org