Cortez, Fla. (March 21, 2022) – The Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum has received a $10,000 Community Project Grant from Florida Humanities* with $5,000 in matching funds from the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau: Arts and Culture.
Since its inception in 2012, the Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum mission is to support the Florida Maritime Museum to collect, preserve and share traditional knowledge, cultural artifacts and personal stories of Florida’s fishing and maritime heritage through community outreach, education and financial support. FFMM also helps to bring the Museum’s historical perspective full circle by educating the public on the transformations facing Florida’s present day commercial fishing industries.
The generous grant and matching funds support “Stories from the Gulf Coast Commercial Fishing Industry in Cortez: Environmental Changes,” a multi-dimensional project with a primary focus on oral histories. Commercial fishing industry workers in Cortez, Florida, will be interviewed about the changes in water quality and environmental issues they have witnessed over the years. Included in the project will also be professionally shot video showing segments of the oral history/s, as well as updates and reprinting of the Vanishing Cultures signs around Cortez.
Florida Humanities awards Community Project Grants for up to $10,000 four times a year to cultural organizations to directly support the creation and implementation of engaging humanities-based public programming, such as oral history projects, historical exhibitions, lecture series, community conversations and more.
“Florida Humanities is thrilled to support the Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum in sharing the stories of our maritime history,” said Grants Director Lindsey E. Morrison. “The Sunshine State has a deep tradition in and relationship to the water, and it’s important that we better understand our connectivity to this vital resource.”
In addition, a free event will be held on April 23, 2022 where the public will have the opportunity to have a face-to-face interaction with commercial fishing industry workers. For more information, LIKE Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum on Facebook, FOLLOW the organization on Instagram, or visit FLMaritimeFriends.org.
All aspects of this project will be completed by March 2023.
*Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with Funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
About the Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum: The Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum is a registered 501(c)3 founded in 2012 to support the mission of the Florida Maritime Museum. For more information, visit www.FLMaritimeFriends.org.
About Florida Humanities: Florida Humanities, the statewide, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is dedicated to preserving, promoting, and sharing the history, literature, culture, and personal stories that offer Floridians a better understanding of themselves, their communities, and their state. Since 1973, Florida Humanities has awarded more than $16 million in support of statewide cultural resources and public programs strongly rooted in the humanities. Learn more at www.FloridaHumanities.org.