PRESS RELEASE

August 31, 2022, Hope, Arkansas– The National Park Service (NPS), in partnership with Jefferson National Parks Association (JNPA), announced the award of $17, 775.00 in grant money for Klipsch Heritage Museum Association’s Full STEAM Ahead Project.   

“These grant funds will allow us to completely transform the backyard at the KHMA Visitors Center located at 403 W Division Street in downtown Hope. This project focuses on the arts in that an outdoor stage will provide listeners with a full, audio experience utilizing Klipsch speakers. The funds will also allow us to replace the steppingstones with new sod as well as add seating throughout the backyard. One additional aspect to the backyard transformation will be a whimsical, music feature for the young and young at heart,” stated Beckie Moore, Executive Director of Klipsch Heritage Museum Association.

“We are pleased to partner with the National Park Service in ensuring that communities throughout the Lower Mississippi Delta region have an opportunity to preserve and promote the culture and heritage of this vibrant region,” said David A. Grove, President and CEO of JNPA. As the co-administrator of the program, JNPA is responsible for managing the online application process and distributing grant funding to recipients. 

The LMDI grants fund a variety of projects from building studies and museum exhibits to music heritage and cultural programming. This year’s grants will support projects such as the stabilization of the Indianola Freedom House, significant for its connection to Freedom Summer of 1964 and registering African Americans of the Mississippi Delta to vote; the No Tears Project outreach program, which connects the legacy of civil rights heritage in Jackson, Mississippi; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Memphis, Tennessee using music and conversation; and in Lafayette, Louisiana funds will be used to help efforts to inclusively share the stories, culture and ongoing struggle for sovereignty of the area’s indigenous people.

Established in 1994, the Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative has provided more than $3 million in grants to organizations exempt from federal income tax, such as non-profit organizations, tribal groups, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and state and local governments.  Learn more about the LMDI grant program, including geographic parameters and how to apply for future grants on the program website: https://www.nps.gov/locations/lowermsdeltaregion/what-we-do.htm