Cherokee Preservation Foundation

Cherokee Preservation Foundation Announces Grants Totaling $114,200
to Support Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources

CHEROKEE, NC, April 3, 2007 – Cherokee Preservation Foundation (CPFdn) announced today that it has awarded four grants totaling $114,200 during its spring cycle to support its Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources (RTCAR) initiative.

The RTCAR initiative is a multi-year grantmaking program whose purpose is to assist the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) as the tribe works to restore the traditional Cherokee balance between maintaining and using natural resources such as river cane, white oak and clay. RTCAR has been undertaken to teach, protect and promote Cherokee traditional art, resources and land care for present and future generations.

CPFdn’s new RTCAR support includes:

A $50,000 grant to establish the Center for Cherokee Plants at the old diary area at Kituwah. The Center for Cherokee Plants will be a facility for growing, propagating, distributing and teaching about plants that are culturally significant to the Cherokee. Besides its role a source for culturally significant plants for artisans, landscaping projects, Tribal members and Tribal agencies, the center will house the Traditional Seeds Project.
A $30,000 grant to establish a Geographic Information System (GIS) database of artisan resources that artists can access for information about locations where there are resources of cultural relevance.
A $19,200 grant to purchase materials and put them in pre-packaged kits for the art classes at the Cultural Summer School conducted by the Cherokee Central School System. The kits will include materials for making white oak baskets, paper mats, beadwork, pottery, quilting, corn shuck dolls and soapstone carvings.
A $15,000 grant to provide the basket weaving classes at Cherokee High School with materials to produce white oak baskets. For eight years, the school has been working with elders in the community to pass their skills and knowledge on to the high school students, and the grant allows the school to continue purchasing materials for the culturally relevant art classes.

About Cherokee Preservation Foundation

Cherokee Preservation Foundation (www.cpfdn.org) was established on November 14, 2000, as part of the Second Amendment to the Tribal-State Compact between the EBCI and the State of North Carolina. It is an independent nonprofit foundation funded by the EBCI from gaming revenues generated by the Tribe. CPFdn is not part of or associated with any for-profit gaming entity. Since CPFdn’s inception in 2000, it has made 375 grants totaling nearly $31 million to EBCI and regional projects and programs that address cultural preservation, economic development and job creation, and environmental renewal and protection. Every dollar of CPFdn support has been matched by $1.38 in secured grants or other funding or in-kind resources, making CPFdn’s total contribution to the region more than $73 million.