Mini-grants boost Lincoln Highway-linked arts programming
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Art and music along the Lincoln Highway are getting a boost, thanks to mini-grants funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Bureau of Recreation and Conservation and administered by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.
Westmoreland Cultural Trust received $675 toward creating an interactive video tour of its Art in the Alley project in downtown Greensburg, along with placing plaques referring to the LHHC in the alley itself.
Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra received $2,400 toward creating a concert highlighting the musical history of the Lincoln Highway.
Projects seeking grants were to align with one of three themes — education, preservation or nature, said Lauren Koker, executive director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. They also needed to promote the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor and serve the public.
“A version of (the video) has been in the works for a while,” said Adam Seifert, the Trust’s manager of corporate and community engagement. “This will add another dimension to the art.”
The project will include creation of QR codes placed at each piece of art. When visitors scan a code, it will link to a video of the featured artist talking about their work.
“The idea is still being built, but it will feature the artists talking about themselves, how they got involved and the history of their work,” Seifert said.
“Part of what we liked about the project was the inclusion of the plaques,” Koker said. “The original Lincoln Highway does run a block from the alley, and the project also promotes the arts.”
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The concert is likely to feature music that was popular in the early 1900s, when the highway was being built, said WSO Executive Director Endy Reindl.
“The building of the highway brought in hotels, dance halls, restaurants and other culturally minded venues, which was not an insignificant thing,” Reindl said. “The prominent dance halls brought in the popular entertainers of the day.
“The Lincoln Highway was the central way that those artists came into Pennsylvania,” he said.
The symphony is looking at a late summer or early fall date for the concert, Reindl said.
“It’s most likely that the concert will happen at the Lincoln Highway Experience (in Unity),” he said. “They have that lovely outdoor space where they have the SupperMarket. I’m envisioning stringing lights in the trees.”
“I’m a huge history nerd, so the idea of music associated with the Lincoln Highway being played along the Lincoln Highway really excites me,” Koker said.