The Columbia Basin Trust is making history as it establishes a new program, a new partnership and new funding to support the Basin’s heritage values.
The CBT has allocated $6.15 million for a three-year large capital grants program for built heritage and $600,000 for a Heritage Support Program that will see a professional heritage position established in the Basin to support a broad range of heritage organizations.
“This is the first time the Trust has developed a program specifically for the heritage sector,” CBT President and CEO Johnny Strilaeff said in a statement. “It has three components: maintaining an inventory of heritage buildings and assets, the heritage position that will provide guidance and expertise, and the capital grant program.
“We are also creating a new partnership with Heritage BC to help us deliver the program. They are a natural choice. Their expertise will make them an effective delivery partner for our heritage goals.”
With their experience overseeing grants on behalf of the province, Heritage BC can provide program models, advise on criteria, provide adjudication expertise, and oversee the heritage position. This will be their first position outside of Victoria and the Lower Mainland. The heritage position will spearhead efforts to build local organizational capacity for heritage in the Basin.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity for heritage, and with this investment Columbia Basin Trust sets a new standard for heritage conservation in our province,” Gord Macdonald, chairman of Heritage BC, aid in the statement. “The Trust clearly understands the significance of heritage for BC communities, and we are very pleased to be partnered with them as part of this initiative.”
Last year, the Trust identified 155 heritage assets in an inventory of the Basin’s heritage buildings based on historical, aesthetic, architectural, cultural, social, spiritual and scientific significance. Updating and maintaining the inventory will be part of the support program. See it here: ourtrust.org/heritagereport.
“The Heritage Federation of Southeastern BC (HFSEBC) commends the Trust for their recent decision to provide funds for the conservation of heritage assets in the Basin,” said Laurie Charlton, President of HFSEBC.
“The Basin is well known for its wide variety of historic buildings, and it will be exciting to see such properties preserved for future generations. It is by honouring the legacies left by those who came before us that we may enjoy them today and into the future.”
The Trust and Heritage BC will finalize the details of the new partnership this spring and anticipate the heritage position will begin later this year. The first intake for the grant program will follow.
Heritage BC is a charitable not-for-profit supporting heritage conservation through education, training and skills development, capacity building in heritage planning and funding through the Heritage Legacy Fund. They are focused on building links between heritage conservation and tourism, economic and environmental sustainability, community pride and an appreciation of our common history.
Supporting the heritage sector is one of the 13 strategic priorities in the Columbia Basin Management Plan.
Columbia Basin Trust supports the ideas and efforts of the people in the Columbia Basin. To learn more about the Trust’s programs and initiatives, and how it helps deliver social, economic and environmental benefits to the Basin, visit ourtrust.org or call 1-800-505-8998.
