State Awards Tourism Grants

The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corp. is one of the recipients. (photo courtesy Visit Indiana)

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The Indiana Office of Tourism Development has awarded nearly $400,000 in Destination Development and Marketing Asset grants to six organizations throughout the state. Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch says the recipients are "committed to enhancing the destination appeal of their local communities."

"The recipients of these Destination Development and Marketing Asset Grants demonstrated need and initiative in the proposals they submitted," said Mark Newman, executive director of the IOTD. "These projects will no doubt aid the recipients’ efforts to market and promote their destinations with greater impact."

The Destination Development grants aim to assist communities showing a need to "make their destination a more desirable place to visit and live," according to the IOTD. The recipients include:

• Pike County Parks and Recreation Department – $228,900 – To build an event center in Prides Creek Park. The center will contain an event space capable of accommodating 350 people and a 40-person meeting room. The proposed center will be within one mile of Interstate 69, making the location very accessible. Currently, Prides Creek Park features a golf course and cross country course.
• Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corp. – $107,000 – To develop an exhibition space at the Whitewater Canal Historic site. The plans included a new exhibit pavilion adjacent to the historic grist mill and will redesign the interior of the mill. The proposal included plans to install a series of outdoor interpretive signs to highlight the historic landscape of Metamora and connect canal landmarks across a 14-mile district.

The Marketing Asset grants are designed to "assist organizations with acquiring assets that aid marketing communication and promotion." The grant recipients include:

• Museum of Miniature Houses & Other Collections, Inc. (Carmel) – $7,386 – To create a mobile responsive website. According to the museum’s visitor log, one out of three patron visits is attributable to an internet search.
• Fayette County – $9,416 – To install new wayfinding signage in downtown Connersville. County representatives said the signage will help direct 40,000 visitors from the White Water Valley Railroad to other tourist attractions in Fayette County.
• Blackford County Economic Development Corp. – $19,850 – For the creation of marketing collateral and aligns with several revitalization projects underway in the county.
• Renew Cannelton, Inc. – $20,000 – To install new historic gateway signage. The sign will replicate the twin towers of the Indiana Cotton Mill, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.