The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona is launching a new program to support Route 66 in Arizona. The Association is partnering with the Arizona Community Foundation to award grants to non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and local, state, and tribal government agencies. The Route 66 Arizona grant seeks applicants who support the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona’s mission to preserve, promote, or protect Route 66 in Arizona. They will also consider projects that focus on planning, education and research projects. The Association receives revenue annually from the Arizona Route 66 license plate they launched in December 2016. A fiscally transparent constant program that supports Route 66 in Arizona was needed to properly distribute/inject the funds back into the Route 66 community. The Association has supported several projects organized by non-profit organizations with the license plate revenue including the repainting of the mural at Standin’ On The Corner Park in Winslow, the renovation of an exhibit space in the Arizona Route 66 Museum in Kingman, stencils and paint for shields in the road in Parks, a donation for paint and stucco work at the Painted Desert Trading Post, and the creation of an endowment at NAU’s Cline Library where the state’s Route 66 archives are collected and housed. Together, over $80,000 has been contributed to these initiatives. The development of a program of this scale has been tedious and time consuming, but the Association is passionate about responsibly supporting their favorite road. “We feel the timing of the launch will be impactful. We know organizations and governments have had to make difficult decisions to cut budgets and put off projects. We want to help fill the gaps.” Said Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations at the Association. The grant application will be posted on the Arizona Community Foundation’s website starting August 3rd, 2020. Interested organizations can submit their applications through September 7th at 5 p.m. All applications and supporting materials will be collected by the Arizona Community Foundation, who will also be available for questions or assistance navigating the application process. Proposals will be accepted for minimum budgets of $1,000 and up to a maximum of $25,000. This will be the first grant cycle of what the Association plans on granting annually. Grant awards will be announced in November 2020. “We are so excited to finally share this good news and see the creativity of the Route 66 Arizona community in growing and preserving our state treasure.” said Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations at the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. To view the grant application, visit the Arizona Community Foundation’s website at www.azfoundation.org/grants. Questions about the application process? Please contact grants@azfoundation.org. The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona was founded in 1987 with the goal of restarting the Arizona Route 66 economy. It’s first accomplishment was designating Route 66 historic from Seligman to Kingman. Now, more than 32 years later, the Association is still working to preserve, promote, and protect Route 66 in Arizona. The Parks Area Connection (PAC), a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, working in the small town of Parks, Arizona to promote community activities and assist in emergency situations is proud of their Route 66 history. They were looking to increase community and visitor awareness of the historic nature of their town. Last year, PAC borrowed a stencil from the Winslow Chamber of Commerce to paint 3 Route 66 shields around town. Babs Felix, Chairperson of PAC, said, “ It became an emblem of town pride and an instant tourist attraction. We noted people stopping at the pavement markings to take photos, then picnic nearby.” The enthusiasm surrounding their new community addition prompted them to purchase their own stencil to keep pavement markings fresh in the coming years. PAC approached the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona to help pay for the custom stencil and supplies. The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona was enthusiastic about supporting the project. Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations for the Association said, “our community grants were created for exact this purpose, we saw a need for Route 66 enhancements just like this.” The roads were freshly painted with their new shields the last weekend in April. Babs Felix, chairperson for PAC said, “We had a blast painting for the community.” The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona is developing a new art space in the Arizona Route 66 Museum at the Powerhouse Visitor Center in Kingman. The exhibit space will feature Route 66 art on an annual rotating basis. The first exhibit will feature the work of Bob Waldmire. As a former member of the Association, and previous owner of a Route 66 Arizona business, the Hackberry General Store, the Association was eager to honor Bob for his contributions to Route 66 Arizona by exhibiting his works in the inaugural show.
The space was previously a Reading Room housing the Association’s documents, photos, and poster collection from the past 30 years. Visitors and journalists were welcome to look through our history or use records for their articles or projects. Over the last two years the Northern Arizona University’s Cline Library collected all of the Association’s historical records and transported them to Flagstaff for archiving and safe keeping. The Reading room was empty and needed some repairs. The Association knew the space needed a new purpose. A rotating art exhibit that focused on Route 66, felt like a great addition to the Route 66 Museum’s current displays. It will add to the visitor experience and allow the Association to honor artists who are as passionate about Route 66 as we are. The Association donated $10,000 to the Mohave County Historical Society to cover repair and supply costs to repurpose the room. The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona is excited to partner with the Mohave County Historical Society to advance our shared goals of preserving and promoting the history of Route 66 in the State of Arizona and Mohave County. The exhibit will open to the public on Saturday, March 14th at 9 a.m. and run through January 2021. Entrance to the Route 66 Museum is $4 per person. The ticket is good for admission to two other Kingman attractions, the Mohave Museum and the Bonelli House. |