Blue Ridge National Heritage Area

Grants:Several Grant projects were completed: The Lost Province Center for the Cultural Arts completed a market analysis and feasibility study to assess the potential for a proposed Appalachian Arts Center at the Historic Lansing School in Ashe County. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians completed a master plan for a tribal eagle aviary in Macon County that will protect rescued birds, provide shed feathers for ceremonial use and other educational activities. Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM) completed its Jagged Path: The African Diaspora in Western North Carolina in Craft, Music, and Dance. This exhibit illuminated the obscured history of African contributions to craft, music, and dance in Western North Carolina. The Nikwasi Initiative completed interpretive signage and hosted a ceremony and guided walk through the Barbara McRae Cherokee Apple Trail in fall of 2022. The mini orchards consist of diverse varieties of Cherokee heritage apples along the Little Tennessee Greenway in Franklin. Madison County Arts Council completed final renovations and repairs to its music classroom and gallery space at the Madison County Arts Center in downtown Marshall.

Blue Ridge Music Trails: BRNHA continued to promote the mountain music of Western North Carolina as a cultural preservation and small-town economic development tool. We completed this through regional podcasts played on public radio stations, website, regional events, digital marketing, a print and online magazine, BRNHA's Blue Ridge Music Trails website, BlueRidgeMusicNC.com, had 108,962 users generating 131,776 sessions and 221,235 page views. We promoted 227 venues and 365 events on our website and social media account. The Fine Tuned Concert Series presented three concerts made up of performers from the Fine Tuned project. Shows took place in Elkin, Franklin, and Mars Hill, showcasing a variety of groups who went through the Fine Tuned process and recorded for Fine Tuned: Volume One. The three events featured 13 artists and in total drew more than 400 attendees. We also filmed and photographed musicians participating in the Blue Ridge Music Trails' new Fine-Tuned program. These digital assets were used in media coverage, the Blue Ridge Music Trails website (BlueRidgeMusicNC.com), and social media.

Blue Ridge Craft Trails: BRNHA offered a series of training workshops for creative entrepreneurs in partnership with the Mountain BizWorks Craft Your Commerce program. Seven workshops were tailored specifically to the needs of Blue Ridge Craft Trails artists. We developed and launched the first Blue Ridge Craft Trails Partner quarterly e-newsletter, which was sent to 461 craft artists, galleries, cultural organizations, and community partners with an average open rate of 55%. This newsletter focuses on news, opportunities, and upcoming events for BRCT artists. We developed and launched the first Blue Ridge Craft Trails Visitor monthly e-newsletter, which was distributed to 796 subscribers and had an open rate of 59%. By September 2023, the newsletter had 2,095 subscribers and had open rates of 60%, 53% and 51% for the months of July, August, and September. We continued working on a Resource Page that lists opportunities, resources, and professional services for our craft partners, which was near completion at the end of FY23. We updated our BRCT Holiday Gift Guide on the BRCT website, bringing the number of artists highlighted for the holidays to 29 this year. We contracted with a local videographer/photographer, Bob Peck of MountainWater Films, to film and photograph craft artists on the Blue Ridge Craft Trails in several Western NC counties with funds from tourism development authorities' marketing partnerships. We used the images and video for social media, the BRNHA website, and TV coverage. BRNHA continued to build out the Blue Ridge Craft Trails initiative that is being implemented across 25 Western North Carolina counties. The purpose of the Blue Ridge Craft Trails is to strengthen the craft sector of the Western North Carolina economy by creating a coordinated and compelling regional craft brand and trail infrastructure to guide tourists to craft artists and galleries and promote Western NC small towns. We established a program of traveling exhibits for three exhibitions. Each panel exhibit was hosted at three separate locations throughout the year. The Smoky Mountain Sampler Craft, The Find Craft in the Far West Exhibit, and the High Country to Yadkin Valley Exhibit were on display at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center in Asheville. These exhibits were viewed by 3,285 visitors.

Marketing and Public Awareness: BRNHA continued to market Western North Carolina as a destination for heritage tourism through a destination marketing website, regional brand advertising, visitor brochure publication and distribution, visitor e-newsletters, social media, and public presentations. We actively maintained and enhanced the BRNHA website, Facebook, and Instagram pages that promote visitation to the region and celebrate our heritage sites and tradition bearers. BRNHA website had 304,301users generating 376,008 sessions and 609,952 page views. Working with a local marketing firm, we continued to use free digital advertising through a Google Grant to direct search engine traffic to the BRNHA website. With a dedicated focus on social media, the number of followers on the BRNHA Facebook page was 12K, and Instagram had 4,023 Instagram followers. We published 3 BRNHA partner e-newsletters (5,467 subscribers), 6 BRNHA visitor e-newsletters (18,950 subscribers), 22 In Tune (Blue Ridge Music Trails) e-newsletters (15,766 subscribers). We generated media coverage about the BRNHA organization and its programs-the Blue Ridge Craft Trails and the Blue Ridge Music Trails-in international, national, regional, and local newspapers, magazines, TV outlets, eblasts, websites, blogs, through 36 pieces of coverage garnering 694K views. We continued distributing the Blue Ridge Music Trails map brochure, the Blue Ridge Craft Trails rack card, and the Blue Ridge Craft Trails Far West map brochure through commercial services across Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia, and at regional and statewide North Carolina Visitor Centers. BRNHA promoted visitation to the WNC region, the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, Blue Ridge Music Trails sites, and Blue Ridge Craft Trails sites through a variety of paid advertising. Tauck Tours remained an important and dedicated partner to the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area. Programs were provided to 12 motorcoach groups. We continued to support the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) Visitor Center by maintaining information racks, answering calls, providing travel-planning support to visitors and group tour planners, and supporting daily operations. More than 122,000 visitors were served. There were 183 boxes of BRNHA materials packed, mailed out, or personally delivered. and 54 packets of tourism information mailed to individuals. BRNHA continued a partnership with Asheville Outlets, for an unstaffed area for visitor information for attractions and distinct locations throughout Western North Carolina, with 20 travel partners participating. BRNHA assumed publication of two local/regional maps that are the most widely used area maps for Western North Carolina. Capacity:Thanks to several grant funds, BRNHA undertook a strategic planning process that will be completed next year.