Wyck historic site receives $148K national grant

Wyck Historic House, Garden and Farm officials hope a recently awarded federal grant will help bolster the small organization’s visibility in Germantown and beyond.

Late last month, the Institute of Museum and Library Science, an “independent U.S. federal agency supporting museums and libraries of all types,” awarded Wyck with a two-year, $148,643 matching grant.

Wyck‘s development and communications manager, Kristin Hagar, deemed it both an honor and a huge vote of confidence.

“Our initial reaction was a mixture of absolute joy and relief because it’s a constant struggle to try to secure funding from either governmental or philanthropic organizations,” said Hagar.

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“It’s all the more challenging when you are an ambitious organization trying to do more each year to become more of a vital resource to the community,” she continued. “It was a huge relief to know that a bit of the pressure has come up.”

Their plans

In addition to bolstering marketing initiatives and relationships with local organizations, the grant will be used to expand existing programs and add new ones.

For five years, Wyck’s youth educational program has provided local students with hands-on agricultural and environmental experiences in the home farm that has been on the property since the 18th century. Also of interest is supplementing the “Second Saturday Festival” which started in July and continues Sept. 8.

“We have a lot of people who have been interested and supportive of Wyck and that is extremely important to us,” Hagar said, “but we know there are so many other people in our immediate Germantown community who we believe could really get into Wyck and get excited about the work we are doing.”

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