The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership has announced an award of $10,000 to the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville for a mobile website, enhancements to a backstage green room and new exhibits for visitors.

The center offers a summer music series, “An Appalachian Evening,” along with year-round programming in music, craft and foodways. This project is designed to further promote the center’s music programs through the creation of a new mobile website that will host videos of live performances, interviews with musicians and audience reviews.  

Funded by federal dollars, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership helps support diverse initiatives across the North Carolina mountains and foothills, focusing on craft, music, natural heritage, Cherokee traditions and the region’s legacy in agriculture. These five facets of the region’s heritage earned the 25 counties of Western North Carolina a Congressional designation as the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area in 2003. This program is an effort by the North Carolina Arts Council and Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership to enhance many aspects of the traditional music industry in the region, and in so doing strengthen its economic impact on communities region-wide.