Funding ensures Guam's culture lives on

The Guam Preservation Trust has awarded $63,537.80 in grant funding to three community organizations, supporting efforts to preserve and promote Guam’s historic and cultural resources.

The Guam Preservation Trust is continuing its mission to protect the island’s heritage, awarding funding  to three community-based projects this year. "The Guam Preservation Trust board is excited because we received seven proposal, grant proposals," explained Joe Quinata. "And we went through a review process; and all of the seven, three of them got approved."

"One of them was approved but sent to a different committee that went through...it wasn’t a grant it would have to be an architectural community. We also had two proposals that were tabled and referred to staff to work closely with the applicants to strengthen their proposals."

Officials say selecting the final projects involved a detailed process designed to ensure fairness and thorough review. You can go check out on more information at their site online www.guampreservationtrust.org.

Quinata said, "It is a six-step process from start to the notice action whatever action the board gave"

Beginning with the application, where it must be completed with supporting documents. "The Guam Preservation staff reviews the application for review by the grant company... It gets referred to the grants committee for review and recommendation, and then it gets placed back into the agenda and then the board based on the recommendations from the committee in which the board makes of that in taking that action."

Quinata says projects are evaluated based on their impact, capacity, and alignment with the trust’s long-term mission. "The committee looks at a few of the application to begin with it gives you the criteria for the evaluation and review of your grants."

Among the projects selected—the Piti community’s first-ever sea festival, focused on reviving traditional practices."It's a very, very innovative,very interesting festival because its not just a carnival kind of festival. This festival really looks at hands on traditional fishing, hands on seafaring," he explained. "The venue of this is going to be at the shoreside of Piti at the park and also at the park is the canoe so your going to have a demonstration of the canoe house house demonstrations along the shore on how to throw a talasaor how to sew or mend a fishing net."

The festival is scheduled for April 18th and 19th, with more details available through the piti mayor’s office. Another project, I Sengsong with PBS Guam, focuses on education through storytelling for younger audiences.

He said, "It's a children production.and its going to provide four episodes...talking about the different and historic places onguam, producing it with children in mind so that it becomes are source for our teachers in the classroom."

The third project stood out for its scale and long-term potential. "The other grant is by Brian Muna (Malia Halom: Perserving the Tradition of the Talaya_," he said. "It's a really ambitious grant because it deals with video production that deals with so many different parts to this."

He adds that what makes these projects stand out is their community-driven approach, saying, "They’re all unique because they come from the community...it’s not a cookie-cutter its their idea. We want to provide them the support they need for them to realize that idea to a good innovative way for them to our heritage."

Beyond grant funding, the trust continues to work closely with the community throughout the year.

And for those interested inhistoric preservation, Quinata said, "Guam Preservation Trust’s vision is that everyone is responsible for historic preservation and they are responsbile through education, through cooperation, and advocacy. And so, all leading to our preserving our heritage. We’ve been working with a lot of folks. Whether they be from the medical community, working with the mayors, and the village community, working with the scholars at the University of Guam. We want to work with as many people as we can so that we could advance historic preservation Guam."

The Guam Preservation Trust encourages community members and organizations to apply for future grant opportunities and take part in preserving Guam’s heritage.