This Giving Tuesday our workforce development program The Campaign for Historic Trades is raising funds to help young adults with cost of living expenses during their 12-26 week terms with the carpentry, woodcrafting, & masonry teams at the Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick, Md.
Groundbreaking decision provides cohesive framework to enter careers in historic trades
BALTIMORE (November 14, 2023) – The Campaign for Historic Trades, a national workforce development program, powered by Preservation Maryland, that is focused on expanding and strengthening careers in the historic trades, today announced the Maryland Department of Labor approved its first-of-its-kind group apprenticeship program for state registration. The program sets standards – including on-the-job learning, related instruction, and core competencies – that provide a clear process for entering the workforce in roles like deconstruction technician, historic window technician, and preservation carpenter.
Funding from The National Park Service, part of $10 million awarded from the Semiquincentennial Grant Program commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States
Preservation Maryland today announced it has been awarded $747,216 in funding from the National Park Service to preserve the historic Rock Run Mill, a contributing resource to the Lower Deer Creek Valley National Historic District, located within Susquehanna State Park in Havre De Grace, Maryland.
We recently learned about a cool adaptive reuse project underway in historic downtown Frederick. Sky Stage is scheduled to open in September. It will temporarily transform a boarded-up historic building into an open-air theater that will host arts and cultural programming including drama, music, children’s story time, art classes, folklore, history, naturalists, yoga classes, environmental education, and film.
Sky Stage, the art installation, will occupy the former home of the General Engineering Company at 59 S. Carroll Street right near the Delaplaine Visual Arts Center. The building was built in several phases beginning in the 18th-century and at one point served as a gunlock factory that manufactured firearm parts during the American Revolution. The building was badly damaged in a 2010 fire and left without a roof or a certain future. Now, the General Engineering Company has generously donated the use of the space to Sky Stage through their non-profit benefactor Frederick Arts Council, bringing a brand new idea and experience to the ruins.
In addition to the arts and cultural activities, Sky Space will host a novel digitally-designed sculpture by artist Heather Clark, with help from MIT’s digital structures research group. The sculpture consists of “ribbons of drought-resistant plants that will twist and wind through a wooden lattice structure” and juxtaposes the historic, hand-built walls with the modern, digitally designed sculpture.
Sky Stage is a community-driven project and is looking for ideas for creative programming to host at the space and help from volunteers to make this space come to life.