In December the latest round of Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) awards for 2018 were announced. The event popularly referred to as “Hunger Games” distributes funds to the different regions of the state by category. In this blog, the awards from I LOVE NY are listed in alphabetical order by region and by county within region. The Market New York pool is capped at $15 million. It is defined as follows:

Market New York is a grant program established to strengthen tourism and attract visitors to New York State by promoting destinations, attractions and special events. Funding is available for tourism marketing initiatives, capital/construction projects and the recruitment and/or execution of special events, including meetings, conferences, conventions, festivals, agritourism/craft beverage events, athletic competitions and consumer and industry trade shows.

As always, there is no mention of the Path through History. It is possible that there was a Path-related proposal that simply did not win. As it turns out there is scarcely any mention of history either in any fashion. So despite everything you may hear about New York’s history from government officials, when it comes to putting their money where their mouth is, forgetaboutit. On the other, how many history-based applications were submitted in this category? On the other other hand, how many regions support and promote history-related applications anyway. By now, how many history organizations have given up on the REDC process?

Each award includes the applicant, both government and private, the project title, the project description, and the amount of the award. Not all counties had a recipient.

NOTE – THIS IS A LONG POST

CAPITAL REGION
Albany
Albany County
Times Union Center Capital Improvements
Albany County will undertake a tourism capital project of the Times Union Center. The project will involve upgrades of seating replacement, locker room renovations and LED expansion to stay competitive in entertainment industry, and continue offering a vast variety of community events.
$995,000

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Hudson Valley Esports Invitational and Expo
The Hudson Valley Esports Invitational and Expo will make the Capital Region a national destination for up-and-coming professional gamers and solidify the region as a video-gaming hub for developers and players alike.
$152,168

Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady
Albany Symphony Speak Up Festival
The Albany Symphony will present a major national music festival, “Sing Out, Justice!”, and a regional tour of free, outdoor concerts in an uplifting celebration of the Stonewall uprising, 2019 World Pride, and the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The festival will amplify the larger story of New York’s leading role in championing civil liberties from the 19th century to the present.
$250,000

Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady
GymRat Basketball LLC
GymRat CHALLENGE Sporting Event
GymRat Basketball will use this working capital grant to drive tourism to the GymRat CHALLENGE, by attracting basketball teams, athletes and visitors from outside of New York State to the Capital Region while simultaneously raising awareness of the Capital Region as a major sports event destination.
$211,420

Columbia
Basilica Hudson Destination
Expanded Basilica Hudson
Destination Basilica Hudson will host and promote over 35 culutural [sic] programs and events to attract new and repeat visitors, from downstate and beyond NYS, to continue to build interest and visibility for Hudson and the Hudson Valley for visitors from near and far.
$58,500

South Front Street
Holdings LLC Red Barn Hudson
South Front Street Holdings LLC will create a new destination, RED BARN HUDSON a year round Farm & Flea marketplace, a full-service restaurant + grab & go cafe, a new destination for the Mid-Hudson Region. Showcasing and celebrating the abundant talent of the Hudson Valley, and serving as a gateway to the region, it will be a dynamic, active, year-round creative hub and marketplace.
$420,860

Saratoga
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Performing Arts Center Multi-Media Marketing Campaign
Saratoga Performing Arts Center will increase cultural tourism to Saratoga Springs and the Captial [sic] Distriction [sic] overall, by creating and executing an integrated marketing campaign (TV, Digital/Social, Print, Outdoor) by promoting it as a world class arts and culture destination to travel decision makers in suburban communities.
$195,000

CENTRAL NEW YORK REGION
Cayuga
City of Auburn
NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center Marketing Plan
The City of Auburn will develop and implement new branding, marketing and destination events for the new NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center in Auburn. The Center is a heritage-tourism promotion center that communicates the pioneering role that the State has played in the ongoing quest for Equal Rights and acts as a visitor launching pad for visitors to discover Equal Rights attractions throughout New York State.
$150,000

Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego
CNY Arts, Inc. Arts Marketing Campaign 2019
CNY Arts will market Central New York’s array of arts, culture, and heritage activities as a strong opportunity for tourists visiting friends and family to create meaningful memories. These funds will be used to support this region’s arts and entertainment collaborative marketing platform that showcases CNY’s arts, entertainment, and cultural events..
$150,000

Onondaga
New York State Rhythm and Blues Festival Inc
27th New York State Blues Festival
The New York State Rhythm and Blues Festival, Inc. will come alive in June 2019 when local, regional and national blues acts come together for our 27th NY State Blues Festival in Downtown Syracuse. In a real spirit of “community”, volunteers and local/regional companies provide support, offering fans who travel from out of the area a unique travel destination with a weekend full of amazing music.
$50,000

FINGER LAKES REGION
Monroe
Genesee Country Village & Museum
Genesee Country Village & Museum Agritourism Marketing
Genesee Country Village & Museum will use the grant funds to increase targeted tourism marketing efforts throughout the Northeast U.S., Canada and select other countries as well as further promote and expand visitor engagement opportunities at three core agritourism programs. These efforts will grow the number of non-local visitors to the site and the Finger Lakes region, producing a broad economic impact.
$71,115

Rochester Fringe Festival
Downtown Community Interactive Arts Experience
The Rochester Fringe Festival will host and promote the U.S. Premiere of “PEARL” by Plasticiens Volants, a world-renowned company of artists who will tell a spectacular story using giant inflated puppets, unfolding along city streets and culminating in a finale in the heart of Downtown. Rochester Fringe Festival will bring interactive community performing arts to downtown Rochester.
$144,788

Rochester Fringe Festival Inc.
Downtown Community Interactive Arts Experience
The Rochester Fringe Festival will bring to downtown Rochester two world-class shows created especially for the city, which willl [sic] feature unique settings and local history.
Arts ACIP $28,800
THIS IS NOT AN I LOVENY AWAR BUT IT DOES MENTION LOCAL HISTORY

Rochester Museum &Science Center
Strasenburgh Planetarium Star Projector
The Rochester Museum and Science Center will use grant funds to purchase a new star projector for the Strasenburgh Planetarium renovation.
$200,000

Special Touch Bakery Inc.
Special Touch Bakery Expansion and Outreach
Special Touch Bakery will increase its marketing for their NYS made products and inspire visitation with a feature guideded [sic] factory tour. Additionally, the grant funds will be used co-promote events with regional food and beverage partners further increasing awareness of New York’s Finger Lakes region.
$107,000

Visit Rochester
Family Market Tourism Campaign Continuation
Visit Rochester will produce a major tourism program to attract families to the Rochester area is expanding this spring. The program, titled “Bring The Family. Closer.” is projected to attract 4,000 families to the Finger Lakes Region over the next two years.
$150,000

Ontario
New York Kitchen
New York Kitchen Campus Development
New York Kitchen will use the funds to support needed facility improvements and a new agritourism marketing program both of which will increase visitation to this tourism destination and the overall Finger Lakes Region.
$365,235

LONG ISLAND REGION
Nassau
Tough Mudder Inc.
Tough Mudder Long Island 2019
Tough Mudder Inc. will use grant funds to support the production and operations of the “Tough Mudder Long Island” sporting event, an 8-10 mile obstacle course designed to test participants strength, stamina, teamwork, and mental grit and increasing visitation to the Long Island region.
$67,000

World Surf League
New York Professional Surfing Competition
The World Surf League will use grant funds to promote Long Island and New York State to fans and viewers worldwide, highlighting the region as a world-class family surfing and coastal destination by launching a landmark professional surfing competition.
$254,240

Nassau, Suffolk
Discover Long Island
Discover Long Island (DLI) International Marketing Initiative
Discover Long Island will be expanding its cooperative partnership with NYC & Co. in Canada and Australia and continuing its promotional efforts in Germany and the United Kingdom. The campaigns will include digital marketing, collateral development, trade show participation and in-market professional contracts and events.
$300,000

Nassau, Suffolk
LGBT Network Pride on the Beach 2019
LGBT Network will use grant funds to leverage a tourism surge from World Pride, Stonewall 50 through the coordination and marketing of World Pride Long Island, a weeklong series of attractions including its Pride on the Beach weekend & new Pride Week activities. A digital domestic marketing and advertising effort promoting Long Island’s ecotourism and agritourism assets will drive out-of-state LGBT tourism to Long Island.
$375,000

Suffolk
East End Tourism Alliance
“Seasons of Reasons”- East End of Long Island Tourism Promotions
East End Tourism Alliance will provide common promotional themes for the East End of Long Island, defined and scheduled seasonally, to have a stronger and more consistent regional branding impact on potential visitors. The program will will emphasize promotional themes that work particularly well in the shoulder seasons and outside of peak tourism periods.
$140,625

Ward Melville Heritage Organization
Celebrating a Legacy: Tourism Marketing Plan
The Ward Melville Heritage Organization will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Ward Melville Heritage Organization and the Long Island Museum to generate new awareness of Stony Brook Village by attracting visitors to a full, year-long program of activities, including tours of its Revolutionary era assets and themed events highlighting the village’s cultural importance both past and present.
$75,000

Suffolk
Winship Media
Long Island Wine Country Direct Marketing Tours
Winship Media, together with the Long Island Wine Council, will create a new series of educational tourism activities that will drive new direct sales opportunities for Long Island wineries and help reinforce the state’s efforts to promote its craft beverage industry by increasing the number of well-informed, local product advocates throughout the New York City metro area.
$150,000

MID-HUDSON REGION
Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester
Sullivan County Visitors Association
Dove Art Trail Legacy Connector Project
Sullivan County Visitors Association will undertake a marketing project that will link the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival to Mid-Hudson and Catskill Regional tourism experiences through thematic itineraries and travel packages by using multiple modes of transportation as connectors.
$103,862

Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Ulster, Westchester
Hudson Valley Tourism Inc.
Discover Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley Tourism Region and New York Stewart International Airport have formed a partnership to encourage international and domestic travelers to choose New York and the Region as their travel destination. Through this partnership a comprehensive marketing plan was created including outreach to new international tour operators supported by an aggressive advertising campaign.
$202,500

Orange
City Winery
City Winery Hudson Valley
City Winery is acquiring the historic 22-acre Montgomery Worsted Mills. The first phase of construction on this beautiful 120-year site will be to centralize its national winemaking operations, accompanied by a tasting room and cafe.
$240,000

Storm King Art Center
Storm King Art Center Marketing Project
Storm King Art Center will develop and implement a marketing project that will highlight new public transportation options for visitors, in an effort to increase visitation in an environmentally friendly and strategic manner. The project will also highlight other regional tourist attractions.
$50,250

Ulster
Arrowood Farms
Arrowood Farm Brewery Expansion Project
Arrowood Farms will expand production capacity, reduce product costs, and implement a marketing plan that will bring additional visitors to the farm. This will allow the business to meet increased demand, expand distribution and create new jobs.
$360,000

Westchester
Lyndhurst
Defying Labels: Lyndhurst Marketing Plan
Lyndhurst, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will launch a comprehensive marketing plan to promote the State-funded restoration of its historic lower landscape. Opening events will highlight philanthropist Helen Gould and Madam C. J. Walker’s efforts to empower immigrant women and women of color with economic independence in the early 20th century.
$87,000

Wolf Conservation Center
Education Pavilion
The Wolf Conservation Center will build a new Education Pavilion, to promote conservation by teaching about wolves, their relationship to the environment and the human role in protecting their future. The new tourism destination will also offer programs and special events to visitors to the Mid-Hudson Region.
$253,800

MOHAWK VALLEY REGION
Oneida
Kids Oneida Inc.
Utica Childrens [sic] Museum ReImagined
Kids Oneida will use the funds to relocate and renovate the Utica Children’s Museum, in order to establish itself as a premier tourist destination, thereby increasing visitation to this tourism attraction and the overall region.
$627,600

Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute
Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Dreihaus Collection
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute will use grant funds to support an expanded marketing plan for the exhibition of “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Dreihaus Collection,” on view from June 15, 2019 through September 1, 2019 at MWPAI Museum of Art in Utica.
$78,327

Otsego
Fenimore Art Museum
Rock & Roll Icons Exhibition and Celebrity Programming
Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown will use grant funds for strategic branding and marketing initiatives to promote a major rock & roll exhibit, featuring photographic portraits of the biggest rock stars of the 20th century, and to publicize live concerts, film screenings, and talks from music industry insiders, further establishing the museum as a key destination for visitors to Central New York.
$135,225

Red Shed Brewery
Red Shed Brewery Brew Experience NY
Red Shed Brewery Brew Experience NY will promote tourism and the craft brewing industry in Otsego County through a tap room and kitchen renovation and new concert venue hosting quarterly events. In addition, a week long brew experience will be developed in Cherry Valley, NY to create a destination for visitors to immerse themselves in learning about NY craft brewing.
$437,000

The Farmers’ Museum
Craft Brewing Exhibition and Signature Event, Hopsego
The Farmers Museum in Cooperstown will utilize grant funds, through a strategic branding and marketing initiative, to publicize a new craft brew-themed exhibit, expand the museum’s signature summer event, Hopsego, and bolster the unique craft brewing and hops programs in its 19th-century historic village, further establishing the museum as a key destination for tourists in Central New York.
$110,625

The National Baseball Hall of Fame
Top Nine Artifacts to See Program
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will create and promote a ‘Top Nine Artifacts for Your Favorite Team’ marketing program, connecting fans to their favorite team and driving additional visitation to the tourism destination and overall region.
$300,000

NEW YORK CITY REGION
Bronx
Universal Hip Hop Museum
The Universal Hip Hop Museum/BronxPoint
The Universal Hip Hop Museum will undertake a capital project to build the only state chartered educational museum focused on the preservation of the Hip-Hop culture, located at Bronx Point in the Lower Grand Concourse area and is the cornerstone of scholarly research, preservation and activity for NYC and beyond.
$75,000

Womens [sic] Housing and Economic Development Corporation
Bronx Music Hall – This is Bronx Music
The Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation will produce the Bronx Music Hall Grand Opening to celebrate the kick-off of the new Bronx Music Hall in the South Bronx. This world-class event will strengthen tourism, attract 600+ visitors, feature at least four highly acclaimed music artists and/or bands, and announce the arrival of the Bronx Music Hall as a new destination for New Yorkers and visitors alike.
$152,131

Kings
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
Bedford Stuyvesant Tourism Development Plan
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation seeks to develop the tourism potential of Central Brooklyn, the focus of the project is the creation of a comprehensive Feasibility Study/Tourism Marketing Plan to develop tourism in Central Brooklyn. The project will particularly emphasize music, dance, theater, visual arts and healthy living. In addition, the project calls for the production and enhanced marketing of a couple of high-visibility events – the Restoration Rocks music festival and the Annual 10K Run.
$75,000

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Marketing
Brooklyn Botanic Garden will be completing a decade long series of capital campaign projects, representing the most significant renewal in the Garden’s 108-year history, with enhancements throughout its 52 acres. Brooklyn Botanic Garden will use a tourism marketing campaign to introduce new audiences, regionally, domestically and internationally to a new and improved botanic garden.
$225,000

New York
Children’s Museum of Manhattan
Children’s Museum of Manhattan: A Durable Tourist Attraction
The Children’s Museum of Manhattan will use the grant funds to assist in restoration of the exterior of a 1903 landmark building to be the Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s new home. This will create a structurally stable, watertight envelope, repair façade deterioration, and protect the building from continued damage. The new museum will be a beacon for family tourists and double annual attendance.
$400,000

Heritage of Pride
World Pride 2019 and Stonewall 50 Marketing Campaign
Heritage of Pride will develop and promote an entire month of programming and events tied to NYC Pride as NYC will be welcoming the world for the first WorldPride to be hosted in the United States to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.
$687,500

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
Major Capital Investment Project
La MaMa embarks on a capital investment to renovate a multi-building complex in the East Village. Once completed, the project will enable La MaMa to expand its programs, increase services to the community, improve visitor access & comfort, and bring the aged complex into a new state of being for NY’s last remaining original Off-Off Broadway theatre.
$200,000

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art
Stonewall 50 and World Pride NYC Marketing Plan
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art will use funds to support the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and World Pride. Leslie-Lohman Museum, the world’s only LGBTQ art museum, presents “Art after Stonewall,” the first major exhibition to examine the impact of the LGBTQ civil rights movement on the art world accompanied by educational experiences and programming that connects the world of LGBTQ art to the residents and visitors of New York.
$37,500

NewYork [sic] Historical Society
Equality and Justice for All: New Museum Educational Galleries
New-York Historical Society will establish a dedicated gallery space throughout the Museum to exhibitions exploring topics of freedom, race, equality, and civil rights in America. The state-of-the-art galleries will primarily explore the long struggle of African Americans for full rights as citizens with future exhibitions widening the lens to include other marginalized groups.
$375,000

NORTH COUNTRY REGION
Essex
The Fort Ticonderoga Association
Ticonderoga Marketing
Fort Ticonderoga will use the grant funds to develop and implement a marketing plan to showcase Fort Ticonderoga as a cultural and historical landmark with both world-class collections and exhibits that will bring tourists from all over to the region.
$300,000

Essex, Franklin
LPEC Quality Destination Inc. Empire State Winter Games
LPEC Quality Destination, Inc. will be hosting the 2019 Empire State Winter Games – Go Global event. In its 39th year, the Games will bring together athletes from across NYS, Northeastern US, Canada, and beyond to compete in over 30 winter sports events.
$65,000

Franklin
Adirondack Sky Center
Astroscience Center Tourism Capital and Marketing Project
Adirondack Sky Center will cover partial funding for site preparations and construction work for the AstroScience Center, and tourism marketing and communications, including the Adirondack Sky Festival -a new special annual event celebrating Adirondack Skies, in partnership with The Wild Center.
$629,500

Pendragon Theatre
Pendragon Theater – Relocation Capital Project
Pendragon Theatre will repurpose a downtown Saranac Lake building to create a state-of-the-art theatre facility on an under-utilized site, providing more activities for tourists and reinforcing downtown redevelopment.
$500,000

SOUTHERN TIER
Broome
LUMA Projection Arts LLC
LUMA NY Waterways Mist Projection
LUMA Projection Arts LLC will develop and promote “LUMA NY Waterways Mist Projection”, LUMA Projection Arts Festival’s newest feature to hypnotize and inspire the city of Binghamton and increase visitiaton [sic] to the overall Finger Lakes region.
$89,000

Delaware
Catskill Revitalization Corporation
Day Out With Thomas the Tank Engine at the Delaware and Ulster Railroad
Catskill Revitalization Corporation will present, “Thomas the Tank Engine” at the Delaware and Ulster Railroad (DURR) in Arkville during the summer of 2019. The eight-day, two-weekend long event is expected to attract 10,000 riders in addition to several thousand more people for event-related activities.
$58,800

Schuyler
Aprile Ventures LLC
Glamping at Watkins Glen
Aprile Ventures LLC will develop a world-class Glamping destination and Craft beverage venue. As part of its innovative multi-regional strategy, the “Glamping at Watkins Glen” project will support tourism, enhance the outdoor experience for visitors and promote awareness of the abundance of natural beauty, cultural attractions, and resources that New York has to offer.
$385,189

Watkins Glen
International Out-of-State Traveler Campaign 2019
Watkins Glen International will create and promote a marketing plan to attract out-of-state travelers to the Southern Tier’s largest weekend sporting event, NASCAR at The Glen.
$150,000

Schuyler, Tompkins
Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce
The Apple of Our Eye Elevating the Reputation of New Yorks [sic] Craft Cider
Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce will promote agriculinary tourism experiences year-round with a focus on quality craft cider producers, authentic farm visits and expanding seasonal anchor events like Apple Harvest Festival, Finger Lakes Cider Week, Open Farm Days Weekend and Press Bay Holiday Market with the goal of becoming the Craft Cider Capital of NYS.
$123,500

Steuben
The Corning Museum of Glass
Make Your Own Glass (MYOG) Expansion Capital Project
The Corning Museum of Glass will expand The Studio and the Make Your Own Glass workshop, creating the international comprehensive center for artists, students, and visitors working with glass. This will provide an opportunity for The Corning Museum of Glass visitors of all ages and skill levels to have exciting, memorable, new, and unique experiences trying many types of glass working.
$900,000

WESTERN NEW YORK
Chautauqua
Dunkirk Local Development Corporation
Dunkirk Great Lakes Grand Prix Boat Races
The Dunkirk Offshore Grand Prix is a new-to-New York State, internationally televised powerboat race that will bring excitement to the City of Dunkirk on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie. The event will feature racing, live music, food, and more, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to the region and highlighting all of the great things that Western New York has to offer.
$225,000

Erie
Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens
Botanical Gardens Facilities Project
The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens Society, Inc. is a premier cultural destination in
Buffalo’s South Park, engaging visitors with a unique plant collection, educational programs, and stunning landscape and architecture. The Botanical Gardens plans to grow its offerings in a newly constructed facility designed to complement the existing Lord & Burnham-designed Conservatory.
$500,000

Erie Land Development LLC
Dunkirk Wingate Hotel & Recreation Center
The Dunkirk Wingate and Recreation Center Project will feature a new eighty-three room, nationally branded hotel, restaurant, distillery, beer garden, swimming pool, and outdoor recreation center both facilitating existing tourist experiences and attracting new tourists to Chautauqua County.
$500,000

Visit Buffalo Niagara
Buffalo Wing Trail Marketing Initiative
Visit Buffalo Niagara’s Buffalo Wing Trail is a guide to twelve of the most iconic bars, taverns and pubs around Buffalo serving the city’s culinary creation. The Buffalo Wing Trail Marketing Initiative will enable this area to implement an integrated marketing campaign to raise the awareness of Buffalo and Western NY’s to foodie travelers.
$50,000

Niagara
Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation
From Rivers to Rainbows – WorldPride 2019
Destination Niagara USA and Dutchess Tourism have entered into a partnership with New York City, who is hosting WorldPride June 2019. Grant funds will be used to support a marketing plan with the goal to leverage the momentum of the expected 3 million visitors to the event, inspiring them to explore more of New York State including Dutchess and Niagara counties.
$100,200