The Flint Hills Regional Council (FHRC) is exploring a cultural arts grant to promote tourism in the region.

Jim Sands, City Commissioner, said that it is a matching grant that will create a one stop tourism website for the entire Flint Hills community. The site has been successful in the Maryland community of Silver Springs.

“This site, for example can tell you everything about what’s going on in Silver Springs; you can go there and it tells you everything and then it tells you the location of how to get there,” said Sands. “It can be something as small as the [local] arts council, it can be restaurants, it can be points of interests – and it’s going to be put on a map and the map is maintained regularly.”

The grant is a matching funds grant meaning whatever is generated within the FHRC will be matched if awarded the grant. Additionally, the funds to be matched would come from all communities participating.

“This is an investment to see ‘heads in beds’ come here; we may only have one or two things [in Junction City], but the initial goal is we have to match $25,000 with $25,000 – the grant is available to go up to $200,000, but we want to start small,” said Sands.

There are 58 communities currently interested in exploring the cultural arts grant which would promote local historical societies, arts councils, home-town restaurants, festivals and things of that nature.

Recipients of the grant will be notified in May 2018.