Preservation Celebration 2026

Join us for our free Preservation Celebration 2026 at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum! On October 8, we’ll honor our 2026 Preservation Award winners and, with your help, give out five micro-grants (from $500 to $1500) to people working on the front lines in our historic neighborhoods. We’ll say thank you to our volunteers and honor all of their hard work this year. And, we’ll be celebrating local Baltimore businesses by giving away door prize gift certificates to local restaurants, theatres and more! With dinner and drinks from locally-owned Baltimore vendors, we hope you will join us for what promises to be a wonderful evening. The event is free with a suggested donation of $25. Event Schedule: 5:30 pm – Doors Open with Food and Drink 6:00 pm – Welcome 6:05 pm – Presentation of 2026 Awards 6:30 pm – Microgrant Presentations and Selection About Our 2026 Historic Preservation Awards At our October 8 celebration, we will honor people in Baltimore who over the last year have made an impact in helping save our historic places and improve our historic neighborhoods. Our awards recognize work of all kinds: people who have done an excellent rehab job on their house or building; people who have volunteered at a historic site; people who have stepped up to improve their historic community with a new program or partnership. Individuals are eligible, as are organizations, corporations, and government agencies or programs. Self nominations are encouraged! Please email nominations to Johns Hopkins ([email protected]) by July 31. About Our 2026 Microgrants We’re in our 11th year of giving away microgrants to help fund preservation work in the city. We’ll pick the most promising ideas and give them a chance for one $1500 grant, one $1000 grant and three $500 grants. Supporters of each idea will get three minutes to pitch them and at the end, all of us present will cast ballots to decide which ideas receive which micro grants. The types of eligible projects are endless, and as long as they relate to Baltimore’s history, heritage, historic buildings or historic neighborhoods we will consider them. Past award winners include: restoring leaking masonry at a historic church, launching an after school arts-based safe space program in a historic neighborhood, supporting archaeological efforts at a historic furnace, and providing supplies for a community trying to provide access to a neighboring park. The sky’s the limit! The award amounts may not be enough to complete an entire project. That’s OK. The goal is to help spark new and support existing neighborhood-level preservation work. You don’t need to be a nonprofit organization or even a formalized group to be eligible. Individuals and small groups are welcome! Complete rules can be found on the application. Please apply by September 11, 2026.