The U.S. Embassy Quito and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State are pleased to announce the 2017 call for proposals for the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).
The Fund was established to help countries to preserve cultural heritage and to demonstrate U.S. respect for other cultures. Through the AFCP Program, the Department of State supports projects that may range from US $10,000 to US $200,000 to preserve cultural heritage of Ecuador in the following three areas:
- CULTURAL SITES: This might include, but is not limited to, historic buildings and archaeological sites.
- CULTURAL OBJECTS AND COLLECTIONS from a museum, site, or similar institution that include, but are not limited to, archaeological and ethnographic objects, paintings, sculpture, manuscripts, and general museum conservation needs.
- FORMS OF TRADITIONAL CULTURAL EXPRESSION: This includes traditional music, indigenous languages, and crafts.
AFCP gives priority to those project proposals that include activities in adherence to international standards for the preservation of cultural heritage. These activities may include:
- In the case of CULTURAL SITES, conservation of an ancient or historic building, preservation of an archaeological site, or documentation of cultural sites in a region for preservation purposes.
- In the case of CULTURAL OBJECTS AND COLLECTIONS, conservation treatment for an object or collection of objects; needs assessment of a collection with respect to its condition and strategies for purposes; the creation of safe environments for storage or display of collections; or specialized training in the care and preservation of collections.
- In the case of FORMS OF TRADITIONAL CULTURAL EXPRESSION, documentation and audiovisual recording of traditional music and dance forms for broad dissemination as the means of teaching and further preserving them, or support for training in the preservation of traditional applied arts or crafts in danger of extinction.
Additionally, proposals for projects that meet one or more of the following criteria will receive additional consideration:
- Directly support U.S. treaty or bilateral agreement obligations, such as cultural property protection agreements;
- Support the preservation of inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Sites;
- Support disaster risk reduction for cultural heritage and post-disaster cultural heritage recovery in seismically active and other disaster-prone areas; and
- Engage women, youth, or under-served communities.
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING SITES AND OBJECTS THAT HAVE A RELIGIOUS CONNECTION: The establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution permits the government to include religious objects and sites within an aid program under certain conditions. For example, an item with a religious connection (including a place of worship) may be the subject of a cultural preservation grant if the item derives its primary significance and is nominated solely on the basis of architectural, artistic, historical, or other cultural (not religious) criteria.
The deadline for submitting a proposal is Monday, January 16, 2017. Proposals shall be submitted to:
Public Affairs Section
U.S. Embassy Quito
contactocultural@state.gov
Subject: Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation 2017
For more information about the program, please refer to the following documents (in Spanish):
