U.S. Department of State Offers Ambassadors Fund Grant for Iraqi Cultural Preservation

The U.S. Department of State, Cultural Heritage Center (the Center) announces an open competition for proposals for support through the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) for large-scale partnership-based projects to preserve Iraqi cultural antiquities.

Established by the U.S. Congress in the fall of 2000 (P. L. 106-553), the AFCP awards direct grants for projects to preserve cultural sites, cultural objects and collections, and forms of traditional cultural expression in more than 100 countries around the world. In establishing the fund, Congress noted that “Cultural preservation offers an opportunity to show a different American face to other countries, one that is non-commercial, non-political, and non-military. By taking a leading role in efforts to preserve cultural heritage, we show our respect for other cultures by protecting their traditions.”

The funding authority for this opportunity is provided through the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, P.L. 111-32, which recognized “the extensive looting and damage to Iraqi antiquities that occurred in the wake of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the need for protection and rehabilitation of sites of significance” and thus recommended “$2,000,000 for the preservation of Iraqi cultural antiquities to be administered by the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.”

Overall grant making authority for this program is contained in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, P.L. 87-195.