| Media Note Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC December 19, 2003 Ambassador's Fund For Cultural Preservation Awards For 2003The Department of State is pleased to announce that it has awarded cultural preservation grants to projects in 43 countries through the $1 million Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation. Established by Congress in 2001, the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation aims to assist less developed countries in preserving their cultural heritage. Congress noted that, “cultural preservation offers another opportunity for America to provide assistance to other countries. In efforts to preserve the heritage of other cultures, we show our respect for them.” The Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs implements the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation. The Bureau, through its cultural preservation activities, promotes cooperation with other countries to reduce the threat of pillage of irreplaceable cultural heritage, and to create opportunities to develop long-term strategies for preserving cultural property through training and conservation, museum development, law enforcement and public education. Assistant Secretary of State, Patricia S. Harrison stated that, “the success of the program is due to the keen interest of the U.S. Ambassadors in helping safeguard the broad range of cultural heritage in the countries which they serve.” U.S. Ambassadors in 97 of the 118 eligible countries in the developing world responded to the call for proposals. Many countries submitted multiple proposals bringing the total to 114. The projects represent the cultural heritage of all geographic regions and vary from archive preservation to museum collections, historic sites, and ethnographic documentation. In Niamey, Niger, the Ambassador’s Fund is supporting the digitization of 14th and 15th century Islamic manuscripts; it is supporting the conservation of a peristyle building with mosaic floors dating from the 4th century AD in Plovdiv, Bulgaria; and enabling the conservation, documentation and cataloguing of the collection of Peruvian textiles in the Lima Art Museum for future display and public access. The purpose of the Ambassador’s Fund is to support cultural preservation projects as diversely as possible while considering the urgency of the needs. More information can be found at http://exchanges.state.gov/education/culprop/afcp/d. 2003/1286
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