Cultural Programs in Algeria
The Cultural Affairs Office organizes numerous cultural programs during the year. The Embassy puts on several musical performances, including acclaimed gospel singer Manda Djin who performed last April in Algiers and Oran. Ms. Djin’s performance in Oran brought down the house and marked the first time an Embassy-sponsored event has taken place outside the capital of Algiers since the internal security situation deteriorated in the 1990s.
Protecting and preserving Algeria’s cultural patrimony is also an important part of the Cultural Affairs Office’s mission. With the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, the Embassy has been able to help preserve and restore early Islamic period manuscripts in Tolga, rehabilitate the famed Byzantine stained glass of the St. Augustine Basilica in Annaba, and is assisting the National Bardo Museum complete a global needs assessment as well as a textile restoration project.
American art also has a prominent place with the Art in the Embassies program. Created in 1964, the program is a global museum that exhibits original works of art by U.S. citizens in the public rooms of approximately 180 American diplomatic residences worldwide. These exhibitions, with art loaned from galleries, museums, individual artists, and corporate and private collections, play an important role in our nation's public diplomacy. They provide international audiences with a sense of the quality, scope, and diversity of American art and culture through the accomplishments of some of our most important citizens, our artists.
Central to our mission is promoting the learning and teaching of English. Through the English Language Fellows Program, American educators share their expertise by consulting with the Government of Algeria on curriculum reform as well as providing seminars and workshops for English language teachers, giving them up-to-date teaching techniques for the classroom. The Embassy also supports advance English courses for promising Algerian students of middle and lower income backgrounds from across the country. The Access Microscholarship program provides teaching materials and books for advance English study outside of the classroom. Algiers, Bejaia, Constantine, and Oran currently have advance study courses.