Deadline: 16 December 2019
The U.S. Embassy in Malaysia is seeking applications for its 2020 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).
The Fund was established to help countries preserve cultural heritage and to demonstrate U.S. respect for other cultures. The Fund is aimed at preserving cultural sites or objects that have an historical or cultural significance to the cultural heritage of Malaysia.
Criteria
Proposals should fulfill the following criteria:
- Cultural sites: This might include (but is not limited to) historical buildings and sites, sacred places, monuments, and archaeological sites;
- Cultural objects and collections: from a museum, site, or similar institution. This includes archaeological and ethnographic objects, paintings, sculpture, manuscripts, photographic and film collections, and general museum conservation activities;
- Forms of Traditional Cultural Expression: This includes traditional music, rituals, knowledge, languages, dance, drama, and crafts.
Activities
AFCP gives top priority to project activities in keeping with international standards for the preservation of cultural heritage. These activities may include:
- In the case of Cultural Sites, restoration of a historic building, an archaeological survey as a component of a preservation plan, preservation management planning for a site, or documentation of sites in a region for preservation purpose;
- 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 improving its state of conservation; inventory of a collection for conservation 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 preservation and eventual dissemination, or support for training;
- An appropriate preservation activity is one that protects the values of the site, object or collection, or form of traditional cultural expression as they are understood by stakeholders. Stakeholders may include national, regional, or local cultural authorities, the local community, and others with vested interests in the site and the outcome of a project.
Eligibility Criteria
- Strong encouragement is given to local non-U.S. government source cost-sharing (including in-kind) from sources such as governments, international organizations, and the private sector.
Ineligible Activities
AFCP does not support the following:
- Preservation or purchase of privately or commercially owned cultural objects, collections, or real property, including those whose transfer from private or commercial to public ownership is envisioned, planned, or in process but not complete at the time of application;
- Preservation of natural heritage (physical, biological, and geological formations, paleontological collections, habitats of threatened species of animals and plants, fossils, etc.);
- Preservation of hominid or human remains;
- Preservation of news media (newspapers, newsreels, radio and TV programs, etc.);
- Preservation of published materials available elsewhere (books, periodicals, etc.);
- Development of curricula or educational materials for classroom use;
- Archaeological excavations or exploratory surveys for research purposes;
- Historical research, except in cases where the research is justifiable and integral to the success of the proposed project;
- Acquisition or creation of new exhibits, objects, or collections for new or existing museums;
- Construction of new buildings, building additions, or permanent coverings (over archaeological sites, for example);
- Commissions of new works of art or architecture for commemorative or economic development purposes;
- Creation of new or the modern adaptation of existing traditional dances, songs, chants, musical compositions, plays, or other performances;
- Creation of replicas or conjectural reconstructions of cultural objects or sites that no longer exist;
- Relocation of cultural sites from one physical location to another;
- Removal of cultural objects or elements of cultural sites from the country for any reason;
- Digitization of cultural objects or collections, unless part of a larger, clearly defined conservation or documentation effort;
- Conservation plans or other studies, unless they are one component of a larger project to implement the results of those studies;
- Cash reserves, endowments, or revolving funds (funds must be expended within the award period [up to five years] and may not be used to create an endowment or revolving fund);
- Costs of fund-raising campaigns;
- Contingency, unforeseen, or miscellaneous costs or fees;
- Costs of work performed prior to announcement of the award unless allowable per 2 CFR 200.458 and approved by the grants officer;
- International travel, except in cases where travel is justifiable and integral to the success of the proposed project;
- Travel or study outside the host country for professional development;
- Individual projects costing less than $10,000;
- Independent U.S. projects overseas.
Eligible Country: Malaysia
For more information, visit https://my.usembassy.gov/education-culture/cultural-programs/afcp/