Deadline: 15-Nov-22
The U.S. Embassy to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe announces the call for concept notes for the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) 2023 Grants Program – a U.S. Department of State program.
Program Objectives
- The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation supports the preservation of cultural sites, cultural objects, and forms of traditional cultural expression in more than 100 countries around the world. Cultural heritage endures as a reminder of the contributions and historical experiences of humanity. By taking a leading role in efforts to preserve cultural heritage, the United States shows its respect for other cultures.
Funding Information
- AFCP projects strengthen civil society, encourage good governance, and promote political and economic stability around the world. Project awards range from US $10,000 to $500,000.
- Competition Format: U.S. Embassy to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe is accepting concept notes from interested and eligible organizations. This is not a full proposal. The purpose of the concept note process is to allow applicants to submit program ideas for evaluation prior to requiring the development of a full proposal application.
Funding Areas:
- The AFCP Grants Program supports the preservation of archaeological sites, historic buildings and monuments, museum collections, and forms of traditional cultural expression, such as indigenous languages and crafts. Appropriate project activities may include:
- Anastylosis (reassembling a site from its original parts)
- Conservation (addressing damage or deterioration to an object or site)
- Consolidation (connecting or reconnecting elements of an object or site)
- Documentation (recording in analog or digital format the condition and salient features of an object, site, or tradition)
- Inventory (listing of objects, sites, or traditions by location, feature, age, or other unifying characteristic or state)
- Preventive Conservation (addressing conditions that threaten or damage a site, object, collection, or tradition)
- Restoration (replacing missing elements to recreate the original appearance of an object or site, usually appropriate only with fine arts, decorative arts, and historic buildings)
- Stabilization (reducing the physical disturbance of an object or site)
Eligible Project Implementers
- Eligible project implementers are defined as reputable and accountable non-commercial entities that can demonstrate they have the requisite capacity to manage projects to preserve cultural heritage. Eligible implementers may include non-governmental organizations, museums, educational institutions, ministries of culture, or similar institutions and organizations, including U.S.-based educational institutions and organizations subject to Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. The AFCP will not award grants to individuals, commercial entities, or past award recipients that have not fulfilled the objectives or reporting requirements of previous awards.
- Round 1 Concept Note Requirements: Concept notes must include:
- Project Basics, including working title, anticipated project length (Note: Applicants may propose project periods of up to 60 months), location/site, and project cost estimate (amount requested from AFCP; in U.S. dollars).
Project Implementer
- Project Scope of Work summarizing the preservation goals and any broader host country or community goals (i.e., what they hope to gain from the project beyond the preserved heritage and how they plan to get there; 3,000 characters maximum).
- Five (5) high quality digital images (JPEGs) or audiovisual files that convey the nature and condition of the site, collection, or tradition and show the urgency or need for the proposed project (collapsing walls, water damage, etc.).
Ineligible
- AFCP does not support the following activities or costs, and will deem applications requesting AFCP support for any of these activities or costs ineligible:
- 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.) unless the natural heritage has a cultural heritage connection or dimension.
- 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, documentation, or public diplomacy 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.
- Interested and eligible organizations are encouraged to submit a concept note
For more information, visit https://ao.usembassy.gov/the-u-s-ambassadors-fund-for-cultural-preservation-afcp-application-for-2023-grants-program-is-now-open/