Deadline: 5-Jan-23
The U.S. Embassy in North Macedonia and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State announce an open competition for organizations to submit applications for funding through the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) to carry out an individual project to preserve cultural heritage in a specific priority country.
Objectives
- The Department of State established the AFCP at the request of Congress in Conference Report 106-1005 accompanying H.R. 4942 (October 26, 2000). The Senate report on this bill noted that the preservation of cultural heritage “offers an opportunity to show a different American face to other countries, one that is non-commercial, non-political, and non-military.”
- 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)
Funding Information
- Total Available Funding: $6 million per year (estimated)
- Award Amounts: Awards may range from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $500,000
- Number of Awards Anticipated: 30-40 awards per year worldwide (dependent on amounts)
- Length of Performance Period: 12 to 60 months
Ineligible Activities
AFCP does not support the following activities or costs, and applications involving any of the activities or costs below will be deemed 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 site 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.
- 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 or to provide project leaders with learning and exchange opportunities with cultural heritage experts.
- Individual projects costing less than $10,000 or more than $500,000.
- Independent U.S. and foreign projects overseas that do not have a local partner or a preexisting formal agreement with the national cultural authority in the specified country to conduct cultural heritage preservation activities.
Eligibility Criteria
- The following organizations are eligible to apply:
- Institution of Higher Education from North Macedonia
- Non-profit organizations/nongovernment organizations (NGO) from North Macedonia
- Public Entity from North Macedonia
- S. Non-Profit Organization (501(c)(3))
- S. Institution of Higher Education
- Other Eligibility Requirements:
- The AFCP further defines eligible applicants as reputable and accountable entities that are able to demonstrate that they have the requisite capacity and permission to manage projects to preserve cultural heritage in the specified country.
- In order to be eligible to receive an award, all entities must have a valid and active registration on SAM.gov.
- Applicants must ensure:
- The application clearly addresses the goals and objectives of this funding opportunity
- All documents are in English, and
- All budgets are in U.S. dollars
For more information, visit U.S. Embassy in North Macedonia.