*EPF506 09/03/2004
Text: State Department Awards Grants for Cultural Preservation
(Projects in 50 countries benefit from 2004 awards) (540)

An expansive series of grants for 2004 from the U.S. Department of State to projects in 50 countries through a three-year-old program is underscoring the vitality and significance of the heritage of all the world's geographic regions.

The 2004 awards, announced by the State Department September 2, vary from archive preservation and museum collections to historic sites and ethnographic documentation. The awards come via the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation, established by the U.S. Congress in 2001.

The purpose of the fund is to promote cooperation with other countries to reduce the threat of pillage of irreplaceable cultural heritage and to develop long-term strategies for preserving cultural property. More than 120 proposals were received by the State Department for the current round of awards -- an indication of the overwhelming response the program has generated.

Following is the text of the State Department announcement of the awards:

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
September 2, 2004

Media Note

Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation Awards for 2004

The United States Department of State is pleased to announce that it has awarded cultural preservation grants to projects in 50 countries through the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation for 2004. Established by Congress in 2001, the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation aims to assist less developed countries in preserving their cultural heritage. Since its inception, the program has now awarded 205 grants totaling $4.2 million in 96 countries.

The grants for 2004 represent the heritage of all geographic regions and vary from archive preservation to museum collections, historic sites and ethnographic documentation. The program is supporting projects that protect archaeological sites from plunder, such as training university students to teach Panamanian children how to be responsible stewards of their archaeological heritage. A grant in Cairo will document and exhibit the historic trades of craftspeople in the Old Islamic district, therefore raising public awareness of the importance of cultural heritage. Restoration projects include a library and reading room of W.E. B. DuBois in Accra, Ghana. Several projects focus on the preservation of historic documents. In Kiev, Ukraine, the Khaminets-Podilsky Archives will receive a leaf-casting machine to save historical documents badly damaged by a fire in 2003, and in Indonesia, a 14th century manuscript believed to be the oldest document in the Malay language will be preserved. Ethnographic grants include the documentation of musical traditions of the Baul wandering minstrels in Bangladesh threatened by economic development and pop culture.

The Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation is administered by the Department's Bureau of Educational And Cultural Affairs. The Bureau, through its cultural preservation activities, promotes cooperation with other countries to reduce the threat of pillage of irreplaceable cultural heritage, and to develop long-term strategies for preserving cultural property. As an indication of the overwhelming response to this program, U.S. Ambassadors in 96 of the 121 eligible countries in the developing world responded to the call for proposals. Many countries submitted multiple proposals bring the total to 123.

For more information on the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation, as well as a full list of the funded project for 2004, see: .

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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