AMBASSADOR'S FUND FOR CULTURAL PRESERVATION

The U.S. Embassy in Armenia announces a call for proposals for the 2025 Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) pending availability of funds. The program will be implemented through the Cultural Heritage Center in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. 

The application process involves two rounds: In Round 1, we will collect project ideas in the form of concept notes, due 11:59 PM local (Armenia) time on December 6, 2024. In Round 2, we will invite applicants with promising ideas to submit full project applications. The deadline for Round 2 submissions will be March 20, 2025. 

AFCP supports preservation projects in the following categories, pending available funding. A priority focus area for the 2025 cycle will be on proposals that contribute to the preservation of intangible heritage of ethnic Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.

1. A CULTURAL SITE OR SITES - Conservation of an ancient or historic building, preservation of an archaeological site, or documentation of cultural sites in a region for preservation purposes.

2. AN OBJECT OR COLLECTION OF OBJECTS - 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 and protection purposes; the creation of safe environments for storage or display of collections; or specialized training in the care and preservation of collections.

3. INTANGIBLE FORMS OF TRADITIONAL CULTURAL HERITAGE EXPRESSION - Preservation may include documentation and audiovisual recordings of oral histories, language, traditional music and dance, traditional art, culinary, and rituals, etc., for broad dissemination as a means of teaching and further preserving them, or support for training in the preservation of traditional applied arts or crafts in danger of extinction. 

Types of Project Activities

In all three categories, appropriate project activities may include:

• Documentation (recording in analog or digital format the condition and salient features of an object, site, or tradition). Note: This type of activity particularly applies to preservation of intangible forms of heritage. 
• Preventative Conservation (addressing conditions that threaten or damage a site, object, collection, or tradition). Note: This type of activity could also be applied to preservation of intangible heritage. 
• 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).
• Inventory (listing of objects, sites, or traditions by location, feature, age, or other unifying characteristic or state).
• 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). 

All submitted applications must be in English. Applicants may propose project periods of up to 60 months [five years]; projects must begin after September 30, 2025, and conclude no later than September 30, 2030. Funding instrument type: Grant. Funding amount: $10,000 per project (minimum) to $500,000 per project (maximum).