The United States Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean announces the opening of the 2012 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).
The Embassy is now accepting proposals for projects promoting cultural preservation in the Eastern Caribbean. Proposals are due to the U.S. Embassy by December 2, 2011.
The Eastern Caribbean has benefited significantly from the AFCP, with US$138,280 being awarded over the last ten years to six major projects in Dominica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
These include projects preserving centuries-old Garifuna ceramics and petroglyphs in St. Vincent and Amerindian petroglyph drawings in Grenada, refurbishment of an 18th century sugar mill at the Old Mill Cultural Center in Dominica and restoration of the 103 year old Carnegie Public Library in St. Vincent.
The largest project in the last decade was restoration work on the St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Bequia, which received US$79,000 from the ACFP in 2009.
Louise Mitchell-Joseph, a trustee of the St. Mary’s Anglican Church Restoration Trust, emphasized that the work was made possible almost entirely because of the AFCP funding.
“The US assistance helped us to achieve the main objective of the project, which was to replace the roof,” said Mitchell-Joseph, noting that the church, first built in 1929 was “definitely at the heart of the tradition and heritage of Bequia.”
The AFCP seeks to support activities that preserve significant cultural sites, objects or traditions, giving top priority to project activities that are in keeping with international standards for the preservation of cultural heritage.
Qualified entities are reputable and accountable non-governmental organizations, museums, ministries of culture, or similar institutions and organizations that are able to demonstrate that they have the requisite experience and capacity to manage projects to preserve cultural heritage. Embassy Bridgetown will accept proposals from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
More information can be found on the Embassy’s website http://barbados.usembassy.gov/afcp-2012.html or by contacting Cultural Affairs Assistant Khalil Goodman at [email protected] or 246-227-4101.
I am a culturalis who is passionate about cultural retrieval. How can I enter this program in oder to secure funds for a cultural reteival program in St.Vincent. It is the first of it’s kind. where decendents of Exiled Vincentians (Garifuna) are returning to St.Vincent to teach the original Dance, music and language to St.Vincent and the Grenadine and to illustrate the connection between the foods in St.Vincent and the Garifuna culture.