U.S. AMBASSADORS FUND FOR CULTURAL PRESERVATION CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR 2010

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the 2010 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation Program. Proposals are due December 1, 2009. The Ambassadors Fund provides small grants throughout the world to help preserve cultural heritage in countries around the globe. The average grant in 2009 ranges from $10,000 to $41,000 and lasts for 12 - 18 months.

The Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation was established in 2001. The Ambassadors Fund, which has supported more than 500 projects worldwide totaling $13.4 million, emphasizes the importance of preserving the world's cultural patrimony as an integral component of U.S. diplomacy. The program supports projects that focus on the preservation of objects, museum and archival collections, and forms of traditional expression.

Congratulation to the 2009 winners:

• Union of Councils for Soviet Jews-Ukraine with the project of Documentation of the Site of the 16th-Century Turei Zahav (Golden Rose) Synagogue and Associated Buildings.
• Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences with the project of Preservation of the Papers of the 19th-Century Ukrainian Writer Taras Shevchenko.

In Ukraine, awards have previously gone to the following projects:

• to Lviv Tourism Development Association for conservation and display of icons of the Studion Icon Collection;
• to Lviv History Museum for the conservation and restoration of the 12th century manuscript Khrystynopolsky Apostol;
• to assist in the restoration of the roof of the historic St. Nikolas wooden church in the Transcarpathian village of Kolodne, 16th c.;
• the excavation of the Cossack fortification Mykytynska Sich buried beneath the town of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 17th c.;
• the preservation and promotion of Crimean Tatar culture though collection and digitalization of ancient songs, historical manuscripts and handicrafts.
• the purchase of a leaf casting machine for the Oblast State Historical Archives in Khmelnytsky.

Call for proposals and Application form is available at the U.S. Embassy Kyiv webpage.