U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation 2012 Competition Open

Bequia Anglican Church

Bridgetown, Barbados (Monday, November 07, 2011) – 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.

Embassy Bridgetown will accept proposals from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.