United States Government Donates $30,000 to the Armenian National Cinematheque

The U.S. Embassy is pleased to announce that the U.S. Government has awarded the National Cinematheque of Armenia $30,000. This funding will allow the Cinematheque to create a climate-controlled space to preserve its collection of over 270,000 Armenian films, audio recordings, and photos. The Cinematheque is the only existing collection of Armenia?s film heritage, and houses the first Armenian silent film, rare musical recordings, and historically significant Armenian photos.

The U.S. Ambassador?s Fund for Cultural Preservation, through which the U.S. Government is providing this funding, works worldwide to assist countries in preserving museum collections, ancient and historic sites and traditional forms of expression. This program strives to help preserve the cultural heritage of countries throughout the world by providing small grants to support heritage preservation. Since its creation in 2001, this program has supported almost 300 projects worldwide, totaling $6.7 million.

For more information on the Ambassador?s Fund for Cultural Preservation, as well as a complete list of funded projects for 2005, please visit: http://exchanges.state.gov/culprop/afcp/.