To mark the 20 years of the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation and Bangladesh’s Golden Jubilee, the United States is partnering with the Bengal Foundation to fund the study and restoration of SM Sultan’s works.
US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller and Bangla Academy Director General Mohammad Nurul Huda jointly inaugurated the US-funded cultural preservation project on SM Sultan’s artworks at Bengal Shilpalay in the capital’s Dhanmondi area on Tuesday.
Ambassador Miller presented a ceremonial plaque to the Bengal Foundation’s Director General Luva Nahid Chowdhury to formally inaugurate the project and toured the SM Sultan exhibition at the gallery, said the UN Embassy.
The AFCP is among the US government’s most significant cultural initiatives abroad. In the past 20 years, the United States has supported 12 AFCP projects totaling over $870,000 to preserve and restore Bangladeshi cultural heritage and patrimony, including, restoring the 17th-century Mughal Hammam Khana in the Lalbagh Fort Complex; working with Varendra Research Museum to make its collection more accessible to the public; and documenting and preserving Baul song and cultural traditions, Jamdani weaving methods, and a 2,000-year-old metal casting technique.
The AFCP 2022 call for cultural preservation proposals is now open, with a deadline of December 1, 2021. Information about the application process is available on the Embassy's website (https://bd.usembassy.gov/embassy/dhaka/grants-and-procurement-opportunities/).
