[Oberlist] IQ* news: Iraq Cultural Heritage Project (ICHP)

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Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 16, 2008


Iraq Cultural Heritage Project (ICHP)

The Department of State, through the American Embassy in Baghdad, has
awarded a $13 million grant to International Relief and Development (IRD)
a charitable, non-profit, non-governmental organization that directs
assistance “in regions of the world that present social, political and
technical challenges.”

The Iraq Cultural Heritage Project (ICHP) will be implemented in
partnership with the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs (ECA) and Iraqi government entities responsible for
cultural patrimony. Discussions concerning various aspects of the ICHP
took place between State Department representatives and representatives of
the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, as well as the Iraq
Ministry of Culture and the State Ministry of Tourism and Heritage prior
to and following the grant award to IRD. There was agreement on a common
purpose and a common approach through partnership.
IRD will collaborate with various institutions having the technical and
academic expertise to address the principal goals of the Project. They
include:
1) Establishment of a Conservation and Historic Preservation Institute in
Erbil.
The Institute will focus on technical and professional training. The
objects conservation program will be implemented with expertise provided
by the Walters Art Museum, the Winterthur Conservation Program, and the
University of Delaware. The U.S. National Park Service will provide
expertise in establishing the historic preservation and archaeology
program of the new Institute.

2) The Iraq National Museum: Improvements to the professional environment
within the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad.
This includes rehabilitation of the museum infrastructure, design and
development of new collections storage facilities, improvements to museum
gallery space and to the museum’s conservation laboratory. Technical
guidance will be provided by the Walters Art Museum and the Winterthur
Conservation Program.
3) Professional Development and Capacity Building for Iraq’s Museums.
With the collaboration of the Field Museum of Natural History and the
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago a two year professional
development program will be developed for employees of the Iraq State
Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), the Iraq National Museum and
other museums. The aim is to build a cadre of professionals who may be
employed as conservators, collection managers, registrars and other fields
of expertise necessary for an effectively functioning museum.
Complementing this professional capacity building will be: a) The American
Academic Research Institute in Iraq Archaeological Publication Project
(TAARI). In consultation with the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and
Heritage and Iraqi archaeologists, TAARI will publish heretofore
unpublished archaeological excavation reports prepared by Iraqi
archaeologists; b) SUNY Stony Brook Iraq Museums Library Project that will
endeavor to build the library collections of the Iraq and Mosul museums.

The goals of the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project aim to overcome the
effects of decades during which Iraqis, who once were pre-eminent in the
field of archaeology and preservation, were unable to actively engage with
the international professional community or cultivate a new generation of
professionals.
Through its ECA Bureau and U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the Department has
supported numerous activities relating to the protection and preservation
of Iraq’s cultural heritage. These include emergency response to the
looting of the Iraq National Museum, training of Iraqi museum
professionals, support for archaeological site protection, and instituting
legal measures to mitigate illicit trafficking in Iraq’s looted cultural
property. Since 2003, several million dollars have been applied to these
needs resulting in professional and infrastructure improvements to the
National Museum as well as other museums and institutions, and improved
archaeological site security in Iraq.

Other United States government agencies have also supported programs
intended to promote the preservation of Iraq’s cultural heritage.
For example, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) provided $1.4
million under its 2003-2005 special initiative – Recovering Iraq’s Past --
and, since the conclusion of the initiative, has awarded an additional
$1.8 million for preservation, access, and research projects related to
Iraq's cultural heritage, bringing the total to $3.2 million. NEH has a
long history of support for projects on Iraq that began shortly after its
establishment.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided $1.4 million in
funding to SUNY-Stony Brook in support of faculties at Iraqi universities
as they re-build capacity to conduct undergraduate and graduate training
in archaeology and in support of a graduate degree program at SUNY-Stony
Brook for Iraqi students of archaeology.

sursa:acorns

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