United States Department of State -
Arts Exchanges in International Issues Program
2005 - Request for Grant Proposals (RFGP)

Open Grant Competition Announcement: The Cultural Programs Division of
the Office of Citizen Exchanges, Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs
has announced an open competition for grant awards that support one to
three
year professional exchange projects between non-profit arts
organizations
in the U.S. and their counterparts in other countries.

Exchange
participants may be professional artists, arts educators, arts
administrators or other types of arts and cultural experts. To the
fullest extent possible, projects supported by the Arts Exchanges in
International Issues Program, should be two-way exchanges with roughly
equal numbers of participants from the U.S. and foreign countries.

U.S. public and non-profit organizations with 501 (c) (3) status may
submit proposals that support the objectives and themes listed below.
Individual Artists and amateur and community-based arts groups are not
eligible for funding under the Arts Exchanges in International Issues
Program.

Application Deadline: Tuesday, February 15, 2005

 Range of Grant Awards: $50,000-$300,000 (Limited to $60,000 if your
organization does not have four years of experience managing
international exchange activities.)

 Proposal Details: Proposed projects should be designed to foster
positive dialogue, joint creative activities and co-operative artistic
endeavors that employ the arts to convey one of five U.S. foreign
policy themes:

1) Conflict Resolution;
2) New Opportunities for Youth, especially in
Muslim countries;
3) Respect for Cultural Identity and Creative Products;
4)Governance, Accountability and Transparency in Cultural Management;
and
5) HIV and AIDS Awareness and Prevention.

Projects must include one or
more of the following disciplines: Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Arts
Education, Arts Management, and Film/Video/Digital Media.

Eligible project regions are Africa, East Asia, Eurasia, Central and
Southeastern Europe, the Near East/North Africa, South Asia, and the
Western Hemisphere.
No guarantee is made or implied that grants will
be
awarded in all themes and for all countries.
Applicants proposing
projects involving Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq must address the
security
issues presented by projects in these countries.

The Bureau is especially interested in engaging socially and
economically diverse groups of young people that may not have had
extensive contact with counterpart institutions in the United States.
Priority will be given to proposals that engage these participants in
countries with significant Muslim populations. We seek projects that
accomplish this goal in part by addressing public audiences, where
appropriate to the project.

Please review the entire Request for Grant Proposals (RFGP) on the
website for detailed information and instructions on how to apply. You
may also contact the appropriate program officer, depending on the arts
discipline in which you would work, for more information.

RFGP Website Address

Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Contacts for Additional
Information:

Performing Arts — Kathryn Wainscott or Sandra Rouse

Visual Arts — Leanne Mella; or E.J. Montgomery

Arts Education — Jill Staggs

Arts Management — Jill Staggs

Film/Video/Digital Media — Susan Cohen.