The Fiji Museum will complete full digital documentation of its holdings and make it all accessible online to people everywhere – all will be possible through a grant from the US government that is awarded for the preservation of cultural heritage.
Early this week, the US Embassy in Suva awarded the Fiji Museum the US$202,259 (FJ$420,698) grant through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).
At the end of the five-year award, when the digital documentation is complete, it will link Fiji’s diverse communities, as well as the world to the museum’s collection.
US Embassy Chargé d’affaires Tony Greubel said they were pleased to partner with the Fiji Museum to help preserve the important collection of Fiji’s cultural heritage.
“This partnership will support the museum in collecting, recording, digitising, preserving, and sharing objects and research materials that tell an important story about Fiji’s history and its people,” Mr Greubel said.
Out of a total 172 AFCP submissions, the Fiji Museum’s project was one of only 22 selected for funding.
According to the US Embassy, through this Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation project, the Fiji Museum will receive specialised training and knowledge that will bolster the museum’s ability to care for and share Fiji’s cultural heritage.
The AFCP supports projects to preserve a wide range of cultural heritage, including historic buildings, archaeological sites, ethnographic objects, paintings, manuscripts, and indigenous languages and other forms of traditional cultural expression.
