For over 50 years, the Cultural Office of the Public Affairs Section at the Embassy of the United States in Cairo has supported Egyptian arts and culture. We work closely with the Egyptian people to increase mutual understanding and build friendly, peaceful relations between the people of the United States and Egypt through arts and culture projects, exchanges, and public -private partnerships.
The Cultural Affairs Office offers Egyptians direct experience with the American way of life, including its educational, political, and economic systems. The Cultural Section also explains and promotes the interests, concerns, and values of the American people. We also foster more robust perceptions of the U.S. by stimulating broader dialogue through exchanges and visiting U.S. speakers.
We believe in the importance of creating cultural dialogue, supporting creative approaches to contemporary challenges, and building platforms to avert conflict and build ties. We aim to engage Egyptian artists, creative professionals, arts managers, and the general public with the objective to learn, exchange experiences, and create together.
Ambassador’s Fund For Cultural Preservation
The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) supports the preservation of cultural sites, cultural objects, and forms of traditional cultural expression in more than 100 developing countries around the world. Read more here.
Cultural Property Agreement Implementation Projects
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo is now accepting applications for Cultural Property Agreement Implementation Grants (CPAIG) projects that seek to protect Egypt’s cultural property from looting, theft, and trafficking. This open call is being conducted on behalf of the Cultural Heritage Center in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the interagency Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF). The CPAIG projects will help further U.S. and Egyptian efforts under the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Concerning the Imposition of Import Restrictions on Categories of Cultural Property in Egypt. More Information here.
Programs, Partners, and Opportunities
The Cultural Affairs Office, part of the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, supports a wide range of arts & culture projects in Egypt. Our programming includes visual and electronic arts, design, music, theatre, dance, film, urbanism, architecture and cultural heritage. The office also supports capacity building workshops, exchanges, and visiting U.S. experts in areas such as arts management, curatorial and museum studies, and creative entrepreneurship.
Depending on project type, we welcome conversation with all creative professionals working in the field of arts and culture. Our current local partners include a diverse selection of Egyptian ministries, government institutions, and independent cultural organizations, as well as individual artists and arts managers. Our collaboration with Egyptian partners ranges from academic conferences and seminars and student activities to festivals, performances, and fine arts events.
The Cultural Office has been a proud partner for Darb 1718, Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF), Cairotronica, CairoComix, The Nile Project, Megawra’s Athar Lina Initiative, Hakawy International Festival for Children, Ezzat Ezzat Contemporary Dance Studio, Cairo Opera House (COH) Complex, Rise Up Summit, and many more.
If you’re a creative professional in Egypt and want to discuss how we might work together, please send us a note with what you do, what you’d like to do, and how we fit in.
Please check out the complete list of our current and upcoming opportunities for artists, creative professionals, and institutions.
