WASHINGTON, D.C., July 2, 2024 — The United States National Committee of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS-USA) has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant by the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project initiative to expand and implement the Monument Relocation, Removal, and Reinterpretation Toolkit (“Monuments Toolkit”).
During Phase One of the Monuments Toolkit Project, implemented with a 3-year grant from the Mellon Foundation, ICOMOS-USA has held conversations with experts on how to best address monuments of oppression in the United States and around the world. The Project has produced a podcast; a series of webinars; two Monuments Summer live audience events; and the soon-to-be-published:
- Monuments Toolkit, including case studies from around the world; guidance for methods to address controversial monuments; and training materials for advocacy work when addressing monuments of oppression; and
- Smartphone App for documenting controversial monuments and the actions being taken to address them.
Phase Two of the program will expand and implement the Monuments Toolkit Project, providing facilitation and consensus-building services for municipalities, organizations, and groups addressing controversial monuments.
As in Phase One of the program, the expansion and implementation phase will be supported by a multi-disciplinary staff of heritage and historic preservation professionals and community organizers from around the country along with an Advisory Panel composed of subject matter experts.
About ICOMOS-USA
The United States National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS-USA) is part of the worldwide ICOMOS network of people, institutions, government agencies, and private corporations who support the conservation of the world’s heritage. For over 50 years, ICOMOS-USA has worked to deliver the best of international historic preservation and heritage conservation work to the U.S. domestic preservation dialogue, while sharing and interpreting for the world the unique American historic preservation system.
As the only U.S. professional preservation organization with a global focus, ICOMOS-USA is the gateway for U.S. professionals to participate in worldwide heritage conservation. ICOMOS-USA guides and promotes activities through an extensive membership network of preservation professionals, institutions, and organizations, including specialized scientific committees. ICOMOS-USA also organizes an annual international scientific symposium, an international intern exchange program, and occasional special training courses and workshops.
ICOMOS-USA is a private, non-profit, non-governmental organization with 501(c)(3) status. ICOMOS-USA is supported by World Heritage USA.
For more information, please contact MonumentsToolkit [@] icomos-usa.org or call ICOMOS-USA at (202) 463-1291.
About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.