Coordinating and Supporting Organizations

We cannot do this work alone. Collaboration and partnerships are integral to our four areas of cultural heritage protection. This is a worldwide effort, and the Smithsonian is only one of many organizations that have devoted resources to this important cause.

Through strategic partnerships with government agencies and cultural organizations, the Smithsonian:

• Participates in the U.S. Department of State Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee for international crises and chairs the task force for programs and public awareness;
• Co-chairs with FEMA the domestic Heritage Emergency National Task Force;
• Cooperates and coordinates with UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the Prince Claus Fund through Cultural Emergency Response (CER), ICOM (International Council of Museums) and other international, governmental and professional organizations;
• Advises policy makers and government entities about cultural heritage disaster preparedness and response and implementation of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict;
• Participates in professional and academic conferences to promulgate awareness of cultural heritage disasters and response;
• Cooperates with U.S. and international law enforcement agencies in producing the ICOM Red List and materials to warn of cultural looting and trafficking;
• Produces museum exhibitions, publications, and public programs to alert the public about cultural disasters and their consequences.

Below is a list of organizations from whom we benefit from close cooperation.

• ALIPH – International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas
• American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
• Blue Shield International (BSI)
• Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC)
• Cultural Emergency Response (CER)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• Gerda Henkel Foundation
• Heritage Emergency National Task Force (HENTF)
• Heritage Emergency Response Initiative (HERI)
• Hollings Center for International Dialogue
• Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
• International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM)
• International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
• International Council of Museums (ICOM)
• Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiques and Heritage (IICAH)
• Kosciuszko Foundation
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Musee du Louvre
• National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
• Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum (PennCHC)
• President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
• Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development 
• The American Academic Research Institute of Iraq (TAARII)
• The Antiquities Coalition
• Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab (HEMO)
• U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
• U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• U.S. Department of Interior
• U.S. Department of State (DOS)
• U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP)
• University of Maryland (UMD)
• University of Delaware
• University of Pennsylvania
• Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH)
• World Economic Forum – Davos
• World Monuments Fund (WMF)