The National Centre for Arts and Culture,NCAC has received a grant of US$21,000 from the United States Fund and Cultural Preservation. The funding agreement for the one-year project was signed with the United States Ambassador to The Gambia, Mr John D Stafford, at his office on September 18, 2006.

The United States Fund for Cultural Preservation is an initiative of the United States government which is designed to assist less well-endowed countries conserve and develop their cultural heritage.

This particular grant is meant to facilitate the implementation of conservation and interpretation works at Fort Bullen, Barra and the six Gun Battery in State House, Banjul. Both sites were inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage list in 2003 as part of the James Island inscription which includes other sites of relevance to the European occupation.

The significance of Fort Bullen and the six-gun battery is that they are the only known European structures in the sub-region specially built to stop the trade in slaves, as distinct from perpetuating the trade, which the other European forts represent.

The works to be implemented with the grant include the restoration of the Sea Defence at Fort Bullen, the development of a site museum at Fort Bullen, the conversion of a guardhouse into a souvenir shop and also the consolidation of parapet walls and walks at the six-Gun battery and Fort Bullen, respectively.

The project is to be implemented with technical assistance from the department of Technical services, , and the Africa 2009 programme for the conservation of immovable cultural heritage in sub-saharan Africa. Mr Baba A Ceesay, on behalf of the board and management of the NCAC, expressed gratitude to the United States government for what he described as laudable gesture. He assured them that the project will be judiciously expedited in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant agreement.