NEH Awards Arab American Museum Grant To Update Permanent Exhibits
Press release: Arab American National Museum
Two-phase research and implementation process to focus on recent immigration patterns and refugee communities
DEARBORN, Mich. (Aug. 10, 2016) – The Arab American National Museum (AANM) has received a $45,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to fund research to update the Museum’s permanent exhibits.
In recent years, immigration patterns from the Arab World have shifted to include populations that are not currently represented in the Museum’s exhibits or public programs. AANM will explore recent immigrant and refugee communities, particularly those from countries in North Africa (Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, and Egypt), who are underrepresented in both AANM and scholarly programs. By accounting for these communities, the update aims to give recent arrivals a more proportionate voice in Arab American history.
“The Arab American community has experienced marked demographic shifts in the last 10-15 years, mostly due to military interventions and civil conflict in Arab countries,” says Dr. Matthew Jaber Stiffler, AANM’s research and content manager. “It is important to document the experiences of these new immigrant and refugee communities across the U.S. and to have those experiences reflected in AANM’s permanent exhibits.”
The update allows for research and planning for exhibitions, collections and programming about Arab Americans’ experiences, culture and history. The funding provided by NEH will help facilitate a greater public understanding of Arab Americans and their contributions to and influences on American culture and identity.
The recent grant AANM received from NEH is part of a two-phase process. Phase-one funding affords Museum subject matter experts the opportunity to conduct the necessary background work required to update exhibits, while phase two entails applying for a competitive implementation grant from NEH to actually fabricate and install the exhibit updates, based on findings of the planning phase.
In the planning phase, AANM will partner with leading scholars to conduct community-based research with a representative selection of recent immigrant and refugee communities across the country.
AANM’s update supports the NEH’s new initiative, The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square, by filling the growing gap in information on the Arab American community through thoughtful and inclusive research, the results of which will deepen the AANM’s permanent exhibit space, collections, and public programming for our growing local, regional and national audiences.
The funding AANM received from NEH is part of $79 million in grants for 290 humanities projects and programs across the United States. NEH grants were awarded in 14 humanities fields or areas to institutions, scholars and humanities organizations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
NEH is an independent federal agency that funds humanities projects in fields such as art history, literature, philosophy and archaeology. Created in 1965, NEH awards grants three times a year to top-rated proposals as examined by panels of independent reviewers.