A Community between Two Worlds:
Arab Americans in Greater Detroit

PICTURED:Flag-waving students turn out for a Clean Up Our City rally in Dearborn, 1994. Photo courtesy of Bruce Harkness.

SCHEDULE FOR 2008-09:

Lorenzo Cultural Center
Clinton Twp., Michigan
September 27 - November 23, 2008

New Americans Museum
San Diego, California
February 21 - April 26, 2009

This exhibition has been displayed at the following sites: Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia, PA; Bay de Noc Community College, Escanaba, MI; Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit, MI; Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI; Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Falls, NY; National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Meeting, Detroit, MI; Sloan Museum, Flint, MI

The photographs in this exhibition celebrate the cultural and historical complexity of southeast Michigan's Arab American community. Arabs have been coming to Michigan and the United States for over a century. Detroit has one of the oldest and most diverse Arab communities in the nation. Now numbering approximately 250,000, it is also the largest Arab community in America. A Community between Two Worlds examines how life in Arab Detroit has changed since immigration to Michigan; shows how Arab American culture is part of American culture; explores the role traditional artists play in maintaining an Arab American identity; and traces the many links that tie Detroit to the Arab world.

Developed and curated by the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) (Dearborn, Michigan) and the Michigan State University Museum, the exhibition includes 59 historical and contemporary photographs. A Community Between Two Worlds is based on an earlier photographic exhibition by ACCESS and the National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian Institution.

This exhibition is eligible for funding through the Michigan Humanities Council's Arts and Humanities Touring Program. For more information, click here.

Rental fee (6-week period) :	$2,000, plus shipping
Number of pieces:	58 photographs
Running feet required:	300 ft.
Insurance Value:	$10,000
Security requirement:	Lockable, limited access display area; temperature and light controls; fire protection according to local ordinances
Additional materials available:	Press materials; educational materials; related publication available for resale

To purchase the publication, Arab Americans in Metro Detroit and other merchandise from the Michigan Traditional Arts Program Store, Click Here.

This traveling exhibition is an ACCESS/Michigan State University Museum, Michigan Traditional Arts Program activity made possible by the financial and in-kind support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ruth Mott Fund, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Community Folklife Program administered by The Fund for Folk Culture and underwritten by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Michigan Humanities Council, Terry Daoud, Yehia Shousher, ACCESS, the Michigan State University Museum, Detroit Historical Museum, the Arab American Advisory Committee, and the Arab American Arts Council.

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This is an activity supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs