| AANM open call invites artists to combine creativity and community |
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| Dearborn, Mich. (Aug. 29, 2019) – The Arab American National Museum (AANM) has an open call for its Artists + Residents program for residencies taking place between January and June of 2020, hosted at the City Hall Artspace Lofts (13615 Michigan Ave, Dearborn, MI 48126) across the street from the Museum. The residency is available to all individuals with creative and critical projects related to the Museum’s mission of documenting, preserving and presenting the history, culture and contributions of Arab Americans. |
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| Launched in 2016, this residency program is part of AANM’s ongoing commitment to make East Dearborn a national hub for Arab American art as the Museum moves into its 15th year. It brings together the artist, the community and the organization to cultivate and grow the artist’s practices while immersing them in a supportive culture for collaboration and civic engagement in the area. With a living and working space in Dearborn’s former City Hall, resident artists make the city their home, delving into the everyday life of the highest concentrated Arab American community in the U.S. and connecting to diverse communities from metro Detroit for research, dialogue and artistic collaboration. |
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| Lucille Lortel award-winning playwright and actress, Heather Raffo, is one of many artists who have taken part in AANM’s Artists + Residents program since launching in 2016. |
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| “The Artists + Residents program offers emerging and established artists an opportunity to push the boundaries of their practice through engagement with Southeast Michigan’s diverse community and all the resources that AANM has to offer,” said Diana Abouali, Director of the Arab American National Museum. “Hosting these artists exposes us to contemporary Arab American art and culture in an immediate and meaningful way, strengthening our ability to understand and speak intelligently about how Arab American artistic and cultural expression is taking shape.” |
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| Past residencies in the Artists + Residents program have had a wide range of focuses and engaged the community in ways big and small, ranging from artist talks and workshops to the creation of large-scale productions and exhibitions. Former residents include musician, composer and founding Director of the National Arab Orchestra, Michael Ibrahim; Lucille Lortel award-winning Iraqi American playwright and actress, Heather Raffo; and the Detroit-based Palestinian author of the graphic novels Baddawi (Shortlisted: Palestine Book Awards) and The Opening, Leila Adbelrazaq. |
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| “The residency allowed me to make my belief in art through social practice a reality,” Abdelrazaq said. “Through the creation of a collaborative, community art space, emerging artists like myself—from backgrounds often marginalized in the field of comics and zine-making—are able to reclaim spaces in a discipline whose long history of social and political dissent has been increasingly whitewashed.” |
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Artists + Residents is open to applicants from a wide range of artistic disciplines. For more information, or to apply by Friday, Sept. 13, 2019, visit
arabamericanmuseum.org/artists-residents.
A second open call for residencies taking place between July and December of 2020 will be held in the Spring. |
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| About Arab American National Museum
The Arab American National Museum (AANM) documents, preserves and presents Arab American history, culture and contributions.
AANM is a national institution of ACCESS, the largest Arab American community nonprofit in the U.S. AANM is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums; an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution; and a founding member of the Immigration and Civil Rights Network of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.
The Museum is located at 13624 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, MI, 48126. Visit arabamericanmuseum.org or call 313.582.2266 for further information. |
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