First Palestinian museum in the US opens in Connecticut

A new US museum dedicated to researching and preserving Palestinian history, as well as presenting art and individual stories from Palestinians there are around the world today, was launched by Palestinian-American businessman and entrepreneur Faisal Saleh. The first museum of its kind with permanent exhibition space in the US, PalestineMuseum.US held its grand opening yesterday, in Connecticut. The museum will feature historical documents, photography, film, oral histories, mixed and digital media, literary arts, public lectures and live performances. Exhibiting artists include the New York-based Palestinian-American abstract painter Samia Halaby, and Mohamed Saleh Khalil, who lives in Ramallah, serves as art director for the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, and supports developing artists. “The mission of the PalestineMuseum. US is to tell the Palestinian story to a broad worldwide audience,” says Saleh, who after more than 40 years of entrepreneurial endeavour is now tackling one of the most ambitious media projects in the US. Saleh was born in El Bireh (Ramallah), to a refugee family from the pre-1948 Palestinian village of Salameh (Jaffa). The museum is an independent, non-political, non-religious, not-for-profit organisation incorporated in the State of Connecticut. It is managed by an initial board of directors whose members are exclusively professionals of Palestinian heritage. Saleh is funding the start-up phase of the museum, but he hopes that other Palestinian entrepreneurs will join him as charter supporters. Ultimately, he envisages a larger home for the museum in either New York or Washington, DC.