Palestinian American Entrepreneur Launches Palestine Museum US
Woodbridge, CT, USA – March 16, 2018 – A new US-based museum dedicated to researching and preserving Palestinian history, as well as presenting art and individual stories from Palestinians in Palestine and in diaspora around the world today, is launched by Palestinian American businessman and entrepreneur Faisal Saleh. The first US-based Palestinian museum with permanent exhibition space, PalestineMuseum.US will hold its grand opening on April 22, 2018, in Woodbridge, CT, USA. The museum will feature historical documents, photography, film, oral histories, mixed and digital media, literary arts, public lectures, and live performances.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, world-renowned Palestinian-American abstract painter, Samia Halaby, and Mohamed Saleh Khalil, who resides in Ramallah, serves as art director for the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, and supports developing Palestinian artists.
“The mission of the PalestineMuseum.US is to tell the Palestinian story to a broad worldwide audience,” says Saleh, who after over 40 years of entrepreneurial undertakings is now tackling one of the most ambitious Palestinian 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). Arriving in United States in 1969 at age 17, he earned a BA in Economics (Oberlin College) and an MBA in Business Management (University of Connecticut), and he has founded several companies.
“I’m overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for this project,” says Saleh. “Our Facebook page, which has been up for just a few months, has 4,000 followers. We post in both English and Arabic, and it’s especially gratifying to see ‘likes’ and comments coming from the West Bank and Gaza. Our Instagram following is growing, too.” He is receiving proposals for exhibitions from artists, writers, and performers around the world, and he is in the process of establishing curators.
The PalestineMuseum.US is an independent nonpolitical, nonreligious, not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of Connecticut. It is managed by an initial board of directors whose members are exclusively professionals of Palestinian heritage. “We are in the process of expanding the board to accomplish further geographic and professional diversity,” explains Saleh, who serves as the Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the museum. He has also developed a Global Advisory Board composed of Palestinian and non-Palestinian members from various professional backgrounds. Saleh is funding the startup phase of the museum, but he hopes that other Palestinian entrepreneurs will join him as charter supporters. Ultimately, he envisions a larger home for the museum in either New York or Washington, DC.
For more information, contact Faisal Saleh, Executive Director, at +1 203.530.2258 or faisal.saleh@palestinemuseum.us.
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