This campaign just closed, but you can still donate
We appreciate you deeply for believing in our project and help keep the momentum until the last day of the campaign. While this Indiegogo campaign has closed, we are still accepting donations directly through our website. Please visit: http://www.nakbamuseumproject.com/#/support
We want to bring the Palestinian refugee story to Washington DC
The Nakba Museum
Project of Memory and Hope aims to finally tell the Palestinian refugee story, one that has been silenced or ignored for too long. By creating a virtual and physical space to feature these stories, using arts, films and oral history. We launched our project in June 2014 and have received enormous encouragement and engagment. Now we need your support!
Our space is committed to being nonpolitical
and nonpartisan. It’s simply tells the human story to build deeper understanding of the current impasse, and be a
venue for critical conversations for change.
Help us making our opening
exhibit "RECLAIMING THE LOST FUTURE" a reality, 12 - 27 June 2015
Our opening exhibit will feature art work from Palestinian
refugees and other Eye Witness testimonies, documentaries, stories, and writings from the region that would
tell their story of loss and resilience. The exhibit will feature three segments:
- Photography which will include historical photos before the period of 1948 and photos of refugees leaving their lands and villages and others from present day life.
- The second segment will be painting from artists who are still living in refugee camps to this day allowing them to tell their own personal stories and what it feels and looks like to live in a refugee camp.
- The third segment will be oral history, interviews with refugees and documentaries about the Nakba.
The space that we will be located in, is the Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Road Northwest, downtown Washington DC and will build momentum for creating the full museum. The exhibit to be FREE and open to the public.
What are the GOALS of this project?
-
Empower refugees by finally inviting them to tell their stories and share their experiences
- Educate Americans about the Nakba and its continuous impact on present day life of the Palestinians
- Build international solidarity and empathy with the Palestinian refugees who are scattered around the World
- Make it known that the Nakba is not only an historical event; it is an ongoing process that has continued since 1948
- Build a legacy that speaks to both peoples that sharing the land is indeed possible
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting" Milan Kundera
Your contributions will help us:
- Shipping costs to bring art work from Palestinian refuges artists
-
Help design the
exhibit and frame the paintings
- Buy projectors, screens, headphones and other vital equipment to share oral history stories, testimonies and documentaries
- Print professional
photography and frame them
- Bring a refugee
artist from Palestine to share his art work and personal stories
- Insurance for the artifacts
- Cover space expenses
What will you get in
Return?
-
This fundraising campaign is a partnership with Washington Report for Middle East Affairs magazine and Middle East books and more
- We are offering Museum memberships, recognition on social media and in the physical space, subscription to the magazine and the gift of valuable books
- All donations are tax- deductible in the United States. All contributions will go through our fiscal sponsor Nonviolence International, a 501(c)(3)
Team and advisory board
Our team include creative individuals from different backgrounds and religious faiths including Palestinians, Americans, Israelis, Christians, Jews and Muslims
Bshara Nassar – Project Director– A peacebuilder and social entrepreneur, a graduate of Bethlehem University, Palestine and holds a master's degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University.
Sam Feigenbaum – Web
and Graphic Designer – Holds
a master degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and a founder
of web and graphic design Company “J S Solutions”
Kaity Miller – Communication Consultant –Teaches "Alternatives to Violence" in DC Public Schools, and holds a BA in International Studies and Conflict Resolution from American University.
Ahmad Hmedat – Artist and Art Coordinator – Holds a BA in International Law from Bard College, he lives in Dheisha Refugee Camp in Bethlehem and a founder of Jabra Studio Art.
Allie Steimel –Exhibit
Designer and Lighting Consultant - Holds a master degree in architecture
and works at Claude Engle Lighting Design in Washington DC.
Tariq Shahwan – Assistant Intern – A Palestinian from East Jerusalem and a student at American
University in Washington DC.
Paul Costello – Advisory – Former Director of Washington Irish Program, South Africa – Washington International Program and New Story Leadership for Middle East
Ghada Talhami – Advisory – An author
of seven books about Palestine, Middle East and refugees and professor at Lake
Forest College in Chicago
Steve France –Advisory– A Lawyer, Co-founder of Friends of Tent of Nations and active Member of Friends of Sabeel North America
Mai Abdul Rahman –Advisory – A Palestinian Scholar and founder and president of American Palestinian Women's Association
Mubarak Awwad– Advisory – A Palestinian peacebuilder and the founder of Nonviolence International
Other Ways You Can Help
-
Explain to your friends and family why this project is needed and ask them if they are willing to contribute
-
Share our campaign on facebook, and other social media
-
Like our facebook page and sign up for our newsletter
- If you have a story, photos, art work or artifacts to share, allow us to feature it.
"The only way to stop oppression is to grab hold of your story" Barbara Myerhoff
The opening exhibit is in partnership with the Festival Center, talented artists from the Westbank and Gaza, Alice Rotchild ( Voices Across the Divide), Lia Tarachansy (On the other side of the road), Fida Qishta's (Where should the birds fly), Nonviolence International, New Story Leadership for Middle East, American Palestinian Women's Association, Middle East book and more and Washington Report for Middle East Affairs. We will keep you up to date on ongoing partnerships!
