Fattah Announces State Department Grants to Two Philadelphia Museums for Student Cultural Exchange Programs

PHILADELPHIA, July 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (PA-02) is pleased to announce that the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia have received federal grant funding to foster international collaboration with museum counterparts abroad. Both institutions are the recipients of the 2014 Museums Connect grant from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the American Alliance of Museums. Only nine museums nationwide were awarded the selective grants this year.

"This grant is an exceptional honor for two of Philadelphia's pioneering museums. Not only is this funding going towards programs to expand our community's rich cultural traditions, and empower and educate Philadelphia students through the arts, it will increase the international visibility of our wonderful city," Congressman Fattah said. "I applaud the Academy of Natural Sciences and The Fabric Workshop and Museum for their commitment to creating unique, new cultural opportunities for our youth."

The Academy of Natural Sciences grant funding will go to support the WINS (Women in Natural Sciences) program in collaboration with the National Museum of Mongolia and serve as a launching point for empowering high school girls in both communities to engage in a better understanding of climate education through scientific research, discovery, and enrichment. The project will result in an after-school program curriculum about climate change variation in different habitats and diverse cultural practices that can be climate change catalysts or deterrents. 

The Fabric Workshop and Museum will collaborate with the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies on a project documenting oral histories from female embroidery artists and quilt-makers in Morocco and the United States. College students in Morocco and Philadelphia will build an online catalogue of the work of the textile artists and an exhibition of documentary photographs to be displayed in both museums; they will also collaborate on a joint textile project.

In its seventh year, Museums Connect links U.S. communities with communities around the world through innovative, museum-based exchanges that foster mutual understanding while focusing on important topics like women's empowerment, disability awareness, climate change, and civic engagement, among others.

For more information on this and other Museums Connect projects, please visit http://www.exchanges.state.gov/us/program/museums-connect.

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah

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