Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here!
March - May 2019| Portland, Oregon
The exhibits will be on display at four different locations. The primary exhibit is on display at the Collins Gallery at Multnomah County Central Library with auxiliary exhibits at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, the Art Building Gallery on the campus of Portland State University, and on the main floor of the library at Portland Community College - Sylvania Campus.
Scroll Down to see the exhibits and go to the events page for all programing
This exhibition is partially funded by a grant from the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition and the Oregon Cultural Trust in partnership with Multnomah County Library, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, Littman and White Galleries of Portland State University (PSU), Middle East Studies Center of PSU, Iraqi Student Club of PSU, Iraqi Society of Oregon, Portland City Council Office of Neighborhood Involvement, Milwaukie Poetry Series, Ledding Library, and the the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here! Coalition.
an amazing Evening of Food, Fun and Entertainment
On Saturday, March 5th, 2016 over 200 people gathered at Hoffman Hall on PSU campus from 6pm - 10pm for an evening of wonderful Iraqi food and desserts and the music of Ronny Hermiz. They heard poetry spoken by Suhair Al A'srji and an Iraqi traditional song, sung by Massarra Eiwaz. They heard the poetry Omar Al Ghabib and of Suhaib. Mid-way through the evening, Wim Wiewel, the President of Portland State University, stopped by and spoke words of appreciation and encouragement to the students, the immigrants and refugees in the crowd, acknowledging that he, too, was one of them. And they danced! They danced an Iraqi dabke dance, old and young alike, including several dozen young Iraqi children, and all were entertained by Violetta, a consummate belly dancer. In addition there were a number of videos about the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here! coalition and about Iraq, including the rebuilt Al-Mutanabbi Street and the Abu Nuwas amusement park. Jim Lommasson presented his What We Carried photographs and Akram Sarraj exhibited a number of his paintings. All in all, it was an amazing evening!
The location was secured with the help of the Iraqi Student's Club and the Middle East Studies Center of Portland State University.