Recognizing and congratulating Trish Wellenbach and the Please Touch Museum on the opening of their America to Zanzibar Exhibit, a vibrant exhibition celebrating the diversity of modern and historic Muslim communities across Philadelphia and the world through art, technology, and interactive programming, which will be open to the public from February 2, 2019 - September 19, 2019.

WHEREAS, The America to Zanzibar Exhibit is the first project under the Please Touch Museum’s new initiative to address relevant social issues and represent Philadelphia’s culturally diverse populations; and

WHEREAS, The purpose of the exhibit is to counter the prejudice American Muslims increasingly face, open broader dialogue for families around diversity, promote understanding and acceptance, and serve as the basis for future exhibition development around other contemporary social issues; and

WHEREAS, Philadelphia has one of the largest Muslim populations per capita of any major City in the United States, as there are an estimated 200,000 Muslim residents and over 50 mosques throughout the City. African-American Muslims constitute roughly a third of the American Muslim population and 85% of Philadelphia’s Muslim population; and

WHEREAS, The exhibit will highlight the uniqueness of these populations through voices from the community and ephemera from Philadelphia’s Muslim households as well as artwork, performances, collaboration with Muslim leaders, and partnerships with local museums; and

WHEREAS, The goals of the exhibit are to introduce children and their families to diversity and commonalities in contemporary Muslim communities in Philadelphia and across the country/world, provide a safe and positive space for children and their families to discuss Islam, demonstrate how cultures have peacefully co-existed for centuries, and prepare children to become global citizens; and

WHEREAS, The Please Touch Museum will partner with research labs and academic institutions to develop a research component to the exhibition that will measure its impact in areas including empathy, prejudice, and respect for diversity in young children, as well as the impact of parent engagement in helping children understand and deal with contemporary social issues; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby recognizes and congratulates Trish Wellenbach and the Please Touch Museum for the opening of their America to Zanzibar Exhibit, which will run from February 2, 2019 - September 19, 2019.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Trish Wellenbach and the Please Touch Museum as further evidence of the sincere appreciation and admiration of this legislative body.

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