Monday, March 16, 2015
Increasing Public Understanding of Muslim Societies Drives Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art's Building Bridges Program
The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (DDFIA) announced today that it is awarding nine U.S. nonprofit organizations a total of $1,653,698 in grants as a result of the Building Bridges Program’s second annual funding competition.
“In this fraught time as a small band of extremists attempt to usurp and malign the public narrative of more than one fourth of the world’s humanity— more than1.6 billion Muslims—we need imaginative ways to open new pathways for connection and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims to strengthen our social fabric,” said Zeyba Rahman, senior program officer for the DDFIA Building Bridges Program. “We are inspired by the thoughtful, creative programs that these organizations will undertake and are delighted to support their projects to engage communities through arts experiences that more accurately represent the vast diversity and richness of Muslim societies.”