The multi-year program, “Connecting the Gems of the Indian Ocean: From Oman to East Africa,” will begin in 2014 and include visual and performing arts, exhibitions, workshops and lectures.
The gift recognizes “the borderless character of the arts,” said Hunaina Sultan Al-Mughairy, Oman’s ambassador to the United States. “It is layered to showcase the historical links between the cultures and people of the Indian Ocean rim.” She said the program will be “fun, educational and profound.”
“The funding will make it possible to tell an amazing story” of trade and diasporic influence, said museum director Johnnetta Betsch Cole. It will include traditional and newly commissioned dance and music performances by Howard University, along with a commissioned opera with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, who was on hand for the announcement.
