Arab American National Museum free to visit for Arab Heritage Month

April is Arab American Heritage Month and for the entire month, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn is offering free admission.

The 43,000-square-foot museum, the first and only museum of its kind in the United States devoted to exploring the Arab American experience, finally reopened to the public in February after a two-year closure because of COVID-19.

Located on Michigan Avenue, it features a mix of core exhibits that delve into Arab American culture along with rotating exhibits. Among its core exhibits is one called Coming to America that focuses on four time periods that Arab Americans came to the United States and artifacts they brought with them.

Metro Detroit has one of the largest and most concentrated populations of Arabs outside the Middle East.

"The museum is a very community-based space so when the museum was being constructed, folks went out into the community and collected oral histories, they collected personal narratives, they collected different items from people," said Dave Serio, the museum's curator of education, in a video on its website. "And they built the museum around those personal stories. So it's a very community-based institution, which is one of my favorite parts about the museum."

Even though the museum, which originally opened in 2005, was closed for two years during the pandemic, it did offer a wide of virtual programming. It offers performances, family events, tours, an Arab Film Fest every year and more.

The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 12-6 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $8 for adults; $4 for seniors, students and educators with ID; and free for kids 4 and under. Go to arabamericanmuseum.org/visit.

mfeighan@detroitnews.com

Arab American National Museum

13624 Michigan Ave., Dearborn.

Open Thursday through Saturday.

Free admission in April.

Go to arabamericanmuseum.org.