WASHINGTON - Congressman Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) announced today that the Alfred P. Sloan Museum in Flint would receive a $74,479 grant for Retelling Our Story, an interactive community engagement project highlighting the history of the Flint area. The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Sloan this funding as part of its Museum for American grant program.  Sloan will use this grant to explore the history, present and potential future of the Flint area through story circles, oral histories, photography and historic research.

“I am delighted that these funds will be available to the Sloan Museum to further engage the community in exploring the history of Flint as seen by the people who have lived here,” Kildee said.  “We must continue to preserve our history so that future generations may learn from our past experiences.”

The Retelling Our Story project will run from August 2005 to July 31, 2007, encompassing the final phase of Sloan’s A View from the Front Porch, a multifaceted approach to retelling the history of Flint through the eyes of its residents, and a major part of Flint’s 2005 Sesquicentennial Celebration.  Sloan will highlight the histories of various Flint neighborhoods and provide a community gallery in which area residents can contribute their own exhibits and performances.