Local groups are organizing a Martin Luther King Day event focusing on children and the war in Gaza.

ADC Kids Club is to present Children for Peace in Gaza (CPG) on Monday, Jan. 19, 5:30 p.m. at the Greenfield Manor, 4770 Greenfield Road in Dearborn.

“CPG is an ADC Kids Club initiative to engage the children in the U.S. to assist the children who are suffering in Gaza,” American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Michigan organizers said in a release.

“ADC Kids Club calls upon parents and children/youth to attend and participate in a special presentation by the CPG to commemorate MLK and the children in Gaza.”

The group said the event, scheduled to follow a noon MLK Day march and rally at Central United Methodist Church, 23 East Adams Avenue in Detroit, is being put together in collaboration with the Congress of Arab American Organizations and the Palestine Office-MI.

Call 313.581.1201 or email Nadia Fadel at nfadel@adc.org for information.

“Gilgamesh” performance at University of Michigan

In a show based on “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” the ancient Mesopotamian epic poem about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh and his search for immortality, award-winning Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh plays Arab-inspired improvisations, using computer technology to layer the music, while Syrian-Armenian painter Kevork Mourad creates illustrations projected onto a large screen in a University Musical Society performance on Jan. 23 and 24 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at the University of Michigan Biomedical Science Research Building, 109 Zina Pitcher Place in Ann Arbor.

At the story’s climax, Mourad’s drawing gives way to a prerecorded animation.

“The audience held its breath as the characters in the painting danced, violently battled, then made peace and walked away hand-in-hand, while coordinating carefully with Azmeh’s music,” wrote a Juilliard Journal reviewer.

Tickets, $30, are available at the Michigan League, 911 North University, at www.ums.org, at the door or by phone. Call 734.764.2538 or 800.221.1229.

Arab American art exhibit to open

An Arab American art exhibit titled “Reflections: An Exhibition of Contemporary Arab American Art” is set to open on Jan. 21, scheduled to run through March 6 at Henry Ford Community College’s Sisson Gallery in the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center, 5101 Evergreen Road in Dearborn.

Contributing artists include Sari Khoury, Hashim Al-Tawil, Mamoun Sakkal, Abdulhussein Twaij, Joseph Namy, Imad Hassan, May Abutaam, Mohamed Bazzi, Sabah Yousef, Salam Jamil, Hayder Yasiri and Ahmed Mizel. Call 313.845.6489 for information.

Gaza Benefit Concert Approaching

The University of Southern California in Los Angeles will be the site of the “Gaza Benefit Concert: Raising Our Voices for the Voiceless” on Saturday, January 24.

The event is being put on by the Muslim Public Affairs Council Foundation and will feature a variety of musicians, actors, and civic leaders.

The group bills the concert as an opportunity for the community to raise its voices for the voiceless people of Gaza, who are suffering horrifically from Israel’s attack on their neighborhoods. All proceeds will benefit the victims in Gaza, with ticket prices set at $20 for adults and $15 for students. For more information about the event or how to donate, go to //www.mpac.org/images/mpacnews/gaza-concert-hi.jpg or GazaBenefit.org.

Other sponsors of the event include Islamic Relief and KinderUSA, organizations who are already working on the ground in Gaza to provide food, medicine and other much-needed supplies to the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip.

Kettering University scholarship deadline approaching

Applications are available at www.accesscommunity.org for the Russell J. Ebeid ’62 ACCESS Scholarship for Arab American students at Kettering University.

The deadline to apply for the 2009-2010 award is March 2.

The scholarship is valued at $5,000 and is renewable.

Ebeid established the program with the purpose of supporting Arab American students who are interested in cooperative education and service.

The scholarship recipient will be announced in May.

Arab Americans to pitch-in across nation

The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) is planning service projects across the nation to honor Martin Luther King Jr. through volunteer work on Jan. 19.

A metro-Detroit group of volunteers is to make sandwiches and collect canned goods for the homeless. The group will meet at ACCESS, 6154 Schafer Road in Dearborn, at 11 a.m. Register online at www.servedetroit.org under Arab American Resource Corps Project. A free brunch is included.

Other projects across the nation include discussions on minority struggles and activism in Chicago, seminars to help newly arrived refugees find jobs in Atlanta and work with homeless shelters and food drives in New York and Boston.

There are 18 independent Arab American organizations in nine states participating in projects meant to uphold the vision of Dr. King.

— News briefs compiled by Khalil AlHajal and Nick Meyer