May 9, 2019

Grassroots

Mizna was co-founded as a grassroots organization by Kathryn Haddad and Saleh Abudayyeh who identified a need for an artistic space dedicated to Arab and Muslim writers to narrate their own stories and make work on their own terms. Along with a small group of other Arab, SWANA, and Muslim writers, artists, and scholars, Kathy and Saleh established Mizna during vibrant time in the ’90s when Asian and Black Twin Cities artists and activists were creating collectives and working together to imagine a more socially just and representative arts scene. Kathy Haddad went on to lead Mizna as its first executive director from 1999 to 2009.