Mizna
مُزْنَة | |
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| Founded | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Kathryn Haddad and Saleh Abudayyeh |
| Type | 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization |
| Location |
|
| Products | Mizna |
| Services | Literary publishing; film festival production; arts programming |
Executive and artistic director | Lana Barkawi[1] |
| Website | mizna |
Mizna (مُزْنَة; lit. "cloud") is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.[2][3] It publishes Arab and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) literature and art, and presents film and arts programming.[4][5] Its principal programs include the literary magazine Mizna and the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival.[6]
History
[edit]Mizna developed from a community newsletter connected to the Minnesota chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.[6][7] Kathryn Haddad and Saleh Abudayyeh, who were ADC volunteers, assembled the newsletter before founding Mizna as a literary journal.[6]
In 1999, Mizna published the first issue of Mizna: Prose, Poetry, and Art Exploring Arab America.[6] In 2001, Minnesota Public Radio described Mizna as a Minneapolis-published literary journal featuring Arab American writing.[3] NPR later reported that the journal was a venue for writers and artists responding to representations of the Middle East and its people.[7]
In 2003, Mizna launched the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival.[6] The organization later expanded its public programming to include readings, film series, performances, public art commissions, classes, workshops, and community events.[5]
In 2019, Mizna co-presented the exhibition History Is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary with the Minnesota Museum of American Art. The exhibition was curated by Heba Y. Amin and Maymanah Farhat.[8]
Publishing
[edit]Mizna publishes the biannual literary and art journal Mizna, founded in 1999.[6][7] NPR described it in 2019 as the first Arab American literary journal in the United States.[7] Mizna also publishes Mizna Online, a digital platform for literary and multidisciplinary work.[1]
In 2021, the journal received the CLMP Firecracker Award for magazines/general excellence.[9] In 2023, it received the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize.[10]
In 2024, Mizna published Gazan poet Yahya Ashour's poetry e-book A Gaza of Siege & Genocide and announced an inaugural fellowship to support him.[11] The e-book was later discussed in an Institute for Palestine Studies interview with Ashour and in a profile of Ashour in The Harvard Crimson.[12][13]
Twin Cities Arab Film Festival programming
[edit]Mizna launched the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival in 2003.[6] The festival presents cinema by Arab and SWANA filmmakers from the region and diaspora.[5] Arts Midwest described the journal and film festival as Mizna's two flagship programs.[6]
In 2013, Minnesota Public Radio covered the festival as a Twin Cities arts event.[14] The festival includes juried prizes, audience awards, and filmmaker appearances.[1]
Funding and awards
[edit]In 2016, Mizna received a Knight Arts Challenge St. Paul grant for Arab Film Fest: The St. Paul Edition.[15] In 2017, it received a Knight Arts Challenge grant for Art and Arab America: The New Millennium, a retrospective exhibition and related programming at the Minnesota Museum of American Art.[16]
In 2018, Mizna received the Sally Award for Social Impact from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.[17] In 2021, it was named a Regional Cultural Treasure through a Ford Foundation and McKnight Foundation initiative supporting Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American-led arts organizations in Minnesota.[5]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "About". Mizna. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ "Mizna". ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- 1 2 Stucky, Mary (December 7, 2001). "Mizna". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Thamer, Sarah (April 26, 2024). "'I wanted to see stories about our experience': For 25 years Mizna has helped artists make cultural connections". MPR News. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "$12.6 Million Initiative Offers New Funding for Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American-Led Arts Organizations" (PDF). McKnight Foundation. May 18, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mohamed, Abdi (February 28, 2023). "For the Community, by the Community: Mizna and Masrah". Arts Midwest. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Allam, Hannah (November 3, 2019). "Literary Journal 'Mizna' Celebrates 20 Years Of Arab American Writing". NPR. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ "History Is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary". Minnesota Museum of American Art. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Anderson, Porter (June 30, 2021). "Independent Publishing: CLMP Honors 2021 'Firecracker Award' Winners". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Stewart, Sophia (September 12, 2023). "2023 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize Winners Announced". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ "A Gaza of Siege & Genocide". Mizna. March 29, 2024. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Urick, N. Bilal (July 26, 2024). "A Gaza of Siege and Genocide: In Conversation with Yahya Ashour". Palestine Square. Institute for Palestine Studies. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Wang Zi-Ming, Sean (August 24, 2024). "Artist Profile: Yahya Ashour on the Struggle to Represent Loss". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Kerr, Euan (March 12, 2013). "2013 Twin Cities Arab Film Festival set to launch". MPR News. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Ganuza, Adam (October 11, 2016). "Announcing the winning ideas in the Knight Arts Challenge St. Paul". Knight Foundation. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ "Knight Foundation names 29 winning ideas in 2017 St. Paul Knight Arts Challenge". Knight Foundation. October 4, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2026.
- ↑ Hewitt, Chris (September 4, 2018). "Ordway honors artists for innovation, leadership". Star Tribune. Retrieved April 30, 2026.