Sep 16th - Sep 23rd, 2026
Ahla friends,
I have realized that I do not share enough with you, so I’m changing this.
Here is what to expect from this newsletter moving forward:
I will tell you what is happening inside Menna. The real version, regularly.
I’ll be sharing back what I learn from you. Results from polls, surveys, the projects you love and want to support. It is time the newsletter started feeling like both sides of that conversation.
We’ll also be sharing more about the perks, the giveaways, and the many people that have been helping me build menna. I have a lot of gratitude to put somewhere, and this is where it goes.
And a design refresh, to make the newsletter more personal and easier to move through.
Every issue, from now on, looks like this:
The Shortlist: 5 picks, max to force myself to only bring what’s special
The Free One: self explanatory
Community Dispatch: a Project, a Person, or Story to support
Menna Salon: what’s next (PS: only 3 tickets left)
Menna Wou Fenna: a community board to share perks, results from polls and surveys, your wins and hands on menna.
With that, let's get into it.
THE SHORTLIST
The events worth your time
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photobooks USA: 2000-25 Conversation with Farah Al Qasimi and Jeff Mermelstein
◷ Wednesday, September 16 | 6:30 PM
📍Studio Sabek, Crown Heights
$0-5
UAE-born, Brooklyn-based photographer Farah Al Qasimi joins Jeff Mermelstein at ICP to talk about translating their work into book form, her book Hello Future and his #nyc.
Why I like it: Farah is one of the sharpest eyes documenting Arab domestic life and intimacy right now, and her eye is turning the familiar intro the most unexpected lens.
FOOD
Just Middle Eastern Dinner by Carla Aziz (Studio Bumi)
◷ Friday, September 18 | 7:30 PM
📍304 Bond Street, Brooklyn
$103 (use code MENNA for 50% off)
Brooklyn-based designer and cook Carla Aziz hosts a dinner celebrating food from summers spent with her grandparents in Beirut, with a menu that moves through Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq
Why I like it: Studio Bumi has a quite unusual system,every dinner is hosted by people who started out as guests themselves…And the discount is real. I will also be there.
PARTY
NOORIYAH Presents The Hello Tour
◷ Friday, September 18 | 11:50 PM
📍Webster Hall, East Village
$35–$50
Egyptian artist NOORIYAH brings The Hello Tour to Webster Hall with Nanoos and Maiya, plus special guests to be announced. Late night, 18+
Why I like it: Arabic music taking over a major New York venue late on a Friday + she is quite popular
FOOD-FUNDRAISER
Palestinian Arayes
◷ Friday, September 18 | 6:00 PM
📍Rodeo BK, Brooklyn
Free
final pop-up before leaving the East Coast. Arayes: grilled pita pockets stuffed with spiced meat, and it’s a fundraiser for Palestine.
Why I like it: Their fundraisers and events have been loved by many of our readers.
COMEDY
SubwayTakes Live! with Kareem Rahma
◷ Tuesday, September 22 | 7 & 9:30 PM
📍Brooklyn Improv, Williamsburg
$33
Kareem Rahma and a rotating panel of comedians and cultural icons: hot takes, strong opinions, audience participation, live music, and standup. Bring a take you are willing to defend. 21+.
Why I like it: cause outside validation feels also nice 🙂 + they usually have cool guests.
THE FREE ONE
Accessible and delightful
SUSTAINABILITY
United Nations Panel on "Where We Live Next"
◷ Tuesday, September 22 | 5:00–6:00P
📍United Nations HQ, Manhattan
A live panel examining climate, housing, migration, and investment: the overlapping forces reshaping where people can actually live. Topics include migration patterns, and protecting belonging, culture, and quality of life, not just physical assets
Why I like it: The framing of belonging and culture alongside climate and housing adds a usual missing layer + menna friend and futurist Amer Jandali is one of the guest speaker. See? we don’t only do habibi parties :)
COMMUNITY DISPATCH
Project, people, news
Yaa Samar! Dance Theater Is Coming Home
Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre was founded in 2005 by Palestinian-American choreographer Samar Haddad King. For over 20 years, the company has built performance and education programs for our community across New York City, most of it free or low-cost, and has performed in 21 countries across 5 continents.
On October 13, they bring Losing It to New York for its NYC premiere. The work, co-created by Samaa Wakim and Haddad King, asks how growing up under occupation, alongside the trauma of previous generations, manifests physically in the body. The live score is built from field recordings collected in Palestine since 2010. It has toured 80+ cities across 16 countries. One critic called it "an intense, overwhelming, and necessary stage experience." New York gets one night.
The benefit takes place at Funoon in Greenpoint, with a performance followed by an artist conversation, dinner, and drinks. Tickets start at $60 but our community get them for $40, just use the promocode ARTIST40. Proceeds are going toward YSDT's Fall 2026 season and the programs that keep their work accessible.
MENNA SALON
SWANA . Artsy . Elevated Gatherings
menna salon 01
Jinn Flickers Through History
(only 2 spots left)
◷ Saturday, September 19 | 6–18PM
📍Williamsburg
$50
Social hour 6-7pm
mingle with other menna readers. Wine by Terra Sancta, Food instal by Taraneh and Eva.
Talk 7-8pm
Beeta Baghoolizadeh, a Princeton professor will walk us through how Jinns or genies have shaped the SWANA world and beyond.
How are we feeling about the newsletter 2.0
HOW CAN WE HELP?
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Time to collab →
Have an idea?
A collaboration, a venue, a cool project? Tell us and let's see what we can build
Let’s chat →
— Menna curates cultural content and events for informational purposes only. Event details are subject to change—
