MUSICAL EXPERIENCE
Sufi Sessions

Sat Aug 2d, 6-10pm
Bogart House, East Williamsburg

Sufi Sessions is a listening experience of soulful, heart-led music inspired by Sufi philosophy, love, presence, and remembrance. Genres included but not limited to: Soulful Afrobeats, Private School Amapiano, Future R&B, 3 Step, and beyond.

Tickets at $22

PARTY
Yalla! X The Bush - Day Party

Sat Aug 2d, 4-8pm
The Bush, East Williamsburg

We’ve featured Yalla! before, but it’s time for a reintroduction: this NYC-based collective throws vibrant queer SWANA dance parties that celebrate diasporic sounds and joyful community energy. They’re back at it with a daytime party at The Bush this weekend.

Free

POPUP
Nokshi x Thrift 4 Gaza

Aug 2d & 3d, 12-7pm
Williamsburg

Nokshi, a New York–based fashion brand known for using deadstock materials, has partnered with Thrift 4 Gaza to host a weekend of vintage shopping. While only a few vendors have been announced so far, 100% of the proceeds will go toward mutual aid efforts in Gaza.

RSVP

CONCERT
Brooklyn Chaabi Project

Sun Aug 3d, 6-9pm
Barzakh cafe, Crown Heights

The Brooklyn Chaabi Project brings Algeria’s soulful Chaabi music to life, performing classics by legends like Dahmane El Harrachi and Kamel Messaoudi. Led by Tony Daniels, a genre-blending musician with deep roots in global sounds, the project blends reverence and reinvention to explore themes of love, exile, and resilience. The evening includes a full set, optional jam session, and South Indian vegetarian food by SMB’s Tiffins.

Tickets at $11

COLLAB
ArteEast X Michael Hambouz

Fri Aug 1-15

ArteEast has partnered with artists of MENA origin to launch limited-edition merch, with proceeds supporting their mission. The first collaboration features Palestinian-American multidisciplinary artist, musician, illustrator, and curator Michael Hambouz. For 15 days only, you can shop his bold, technicolor-infused creations, works shaped by music, cultural memory, and chromesthesia, where identity takes form through vivid, layered experimentation.

Shop

ANIME
The Glassworker

Thur Aug 14-17th
Angelika, Soho

Watermelon Pictures is bringing The Glassworker to U.S. theaters. Directed by Usman Riaz and produced by Mano Animation Studios, this 2024 Pakistani animated film is a hand-drawn anti-war romantic drama that’s earned critical and audience acclaim alike. The movie viewing will be followed by a Q&A.

Tickets at $21

POETRY
Brooklyn Poets: Reading Series

Fri Aug 15th at 7-8:30pm
Brooklyn Heights & Online

Featuring poets Morgan Võ, Fargo Nissim Tbakhi who is a Palestinian- American performance artists and author of Terror Counter, as well as Natalie Diaz, this poetry night is free and open to the public, it will also be live-streamed via Zoom.

RSVP

PARTY
The Nursery: AIDA + Sonja Moonear

Sun Aug 17th at 3pm
Public Records, Gowanus

An afternoon party with Aida and Sonja. Aida is one of the girls that just exudes cool, an Iranian Canadian Dj known for blending world-inspired music with electronic genres like groovy house, techno, and breaks.

Tickets from $27

CONCERT
Saving Daylight ft Sarah Khatami, Hans Garcia, NOORANI

Wed Aug 20th at 7pm
The Sultan Room, Bushwick

Persian New Wave is rippling through New York’s music scene.
Sarah Khatami, a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, blends rich R&B and pop with soulful, Persian-infused melodies that feel both intimate and expansive. NOORANI, a sibling duo merging psychedelic R&B and dreamy pop into a lush, atmospheric soundscape that feels otherworldly yet grounded in heritage.

Tickets at $20

COMEDY
Boozy Books Comedy

Wed Aug 20th at 8pm
Huda, Williamsburg

I’m obsessed with this series! I attended their last show and it was the best $20 I’ve spent in ages. New faces and an incredible line up curated by Shatha Yas. Plus, it’s at Huda, so you can grab an early dinner/drinks before the laughs kick in.

Tickets at $20

CONCERT
Zak Electrik

Wed Aug 20th at 7pm
DROM, East Village

Zar Electrik, a trio from Marseille, France, taps into a centuries-long tradition of Gnawa music. With ecstatic vocals, hypnotic strings, and driving percussion, Gnawa music traces its roots to Morocco, infused with deep West African influences. The result is a rich, rhythmic fusion that continues to captivate audiences around the world

Tickets at $24

CINEMA
Or Something

Aug 22-29, 82min
QUAD, Union Square

Kareem Rahma is best known for his viral “Subway Takes” videos, in this movie, Rahma co-writes and co-stars alongside fellow writer/actor Mary Neely, which is billed as a contemporary take on “Before Sunrise. The story? two strangers, Olivia (Neely) and Amir (Rahma), show up at the same Brooklyn apartment to collect cash they’re both owed. Forced to spend the day together on a journey through New York City, the pair reveal intimate details about their lives. One of them also happens to be hiding a harrowing secret.

Tickets 

FUNDRAISER
Thrift 4 Gaza

Aug 23d 1-8pm & 24th 3-8pm
Judson Memorial Church

Another event from Thrift 4 Gaza this one at the end of the month, where guests can shop curated items at a discounted price and support a cause greater than all of us.

Tickets at $12

BOOK TOUR
The Sisters By Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Tue Aug 26th at 7pm
Community Bookstore, Park Slope

Swedish-Tunisian author Jonas Hassen Khemiri delivers a gripping psychological puzzle in The Sisters, a twisting tale of family, fiction, and the stories we tell to survive. Bold, brainy, and impossible to pin down.

Free, RSVP

WORKSHOP
Arabic Maqam X Intentional Cannabis

Thur Aug 28th, 7-9pm
Barzakh Cafe, Crown Heights

Sami Abu Shumays, a renowned Arab-New Yorker musician, is teaming up with Logina Mustafa from Intentional Cannabis to lead an interactive workshop blending music, mindfulness, voice, and cannabis use, a transcendent experience designed to awaken the senses and deepen connection to self and sound.

Tickets at $25

PARTY
DJ Snake

Sun Aug 31th at 6pm
Brooklyn Mirage, East Williamsburg

DJ Snake is a French-Algerian powerhouse producer and global hitmaker. He’s known for blending EDM with hip-hop and global beats, he’s a festival headliner, bringing North African roots and worldwide rhythms to the dancefloor and in Aug he will be in The Brooklyn Mirage.

Tickets from $79

ART EXHIBIT
Sheida Soleimani: Panjereh

Jun 19th -Sep 28th
ICP, LES

Expanding on her Ghostwriter series, Iranian-American Soleimani explores political exile and migration through surreal, staged imagery that blends photography, props, and personal history. This show debuts a new body of work featuring injured birds, inspired by her work as a wildlife rehabilitator and founder of Congress of the Birds.

Tickets at $18

EXHIBIT
Sacred Threads Exhibit

August to October
Yonkers Public Library

A textile art exhibition curated by Haifa Bint-Kadi that redefines textiles as mediums for spirituality, storytelling, healing, and activism. Featuring diverse artists (many MENA), it showcases how inherited and tactile traditions are used to express identity, honor ancestry, and spark social and political dialogue.

Free