Jan 8-14th, 2026

Menna aims to make space for our culture, for our people, for the ways our community live and create in this city. It’s a project built with sooo much care and a lot of love.

If menna has brought you something good, connection, discovery, a sense of home, sharing it with a friend would be the sweetest birthday gift.

Thank you for sharing and being part of this.

Tues Jan 6-11th
Joyce Theater, Chelsea

This show is exceptional! Thirteen bare-chested dancers from Algeria and Burkina Faso take the stage, weaving capoeira, martial arts, and contemporary dance into a charged meditation on belonging. Named after Yasmina Khadra’s novel, the piece reflects Hervé Koubi’s own return to his Algerian roots, tracing the tensions of heritage, identity, and being shaped by more than one world. Show might be sold out, the venue will be releasing more tickets this week.

Thur Jan 8th at 6:50pm
Film Forum, Midtown

The Venice Silver Lion–winning film and an Oscar shortlisted movie, blending real recordings and reenactments to recount the death of Hind Rajab and the rescuers who tried to reach her. Such an important movie. Free event
RSVP: [email protected]

Fri Jan 9th at 8:30pm
Melrose Ballroom, Queens

Moustafa Amar is an Egyptian singer associated with late-1990s and early-2000s pop, known for melodic, restrained songs that became staples of that era’s mainstream sound

Fri Jan 9th, 11am-4pm
Sultan Room, Bushwick

Omar is celebrating his 32nd birthday Expect music from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas, and beyond all night. Featuring him and special guests.

Fri Jan 9-15th
Multiple locations

In the moments before a Palestinian teen is confronted by Israeli soldiers at a protest in the West Bank, his mother recounts the series of events that led him to that fateful moment, starting with his grandfather's displacement from Jaffa in 1948. The movie is an epic historical drama chronicling the story of one family over three generations and examining the passage of trauma to each. This movie is Oscars shortlisted.

Sat Jan 10th at 6pm
Sultan Room, Bushwick

A reimagined Persian wedding where the dance floor becomes the ceremony and the crowd becomes the family. Expect nostalgic wedding classics, playful drama, open-stage moments, and prizes. Guests are encouraged to dress in full aroosi spirit: bold, bejeweled, dramatic, because more is definitely more. This one feels so special!

Sat Jan 10th, 10am-5pm
The Old American can factory

A one day workshop exploring the meditative art of Islamic Illumination, tazhib, with recognized Iranian-American artist Behnaz Karjoo. Tazhib is a classical Islamic art form that decorates manuscripts, especially Qur’ans and poetry, using gold, floral motifs, and geometric patterns to honor and frame the text without depicting figures.

Sat Jan 10th at 7:15pm
Brooklyn Bowl, Williamsburg

Saha Gnawa is a New York-based collective dedicated to preserving and reimagining Morocco’s centuries-old Gnawa musical tradition, blending trance-like rhythms, deep spiritual roots, and contemporary influences. The show is part of The Winter Jazzfest and admission will give you access to more than 35 artists.

Sat Jan 10th at 6pm
New York Live Arts, Chelsea

A Palestinian-American dance company currently celebrating its 20th anniversary season, will present a new work in progress. Shabaab celebrates the intimacy, beauty, and tenderness of Arab male friendship. Using puppetry and text interwoven with a playful and explosive movement score, Shabaab is a visceral embodiment of love, friendship, and the impossible weight of a lifetime spent under siege.

Sat Jan 10th at 1pm
New York Live Arts, Chelsea

Set in a karaoke-funeral-lounge, Maree ReMalia’s show welcomes audiences into an evening-length solo blending dance, text, and pop music as a way to grieve a parent who raised her and a parent she never met. Co-directed by theater artist Adil Mansoor.

Jan 10th, 3-9pm & Jan 11th, 1-7pm
119 Hester st, LES

A two-day exhibition uplifting the voices, visions, and lived realities of Palestinian artists from Gaza and across the diaspora. Strings of Stories brings together zines, drawings, paintings, photography, and visual narratives that reflect everyday life, resistance, grief, joy, and the unbreakable spirit of Palestinians.

Sat Jan 10th at 8pm
Jalopy Theater, Carroll Garden

Debuting from Brooklyn, Syrian Rue is a band that blends various musical traditions from around the world with jazz chords and progressive rock influences. Combining eastern and western instruments and practices. David Chorowski is a multi-instrumentalist Oud player from New York specializing in folk and classical musics from, but not limited to, the Eastern Mediterranean, MENA, and Medieval Europe.

Sun Jan 11th at 7pm
David Geffen Hall, UES

GlobalFestl fills the entire venue with back-to-back performances in one night, a vibrant celebration of global music and cultural exchange. This year they will be featuring Tunsian artist Nour Harkati and Armenian bank The Naghash Ensemble along with a plethora of other artists.

Tues Jan 13th at 8pm
In person & online

Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee Daniyal Mueenuddin celebrates the launch of his debut novel This Is Where the Serpent Lives, a sweeping portrait of modern Pakistan that moves between its turbulent cities and feudal countryside. Through interconnected lives marked by love, violence, and ambition, the novel offers an intimate yet expansive meditation on class, loyalty, family, and fate