Zawaya is a non-profit organization that contributes to the multicultural discourse of the San Francisco Bay Area with the Arab and Islamic arts. It was founded in 2003 by Nabila Mango and Haya Shawa Ben-Halim, two Arab-American women who recognized that the challenges faced by the Arab American community in the Bay Area required a creative response. In founding Zawaya, they created one of just two Bay Area arts organizations serving communities from the Middle East and the only ensemble giving the Bay Area Arabic music. Aiming to address stereotypes and misconceptions, Zawaya offers a genuine image of Arab Americans and their rich civilization. With the creation of the smaller Aswat Women’s and Youth Ensembles, Zawaya has spearheaded a progressive movement in the arts, as women’s leadership and creativity in our activities run counter to mainstream gender prejudices in Arab and Muslim culture.

In political and social debates in the US, politicians and the media like to portray the differences between Arab/Muslim and Western values as a “clash of civilizations.” Our experience shows that the worlds are not as far apart as people like to think. The activities we pursue mean that we are always reaching new audiences, increasing the self-esteem of our own youth, and building bridges with other artistic communities as well as with the diverse mainstream Bay Area community. Our activities enable us to involve growing numbers of artists in the production of our music, develop more ethnic music in the region, preserve Arab and Muslim cultural identity, and involve non-Arab artists and audiences in learning about a civilization of major importance in the creation of Western culture.