Milwaukee-based Al Watan dabke troupe perform at the Muslim Women’s Coalition 2024 gala. The nationally renowned dancers will perform June 15 at Milwaukee’s first festival celebrating Palestinian culture.

Festa Italiana, Irish Fest, German Fest, Bastille Days and many more, Milwaukee celebrates its diversity with elaborate cultural festivals. Yet the City of Festivals has never held one featuring Palestinian culture—until now.

Celebrating Palestine, Milwaukee’s first festival honoring Palestinian music, dance, art, food and fashion, will be held Sunday, June 15, 1-5 p.m. at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, 929 North Water St.

Billed as “a cultural event for the entire family,” the afternoon includes performances by nationally acclaimed Palestinian singer Hamodah Alsalman and dabke dance troupes, an award ceremony for youth art and speech competition winners, a runway show featuring traditional Palestinian clothing, numerous food-tasting stations and Milwaukee’s largest Palestinian bazaar with more than 30 vendors of authentic Palestinian thobes (gowns) and cultural products.

The dabke, a lively Arabic line dance characterized by rhythmic stomping, will be performed by two groups, both trained in the Palestinian-style: the all-male, Milwaukee-based Al Watan dabke troupe, which formed in 2018 and now travels nationwide to perform at weddings and cultural events, and Banat Al-Huriyah, a new Milwaukee-based women’s dabke group making its premier performance at Celebrating Palestine. Banat Al-Huriyah is trained by Betein Academy Dabke School.

Tickets for the entire festival are available online through June 13, with the early bird price of $10 for adults and $5 for children 13 and under (plus an online purchase fee). Tickets will be available at the door for $15 for adults and $10 for children 13 and under.

Winners of the youth Celebrating Palestine Art Contest will be announced at the festival. This mixed-media entry (above) was submitted to the kindergarten-second grade category.

A long time coming

Milwaukee’s first Palestinian cultural festival has been a long time coming. Muslim Women’s Coalition founder Janan Najeeb of Mequon imagined a Palestinian-themed cultural experience for Milwaukee families more than a decade ago. 

“Janan has long had the idea,” said her friend Marcia Mihdawi of Milwaukee, a teacher who is coordinating the festival’s youth art and speech competitions. “She wanted this for the Palestinian community. It’s really through all the work she has done for so many years that we are in a position where we could host such an event at the Marcus Center. I’m so happy for her that this is coming to fruition.” 

“We are always looking to find ways to celebrate who we are as a people, and that means who we all are as people,” said Marcus Performing Arts Center President and CEO Kevin Giglinto in an interview with Wisconsin Muslim Journal. “It’s in our mission, but really any performing arts center, the whole point is being a cultural gathering place for everyone, where everyone feels welcomed and invited.”

U.S.-based Palestinian singer Hamodah Alsalman travels nationwide, singing at weddings and events.

The Marcus Performing Arts Center has a long history as a welcoming venue, with its now 41-year annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday being the longest running in the nation, along with Atlanta. “Janan has played a very big role in that,” Giglinto added.

Najeeb has co-chaired and emceed the MLK, Jr. celebration for two decades and has also served on the Marcus Performing Arts Center Board for nine years, as well as many other boards and service organizations throughout Greater Milwaukee. 

“We’ve had a relationship with Janan and the Muslim Women’s Coalition for years,” Giglinto said. “They’ve hosted their annual gala here, celebrating all the women within the Muslim community. We are delighted they chose our venue to be the home for their event.

“Janan is really the heart and soul of this celebration of Palestinian culture,” he continued. “Janan is such an important leader in our community. She came to us and obviously we’re proud to do it.

“But she would be the first one to say this isn’t about one person. This is about bringing people together. The heart of everything we do is about celebrating and connecting through art. We have a broad array of programming for that reason, so people see a reflection of who we are in Milwaukee, the region and, frankly, the nation.”

Sharing a rich culture

In an interview in her office at the Islamic Resource Center in Greenfield, Najeeb explained, “We’re putting this festival on to share a rich and beautiful culture. There are thousands of Palestinians who live in Milwaukee and are raising their families here. They have a tremendous amount of pride in their heritage.”

A mixed-media art contest entry from the 3rd-5th grade category

An acrylic and gouache art contest entry from the 9th-12th grade category

“I’ve been thinking about it for at least 10 years but, with all the things I’m juggling, I could not carve out the time to put together a team and do all the planning. In recent years, I have found a lot of people with an interest in Palestine around me and it just made sense to move forward. 

“Many people don’t realize how incredibly rich Palestinian culture is. There’s the food, the way we serve coffee, family and social life, the poetry. There’s artistry in our clothing, dances and songs, beautiful religious traditions—both Christian and Muslim, incredibly close-knit families and communities that look out for one another.

“It’s a culture that is thriving and growing. We have third generation Palestinians here in Milwaukee whose weddings are very Palestinian. At all kinds of celebrations, people are very proud to wear Palestinian-embroidered thobes and, at every gathering, we still practice the traditions of hospitality that are legendary in Palestinian culture.

“Our sense of history and traditions are so ingrained; Palestinians and descendants of Palestinians carry it with us all the time,” Najeeb said. “I have always thought it would be phenomenal to share it with the Milwaukee I grew up in.” 

Palestinian clothing, jewelry, handmade crafts, soaps and home decor will be sold in Celebrating Palestine’s bazaar.

Celebrating in difficult times

The timing of this festival, as reports of carnage in Gaza continue daily, makes the celebration seem political, but that was never the intent, organizers say. Najeeb conceived of this festival years before the Israel-Gaza war began.

“We’re not hosting a political event but just by the very nature of celebrating Palestinian life, it becomes political because we are political just by existing,” Mihdawi said. “Just by naming the villages where our families are from, villages that sometimes were erased, just by naming them and putting a pin on the map is political. But what we want is a cultural celebration.

“It’s so important to find ways to uplift Palestinian youth. I’ve always had that at the forefront of my mind, that I want our Palestinian youth to have an event where they see their identity celebrated.

“There is a force that is trying to erase us, so highlighting Palestinian culture is a way of asserting our collective hope and determination to preserve Palestinian identity. The youth contests have given the youngest members of the Milwaukee community a chance to engage in asserting their hope through art and speech.

“But also for other kids who are not Palestinian, we hope our event attracts people from Milwaukee of all stripes,” Mihdawi said. “It’s a great way for them to see the humanity of Palestinians.”

“This festival is not at all political,” Najeeb said. “It is a sharing of an incredibly beautiful culture. 

“We have a culture. We have a very rich culture. I think that’s been lost in the conversation.”