MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition

In diversity and inclusion efforts and resources our group, Middle Eastern North African (MENA), is the final frontier. But still news and entertainment portray us as the dangerous other,  emphasizing barbaric and un-western ways. These stories are told through the lens of white creatives who claim to not have access to MENA talent. In MAAC's efforts to increase hiring opportunities for all MENA and South Asians in entertainment and help create nuanced and realistic portrayals in the media, we've been building a database of MENA & South Asian creatives for all decision makers across the media landscape. This would be global, as we will be included in many inclusion riders, including the one for The Oscars. One step in our solution to help create equity and end racism towards our group is to remove the roadblock of access by connecting every filmmaker and producer in the world to our database.  

If you notice even on this application where we are asked to identify race, Middle Eastern North African was not included. We are categorically erased and have been historically. However, since 9/11, western worlds have strongly linked our communities to terrorism. This harmful connection has led to explicit bias from hijab bans in France, internment camps in China, Muslim Bans in the US and a rise of hate crimes against Arabs, Muslims and South Asians. Even on social media, twitter anaylsis shows that key words such as Arab, South Asian and Muslim have negative sentiments attached. Our community is highly targeted, misunderstood and misrepresented across all media landscapes.  The effect on the globe is devastating, these false narratives and dangerous perceptions are what help lead to public approval on invasion and displacement of hundreds of thousands of children, women and men.  In order to combat this type of insidious bias, we must increase positive representation and help create MENA and South Asian (MENASA) stakeholders in media to help deconstruct and change the business from within. Our database solution will be the entryway for MENASA people to be introduced into, and break into a business that has long excluded them. 

Far too long we are told that the same people are hired, because they simply couldn't find any BIPOC talent, creatives or crew. This is a lie, it’s that the gatekeepers aren’t looking hard enough.  Our database which is right now a simple spreadsheet, will hopefully be turned into a linkedin, actors acess type website and in the future, an app.  Our talent will be responsible for filling out their profiles, uploading resumes and photos that will be accessible to studios and all hiring executives that can simply login and type in keywords to be matched with potential employees or talent.  I don't know what technology it would use or is needed, as I am not a tech person and need to hire someone that could be the website and the app.  

Currently Middle East North African residents are the final frontier in conversations around equity. Simply an after thought or all put in the Muslim category, which is categorically false. Our community is rich in diversity, ethnic and religious. We are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Bahai's, Buddhas and more.  We span over 28 countries from Morrocco to Afghanistan.  

Our community is also: 

•  Highest rising population in the US. World population has increased faster than other group at 600 million now.  
• MENA immigrants have some of the highest levels of educational attainment in the country, with a heavy focus in science, technology, engineering, and math.-Almost half—or 48.2 percent—of all MENA immigrants hold at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 30.7 percent of the U.S. population overall. Of the MENA population with a college degree, 46.6 percent studied a STEM discipline, a far higher share than the U.S. population overall.

With a Spending Power that is never portrayed or considered in the media: 

• MENA immigrants make meaningful contributions to the U.S. economy as both taxpayers and consumers.
• In 2015, households led by MENA immigrants paid $12.2 billion in federal taxes and $4.7 billion in state and local taxes, leaving them with $41.5 billion in disposable income or “spending power” to use at U.S. businesses. In total, such households earned $58.5 billion in income in 2015.
• The median household income for foreign-born MENA residents was $52,200. This was more than the median household income of most other immigrant subgroups.

This information above is NOT WHAT the world at large knows about our communities.  I recently shared an article from CNN, "Anthony Bourdain Shone a Different Light on the Middle East."  This is from 2018 - and he did indeed, by simply sharing human stories and not vilifying, otherizing and forgetting the MENA community.   Our database and work will uplift 100s of the next gen leaders and decision makers in media and entertainment.  This may not feel impactful to a large degree. But MEDIA and Entertainment is how MAJORITY of people learn about culture. Without leading voices from all communities and cultures, we will continue to leave without parity, and without equity.  

Our solutions is specifically designed to create job access and opportunities for Middle Eastern North African and South Asian writers, actors, directors, editors, composers, producers content creators, camera operators, production assistants and more. It will help connect people of specific heritages, who speak specific languages to projects that need authenticity, and that are hard to find for many hiring executives. Its goal is primarily to give job access to our community that they have been historically left out of and build future decision makers.  

Our organization is the only org doing work on behalf of MENA, SA people in Hollywood, so we have established ourselves as the leader in this space. Our founder not only built the first new hiring category into entertainment in 2017, but she has been uplifting MENA, SA voices and working hard to provide them with access into a cutthroat industry.  While the database was just launched in January of 2021,  we have already accumulated about 400 users, just via social media engagement and will continue to build with more talent globally. While we feel this is the database pilot stage, as its simply a spreadsheet that is organized via our website, we know that with the inclusion in hiring standards and practices by The Academy, we are turning the corner towards growth rapidly. 

This kind of innovation has not been implemented for the MENA community ever.  If we simply understand this fact per The Asian American Performers Action Coalition 2021 Visibility Report, for every $1 spent of White Actors, $0.02 cents is spent on MENA Actors.  It is IMPOSSIBLE for performers to receive the visibility they need and break through decades of gatekeeping without a resource like our Database that will help introduce not just performers but all MENA creatives into the entertainment and media industries.

As of now, we have 400 potential employers in our database. 

We hope to be to 1,000+ once we have funding.  

In 5 years, while we are focused on Middle Eastern, North African, South Asian creatives and talent, as we are the only group left out of all BIPOC hiring initiatives in the USA - we hope that we can help employ or lead employers to 5000 more potential artists, crew, writers and executives in our industries and beyond.  

While it may seem this work only impact 3.2% of the US population *undercounted, as 80% of Arabs and Persians mark White on the census https://www.nbcnews.com/think/...

The effects of this work is global.  It is the only way to lead to narrative change, by creating the next gen of leaders and storytellers in our community. 

We can measure our goals by the number of partnerships and tv shows and film studios that utilize our database to hire cast and crew.  Our partnership with The Oscars will be the first step in a windfall of others wanting to have access to our database as well.  

However, we will continue to measure progress through our data and partnership data with major educational institutes like USC Annenberg and UCLA and hold studios, networks, producers and corporations accountable.   If and when we see our numbers increase we report and highlight the progress.  We would also be open to working on a study with MIT in regards to how our database in impacting the industry year by year.  

Currently everyone that helps MAAC works pro-bono or on a volunteer basis. Myself included, with the hopes of scaling to pay them back for their extraordinary efforts in helping create racial parity for MENA/SA community.  

Azita Ghanizada, founder, president 

Serina Khan, creative branding consultant 

Academic Advisors, non-paid, Dr. Evelyn Alsultany and Thomas Sisarian Dolan. 

As the founder of MAAC, I've been doing the majority of the work along side a few committed volunteers.  My personal history is rich, we fled Afghanistan as the Soviets were invading and landed outside the US Capitol as political asylum seekers. The next several years we struggled to assimilate while getting our family out of various refugee camps, and close to us in Virginia. I learned English on TV, which lead to dreams of acting, so after graduating University. I bought a 1-way ticket to Hollywood, landing shortly before 9/11 and somehow found my to becoming the first women from Afghanistan to lead a series on television in the US on "Alphas". While, I've continued to work consistently on film and television in 2017 my life took on a new path. 

After two years of lobbying, studying the US census, and diversity MOUs, I built the MENA, (Middle Eastern North African) category into the SAG-AFTRA theatrical contracts. Launching a new hiring category into Hollywood for the first time in 37 years. Through MAAC, I began advocating for the advancement of MENA creatives in Hollywood, and the end of dangerous silos by presenting the 1st study showing the truth of representation for MENA performers. I lobbied for MENA inclusion in major research, educated the industry on what MENA is, helped other MENA affinity groups launch.  

I actively speaks out on representation and inclusion issues in the media, on industry panels, and most recently gave my first TEDxTalk. https://www.ted.com/talks/azit...

We love this question, as it pertains to the work we specifically do.  The Middle Eastern North African community is left out of conversations around equity, diversity and inclusion 98 out of 100 times.  While everyone we mentioned above is diverse both ethnically and religiously, we honor that the work we do alone encompasses about 28 countries globally and is the fastest growing community in the world right now. 

(Today, MENA’s rapid population growth ...  increased from around 100 million in 1950 to around 380 million in 2000 — an addition of 280 million people in 50 years. Today at 587 million, growing more than any other major world region - source https://www.prb.org/resources/...) 

I have been 100 percent committed to highlighting the diversity in the MENA diaspora in our work. It's crucial to have the perspective of Eygptians, Palestinians, Iranians, Afghans and everything in between. And our mentors and advisors are Asian and Black Americans that have been blazing the path towards equity long before us, and our white allies who open doors for us.  We also have two leading LGBTQ MENA  men as an advisors as we feel that the LGBTQ voices in the MENA regions are silenced and threatened and so we stand strongly with our LGBTQ and Persons With Disabilities.  As many varied points to enrich the process towards ending the dangerous silos and racism agains us as possible.

MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition is applying to Solve not just for the funding resources, but to become a part of this larger community of thought leaders and innovators. On top of these benefits, our work, would benefit tremendously from MIT's resources and guidance in technology and access to their media and marketing prowess, their leaders and educators to help the world at large learn about our very under-represented work.  Being able to break ground on our database and scale the rest of work including pipeline programs, workshops, mentorship opportunities, networking events, educational trainings for C-Level suite executives across every major media conglomerate is crucial to creating incremental change to end bias and racism against Arabs, South Asian, Muslims and more.

 It's time for us to help destroy the gates that keep us from becoming leaders in an industry that teaches the globe who we are. 

To have these doors opened for us helps us get a seat at the table that we have 100 out of 100 times been left out of.  

We cannot end racism in one area without tackling it in all areas. 

Economic investment is the number one things not happening for Middle Eastern North African community in the arts, entertainment and media. Without investment we simply can not build organizations like the NAACP, or Color of Change, or CAPE that protect and advance our community.  For every 1$ spent on a white actor $.02 cents is spent on a MENA actor. This disparity increases the wealth gap, keeps artists of colors from trying to break through an impossible industry, and pushes us to quit and pursue more stable work.  But the work of the artist is crucial in creating change. Art teaches and hAn artists success leads to more artists and writers of that background gaining ground and opening more roads for others.   While the work we've been doing is historical, it's been solely self funded, and one person can not do it all.   On top of that, industry stakeholders are wanting me to provide, education, structure, talent, press - and it's not possible without great partnerships with other incredible organizations. Help with our own PR, branding and marketing to let the world know what we are dealing with and engage other partnerships, assistance and education at large would be tremendous in helping not only advance our work, but hold the industries that have created tremendous bias against us responsible.  Not to mention the necessary technology to build our database.  

We would love to connect with educators, scholars and other innovators from MITs faculty that have helped create the infrastructure for change organizations.  While we pride ourselves on doing work that is disrupting an industry, that will no doubt have a ripple effect on the rest of the world we need change leaders that can help us scale this business.  

We are also interested in assistance with establishing the foundation of our organization and retaining legal and financial council. My main reason for having waited to apply from grants and non-profit status has been out of fear of taking on more financial and legal burdens and costs of this work. I have relied on my network and my own finances to achieve and build what we have and I, myself, am an immigrant, a political aslyum seeker who does not come from generational wealth.   

And most importantly, we'd like this opportunity with MIT and expand to meeting your partners at  Ford Foundation, Amazon, Carnegie Foundation, Mackenzie Scott, as well as all corporations and high profile donors with interests in racial equity and helping curb bias in media.  Specifically companies like IMDB.com or Linkendin.com or tech experts that could help us build this techonology through awareness of their own work.   We would also like to partner with MIT on one of our studies

 analyzing data of MENA representation in film and tv and the varying traits that our community has endured for decades.  

We are working to build the first ever Middle Eastern North African South Asian above and below the line talent database to help provide access to jobs.  Our innovation will help create generational wealth in our community of color, that faces a deep bias in the media landscape.  We could help discover the next Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling who would then work to help create content, jobs, and opportunities for more creatives of color.  Creating these kinds of heroes help children of color to feel less alone in the world, see themselves reflected in heroes, have more confidence about their otherness, their complicated names, their demonized religion.  It is crucial to create this equity and inclusion through our database.