Mfest stands for the festival of Muslim cultures and Ideas,  it is not for a profit organisation, nor is it a religious or sectarian organisation, it is politically neutral. This will be the first festival of its kind in the UK. Hosting over 25 events running from Friday the 27th- Sunday the 29th of April this year will be held at the British Library and P21 Gallery.

MFest is set to “provide a unique platform for emerging and established writers, performers and artists to present their works and bring together Britain’s incredibly varied Muslim population. exploring contemporary Muslim thought on the breadth of our heritage, our politics, our communities and our cultures”.

We wanted to find out more so asked Programme Manager of Mfest, Naima Khan about how it all began

1. When was Mfest as an idea first born

MFest is the brainchild of staff at the Aziz Foundation who started putting the pieces of it together in 2016. The Foundation, founded by Asif Aziz, works to support disadvantaged communities by strengthening their role in public life, helping them to tell their own stories. MFest meets those goals, brings together many different Muslim identities and celebrates our pluralities as a community.

2. What triggered it?

The need to decide for ourselves what is interesting about us. It’s easy to have people outside come in and say “wow, that [insert Orientalist cliché] is fascinating!” and for us to accept that as the most intriguing quality we have. However,  when we look together at what we value about ourselves, we can tell a completely different – much more remarkable – story about who we are and how we got here.

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3.Why Is it imperative to document the literature and ‘contemporary Muslim thought’ of today?

Because it is so varied. The writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie put this really well when she talked about the danger of a single story. She said: “Show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” Documenting the variety and complexity of contemporary Muslim thought through literature, art, and discussion helps us to ensure that stories of Muslims today are not reduced to a single, predominant one. It’s important that we understand this as a community too; that we don’t absorb a single story about ourselves and that we recognise the variety that exists within what we call contemporary Muslims.

4.Would you call M-fest a renaissance of British Muslim culture?

Haha! Not quite, although I do like that phrase. When I think of renaissance, I think of a revival or a renewal of something whereas British Muslim culture has been going strong since Muslims arrived here. From how we decorate our homes to how we preserve our dances and how we share our poetry, it’s been part of us all along, we just need to gather it all up and celebrate it more. That said, I do think that Muslims in Britain right now have much more cultural capital than we have had before and with that comes the means to support our own artistic and cultural endeavours. There is power in that. That might be where the renaissance is.

This is what we're really proud of at #MFest, unearthing forgotten histories and learning about the giants on whose shoulders we stand https://t.co/Dy6VrlRlNy pic.twitter.com/fZosW4lvIx

— MFest (@MFestUK) April 11, 2018

Something that’s really important to MFest, is finding ways of supporting Muslims in the UK to learn from Muslim communities outside of Britain too. This year we’re exploring the history of Islam in the Caribbean and we have Canadian author SK Ali coming over to talk about writing young adult fiction in a country with completely different dynamics between its different groups.

5. Why is it important to create events of this nature, during this time?

We hope that events like this will build a sense of community and pride and importantly, provoke discussions about our future. Like many other communities, there are lots of questions we need to put our heads together on now before it’s too late. How will we secure rights for ourselves and others in the current political climate? How will our kids pay for university? With the normalisation of the mass production of food, what constitutes halal? Events that strengthen our own cultural identities and make room to discuss our future at the same time are imperative right now.

6. In our current political and social climates, what role do events like this play in affirming Muslim identity?

What MFest does uniquely, is that it gives us a space, not just to affirm, but also question, how we look at ourselves and our place in British society. It allows us to ask how all our different communities relate to each other. How have we been supporting and failing each other? These questions are vital for our relevance and sustainability as an ummah.

7. What is your vision for Mfest in the next 5 years regarding young Muslim creatives in the UK?

In the future, we’d like to branch outside of London and find a way of connecting Muslim creatives in different parts of the UK. This could mean supporting local teams to create their own MFests, creating an MFest UK tour, or collaborating with other festivals. We also want to highlight more from Muslim creatives working in disciplines that don’t get much attention like sculpture, dance, gaming and art criticism.

8. How has your academic and personal background played a part in establishing a need to fill a space in which a festival of this kind was missing?

I studied Language and Communications at university so my interest in the different ways that people come together through expression has certainly shaped how I see MFest’s role in the Muslim cultural calendar. I started out as an arts journalist nine years ago writing about theatre and film so I learnt very quickly who gets to decide what “good art” is. Fellow critics had a certain way of seeing me and I had a certain way of seeing myself in the spaces that they dominated. It took me a while to realise that my understanding of my identity is my strength and that my perspectives are just as valuable as anyone else’s. I think a festival like MFest will help speed up that process up for lots of people, it’ll help us realise where our assets lie as individuals and as a collective.

Find out more about festival passes and tickets here! Check out the full itinerary.

Need to plan your MFest weekend? Here's the programme for Saturday and Sunday https://t.co/XhOmZSnPSj pic.twitter.com/xhtizgC7Qi

— MFest (@MFestUK) April 17, 2018