A Palestine-themed art show planned for a Milwaukee venue was canceled over concerns the center would lose funding if it proceeded.
“In the Shadows of Palestine” was planned for display at Mitchell Street Arts, 710 W. Historic Michell St. The exhibition is the work of Amal Azzam and Nayfa Naji, co-founders of a Milwaukee-based Muslim art collective known as Fanana Banana.
“Both worked incredibly hard to create personal works surrounding the ongoing horrors taking place in Palestine,” said a statement issued by Mitchell Street Arts.
The nonprofit arts group was advised “by a trusted representative that if we move forward with In the Shadows of Palestine, we could lose enough financial backing that MiSA would close,” it said.
MiSA offered to help coordinate the show at a different location, and ways to financially back Fanana Banana, the statement said.
“Understandably, the harm had been done and they declined the invitation,” it said.
The statement called what happened “censorship to the highest degree,” and asked people to “do everything they can to encourage, uplift, and hold Fanana Banana throughout this process.”
“The work they have created is powerful, informative, and necessary,” it said.
Azzam and Naji couldn’t be immediately reached Saturday for more information about “In the Shadows of Palestine.”
Rew Gordon, Mitchell Street Arts founder and co-executive director, couldn’t be reached for additional comment.
The group opened last August within long-vacant retail space at the eight-story Kunzelmann-Esser building. The building’s upper floors house Kunzelmann-Esser Lofts, a 67-unit affordable apartment community.
Mitchell Street Arts features makers’ spaces, including a basement woodworking shop, photography darkroom and ceramics kiln.
The street-level space, part of the former longtime Kunzelmann-Esser Furniture Co., includes an art exhibit area, four studios and a classroom. The group also sub-leases space to a new Rise and Grind Cafe.
Its $400,000 capital campaign included grants from Herzfeld Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Bader Philanthropies. The group also received a $50,000 grant from the taxpayer-supported Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
“Bader Philanthropies did not threaten to pull funding for MISA if the show occurred. It was not us,” said Merilou Gonzales, communications director.
Representatives of the other funders didn’t immediately respond to questions from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Azzam and Naji were among the first artists in residences at Mitchell Street Arts. That program focuses on visual artists with socially engaged practices.
Mitchell Street Arts will be “facilitating a number of restorative practices to address and heal this wound,” according to the statement.
“We also will be having more direct conversations with all of the foundations that support us to better clarify what freedom of expression needs to be acceptable at MiSA,” it said.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.
