Our Team
Philipe AbiYouness
Programs Coordinator
Philipe AbiYouness is the son of Lebanese immigrants. He is a poet and educator who has taught and supported arts programming at organizations including Storytelling Arts (Lambertville, NJ), Central Square Theater (Cambridge, MA), and Hyde Square Task Force (Boston, MA). In 2019, he traveled with Tectonic Theater Project to teach an extended workshop in devised theater at the American University of Beirut. His poetry is published in journals including New England Review, Mizna, Gulf Coast, Muzzle, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and the anthologies Best of the Net and We Call to the Eye & the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Heritage. He received a BA in Theatre Arts & English from Drew University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University, Newark, where he served as a part-time lecturer in the writing department.
Dina Baslan
Education Manager
Dina Baslan is the daughter of Circassian Jordanians. She moved to Philadelphia in September 2023 to live near her brothers. Dina obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from San Jose State University in 2009. Following, she spent more than six years working within the international humanitarian and development sector in the SWANA region. Notwithstanding the knowledge and expertise gained, at the height of Europe’s migration crisis in 2015, she switched her focus to grassroots volunteer work with underserved communities in her country. In 2018, she co-founded Sawiyan, which engaged in research, advocacy and community development to address the marginalisation of African refugee community in Jordan's humanitarian response. While providing support to community leaders and volunteers who developed a successful ELL program run for refugees by refugees, she discovered her love for education. As the education manager at Al Bustan, Dina aspires to work hand in hand with the community of educators in the Greater Philadelphia Area. To contact Dina please email: education@albustanseeds.org
Mohannad Ghawanmeh
Executive Director
Mohannad is a scholar, cineaste, educator, and culturist intimately at large. A teacher of communication and media for twenty-five years, Mohannad’s instruction has centered on the cinema, for which he has also written, produced, acted, consulted, programmed, and curated. He is co-founder of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival produced by Mizna. Mohannad curated the first editions of the Arab American National Museum’s film festival and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Italian Film Festival, as well as the series Melnitz Movies at University of California, Los Angeles. Mohannad is well awarded and published, having earned in 2020 his PhD from UCLA in Cinema and Media Studies. His research of the cinema decidedly examines such intersecting fields as governmentality, migration, nativity, religion, theater, music, literature, industrialization, and modernity typically in the mold of cultural history. Born to Palestinian refugees and an immigrant to the United States, Mohannad has also lived in Egypt, Japan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Mohannad thrives on conjoining education and cultural production, connecting people and places, enriching and inspiring. To contact Mohannad please email: mg@albustanseeds.org
Darien Griffin
Operations & Multimedia Coordinator
A proud native of Philadelphia, Darien Griffin is a dynamic creative with a deep passion for visual storytelling. With a B.A. in Film & Media Arts from Temple University, Darien brings a unique blend of artistic vision and technical expertise to Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture. He wrote, directed, and produced his debut film NuMB, which earned a spot in the Creative Mind Group Festival in Cannes, France. Since then, his work has been featured in numerous festivals, earning him 'Best Short Film' at the Philadelphia Independent Film Awards.
Hadeel AlHubaishi
Outreach & Civic Engagement Coordinator
Hadeel was born and raised in Yemen. At an early age, she left Yemen to attend high school in Massachusetts as part of a youth exchange student program which inspired her to continue travelling and exploring different cultures. Later on, Hadeel was granted a 4- year scholarship to study at the American University of Beirut through the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative program Tomorrow’s Leaders. In her 3rd year of university, she was honored to study a semester abroad at University of Pennsylvania. Hadeel graduated with a double concentration in human resources and information systems. Before moving to the U.S, Hadeel lived in Malaysia were she worked in outreach and marketing centered on Arab students. Her passion to understand cultures motivated her to travel to more than eleven countries, and she aims for more. In the role of Outreach Coordinator with Al-Bustan, Hadeel aspires to continue adding value to the organization’s community, connecting with diverse people, and building relationships among varied cultural groups. You can reach her at outreach@albustanseeds.org
Aseal Saed
Communications & Marketing Coordinator
Aseal is a Sudanese-American who studied at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Sociology. While there, Aseal worked on Re/Member Black Philadelphia, a multimodal digital scholarship and community archiving project, which investigates the increasingly endangered contexts of Black social and cultural life against the backdrop of their systematic displacement in Philadelphia. Her biggest inflection was co-founding Monolith, Penn’s first arts collective for Black and Brown students, where she curated its first annual gallery showcase. Her experiences are bound by her interest in community engagement, research, the arts, and digital tools.
Hafez Kotain
Master Percussionist
Hafez is a master percussionist fluent in both Arab and Latin rhythms. Born in Venezuela of Syrian heritage, he grew up in Syria until the age of 16 years. He began playing the doumbek at the age of seven years, made his first stage performance at nine years, and went on to study with master Syrian percussionist Hady Jazan, winning the national percussion competitions in Syria for five consecutive years. In Venezuela he studied percussion at the TMV Institute for Music in Valencia, where he also taught a variety of percussion styles blending Arab and Latino music to youth. He works with Al-Bustan throughout the year, teaching music at summer camp, weekly percussion classes at several Philadelphia schools, and a weekly percussion ensemble class at University of Pennsylvania. Hafez is a recipient of the prestigious 2013 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, which is awarded each year to 12 Philadelphia artists who are of exemplary talent.
Lisa Volta
Visual Artist
Lisa Volta is a Philadelphia-based artist working in painting, sculpture, and photography. She received her MFA from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and has worked with arts organizations in Philadelphia communities and schools for 17+ years. Lisa has been with Al-Bustan since 2013 and is currently a teaching artist for the After School Arab Arts visual art program and a curator of exhibitions for the onsite gallery. She is passionate about spotlighting contemporary artists of Arab and SWANA heritage as a way to explore current events, history, cultural context, and specific artistic techniques. In addition, she enjoys traveling, outdoor adventures, visiting museums and galleries, and has spent time in the Levant and Gulf regions of the Arab world.
Visit her website.
Ashley Choukeir
Illustrator/Animator/Graphic Designer
Ashley is an experimental director, illustrator, designer, and animator. With a BS in Computer Graphics and Animation, Ashley has 16+ years of experience working in studios, inspiring university students, and collaborating with stand-alone artists, major clients, and agencies. Having lived and worked in diverse cultural and artistic milieus between Beirut, Dubai, and the US, Ashley has gained a rich awareness of varying styles of communication, body language, and humor – all of which inform her professional practice. Since 2015, she has been working with Al-Bustan providing creative support on numerous projects.
Hazami Sayed
Founding Executive Director
Hazami Sayed ended her tenure on December 31, 2020, eighteen years after she began Al-Bustan in July 2002 with a language and cultural day camp.