BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Qaisra Shahraz MBE JP FRSA
Qaisra Shahraz MBE JP FRSA
Qaisra Shahraz MBE JP FRSA
Qaisra Shahraz is the Founder, Curator and Executive Director of MACFEST, Muslim Arts and Culture Festival. She is a prize-winning and critically-acclaimed novelist, scriptwriter, peace and gender activist. Qaisra was born in Pakistan and has lived in Manchester since childhood. Qaisra has gained two Masters Degrees in English & European literature and scriptwriting for television.
Dr. Mohammed Ali, OBE
Qaisra Shahraz MBE JP FRSA
Qaisra Shahraz MBE JP FRSA
Mohammed Ali, born in Pakistan, came to live in the UK at the age of 12. He studied at Huddersfield and Bradford Universities. He then worked in a succession of newly created development roles with Glaxo Pharmaceutical, Community Relations Council; Tameside metropolitan Borough Council, Sheffield City Council and Fullemply Group, a high profile London based national ethnic minority training and employment charity.
Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar
Qaisra Shahraz MBE JP FRSA
Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar
Advisors
Adrienne Loftus
Jonathan Davidson
Jonathan Davidson
Adrienne Loftus Parkins is a consultant working with literature festivals and awards. She is the founder and former director of the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature, now the Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival. She is on the Steering Committee of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and advises M Fest in London, Bangkok Edge in Thailand and other UK based festivals.
Jonathan Davidson
Jonathan Davidson
Jonathan Davidson
Jonathan Davidson has worked in arts administration for over thirty years. He is Chief Executive of Writing West Midlands and lives in Birmingham.
Aamer Naeem OBE
Jonathan Davidson
Financial Advisor
Aamer Naeem qualified with 1st class honours as a pharmacist in 1992 and gained a Masters in Business Administration with distinction in 2007. He is currently the Director of Innov8 Creative Solutions Ltd, a consultancy providing strategic and operational support to a range of organisations as well as delivers Leadership Development Programmes across public, private and voluntary sectors.
Financial Advisor
Financial Advisor
Andrew Taylor, Madisons Accountants
Advisor
Advisor
Chris Sacarabany has 15 years of experience in intercultural and interfaith program management. He serves as Executive Director of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU) and is an advisor for MACFEST. As a program manager, he organized the World Congresses of Imams and Rabbis for Peace with the Foundation Hommes de Parole. He also worked as a consultant at UNESCO and is a Co-Executive Producer of the award winning documentary Nobody Wants Us which tells the story of Jewish refugees escaping the Nazi invasion of Western Europe in 1940.
