Dayna Ash

Dayna Ash (she/her) is an intersectional feminist, performing artist, published writer, playwright, and the founder & Executive Director of Haven for Artists; a cultural feminist organization working at the intersection of art and activism. Dayna is an auto-dictate academic whose work in advocacy and arts is rooted in intersectional and de-colonial queer practices for the creation of alternative structures and a community-based approach to fighting injustice and oppression.

She is the Intersectional Feminism Advocacy Fellow at The Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut, is the Arts for Gender Fellow for Care USA and The Rockefeller Foundation, and is a Champion for SheDecides.

Dayna was named one of the BBC's 100 most inspirational Women in 2019, awarded the Woman of Distinction award in 2020 by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, and Leader in LGBT Health Equity award from the Lebanese Medical Association for Sexual Health in 2021 for advancing LGBTQ wellbeing in Lebanon. 


Courage, a film Dayna wrote and produced, directed by Malak Mroueh won Best Experimental Film in Montreal Independent film festival in 2022 and in Berlin Indie Film Festival in 2021. Dayna was the Cultural Delegate for Momentum in the Edinburgh Festivals Cultural Diplomacy program in 2022. She also served on the Artist Changemaker Advisory Council for the Global Fund for Women and as a member of the Selection Committee for The Doria Feminist Fund.