Dayna Ash

Dayna Ash (she/they) is an intersectional feminist, performing artist, writer, 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 an Arts for Gender Equity Fellow with Care USA and was an Intersectional Feminism Advocacy Fellow at The Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut 2022- 2024.  Dayna is a member of the Board of Directors for the Global Fund for Women and currently serves as the Governance Committee Chair, as well as a member of the Executive Committee. She is an Artist Changemaker Advisory Council member. She also serves on the Selection and Review Committee for The Doria Feminist Fund and is a Champion for SheDecides.

She was Artist in Residence with the Edinburgh Visual Arts Festival 2023 and 2024 as well as a Cultural Delegate for Momentum in the Edinburgh Festivals Cultural Diplomacy program in 2022. She was selected as the Artist in Residence for the Bellagio Artist Residency in Lake Como, Italy, 2023.

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.