Alia is an artist, educator & cultural producer. Her practice is based on storytelling techniques and traditions and, as well as performing, she curates cultural events.
Her grounding in Social Anthropology, Applied Theatre and Development Education compels her to find ways of subverting dominant narratives. Her work resonates with principles of social and environmental justice, activism and equity as complex processes within deeply interconnected systems. Her practice in the community amplifies lesser-heard stories through co-produced creative outlets.
Alia has been chairing the National Theatre's 'We Need to Talk...' sessions since 2017.
She curated the launch weekend of the British Museum's new Albukhary Gallery of Islamic Arts in 2018 and in 2019, was awarded the Writers' Guild Olwen Wymark Award for supporting new writing.
In 2008 she was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland in the category of Best Performance in Film.
She is a proud Associate of Khayaal Theatre Company.
She is also a British Council/Chevening Scholar, Clore Fellow and was recently accredited as a Relational Dynamics Coach.
Most recently, she was appointed as joint CEO of Shubbak, the UK's largest festival of contemporary Arab culture.