The Qalanjo Project

02/04/2026

Salaam! We’re starting something new. Join us.

We know these are difficult times for the Somali community, and creative energy can be hard to sustain in isolation. That’s why we’re launching TQP’s Creative Café, a monthly online space for young Somali creatives to work, build, and be in community together safely.

No pressure. No expectations. Just an hour of shared focus, once a month.

First session: Saturday, February 28 | 10:30 AM CST�

Sign up through this link: https://55b9e1k7rah.typeform.com/to/cDgGzzjk

We’ll send you the Zoom link once you register.

You can bring a project, a question, or just yourself, and if you’d like to share your work-in-progress, we’ll make space for that too.

Let’s create space to create, together. 🐘

12/31/2025

As we close out 2025, we’re reflecting on a year shaped by community care and patience.

This year, TQP focused on nurturing the conditions for Somali storytelling to live and grow in Minnesota. Through community screenings, fellowships, curriculum development, research, and artistic practice, we gathered around film and performance and supported fellows working across storytelling and expression. We continue to invest in infrastructure that honors depth over urgency.

Our work this year was guided by a commitment to accountability, to community, to history, and to the futures we’re imagining together. We chose to move slowly, to protect people over production, and to build in ways that can last.

As we look toward 2026, we’re excited to deepen this work with new programming and expanded spaces for learning, making, and collective reflection. If you’d like to stay close to what’s ahead, we invite you to join our newsletter. Link in bio.

Thank you for being part of this year with us. 🐘

12/05/2025

At TQP, we condemn the recent statements made about our community in Minnesota. These narratives are not new. They are part of a long pattern of scapegoating immigrants, Muslims, and Black communities during moments of political expediency.

As an organization dedicated to Somali culture and art as it lives and evolves in Minnesota, we feel an especially deep responsibility to stand with our community in moments like this. Our work is rooted in connection and the belief that our stories deserve safety and respect.

These remarks are harmful, but they do not define us. Our unity is our protection.

We encourage our partners, neighbors, and institutions to speak clearly and act boldly in solidarity. Silence is not neutrality — it has consequences for the most vulnerable among us.

We choose community. We’ll get through this together. 🐘

04/08/2025

Gathering together to reflect on memory, storytelling, and the power of cinema with our community was truly something special.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this conversation. It was an unforgettable evening with visionary Somali filmmaker Abdulcadir Ahmed Said.

Deep gratitude to our brilliant moderator, Dr. Iman Mohamed, for guiding the conversation with such care and to our co-host, the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, for partnering to make this event possible.

The full conversation is now available on our YouTube channel. Many thanks to Fowzi Media for capturing this event so beautifully. Whether you’re revisiting the moment or tuning in for the first time, we invite you to watch and reflect with us.

https://youtu.be/DLPav8lHGCY?si=5KGxwrrT3j_Ndtnr

Special thanks to Minnesota Humanities Center for sponsoring this work. This work is funded in part by MHC with money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

The Qalanjo Project Presents Cinema Of Memory - A Conversation with Abdulcadir Ahmed SaidCinema of Memory was a powerful conversation with renowned Somali fi...

01/22/2025

Waxaan aad ugu faraxsanahay inaan idiin soo gudbino barnaamij gaar ah: Echoes from the Horn: Somali Lives in Cinema, waa barnaamij filin si qurux badan u soo bandhigaya sheekooyinka Soomaalida.

Nagu soo biir si aad u daawato todobo filin oo gaagaaban oo muujinaya hodantinimada, adkeysiga, iyo hal-abuurka bulshooyinka Soomaaliyeed dal iyo dibadba. Si aan munaasabadda uga dhigno mid gaar ah, waxaa si toos ah noogu soo biiri doona Cabdulqaadir Axmed Saciid, Warda Maxamed, iyo Salaad Hilowle.

Waxaan kugu martiqaadeynaa inaad khibrad u yeelatid safarrada, riyooyinka, iyo codadka hal-abuurayaasha Soomaaliyeed iyagoo ixtiraamaya qoto-dheeraanta taariikhda aan wadaagno iyo xiisadda mustaqbalka.

🗓 Axad, Febraayo 2deeda 10 subaxnimo.
📍 Xarunta Dhaqanka ee Cedar
🎟 iibso tigidhadaada hadda inshAllah!

01/10/2025

We are thrilled to present Echoes from the Horn: Somali Lives in Cinema, a beautifully curated selection of films that bring Somali stories to center stage. This is a special program of the Black Europe Film Festival of MSP.

Journey through seven short films that illuminate the richness, resilience, and creativity of Somali communities, both at home and in the diaspora. To make the event even more special, we will be joined in person by Abdulkadir Ahmed Said, Warda Mohamed, and Salad Hilowle.

We invite you to experience the journeys, dreams, and voices of Somali storytellers as they honor the depth of our collective past and the possibilities of our future.

🗓 Sunday, February 2
📍 The Cedar Cultural Center
🎟 Link to tickets in our bio!

Are you interested in lending a hand behind the scenes? We’d love your support as a volunteer! Use the link in our bio to sign up now and join our team in making this celebration of Somali heritage truly memorable. 🐘

12/20/2024

12/19/2024

🐘 Tradition inspires transformation.

Join us on 01.01.2025 as we reimagine, rebuild, and reconnect.

Follow us on Instagram to stay updated.

12/28/2019

⚠️ Due to horrible weather conditions, we will be postponing today’s community convo ⚠️

Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Community Conversation Series:
Greening without Gentrification?

Join us for a learning exchange session to discuss and navigate anti-displacement and green economies work in the Twin Cities + envisioning TQP 2020.

This Saturday, Dec 28th from 2:30 - 5:00 pm!

12/24/2019

Community Conversation Series:
Greening without Gentrification?

Join us for a learning exchange session to discuss and navigate anti-displacement and green economies work in the Twin Cities + envisioning TQP 2020.

This Saturday, Dec 28th from 2:30 - 5:00 pm!