Aragti Wadaag Residency: Art for Belonging

This story refers to two different residency programs: the Aragti Wadaag Artists Residency Program (artists residency) run by Soomaal House and the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub Residency Program (Hub residency). Aragti Wadaag received a 2025-2026 Hub residency as part of a collaboration between Soomaal House’s Artists Residency Program and the Department of Art.

All too often, art institutions overlook or misinterpret immigrant-made art. That’s where Soomaal House of Art steps in. The organization provides a platform for Somali artists to create and use art as a way to have critical conversations about local and global issues.

Aragti Wadaag, which received a 2025-2026 Liberal Arts Engagement Hub Residency, is an extension of Soomaal House’s vision and gives Somali and immigrant artists a chance to display their work, as well as participate in conversations. Most importantly, says artistic director and co-founder of Soomaal House, Mohamud Mumin, are the resources the residency gives to aspiring artists. “For artists in our community and elsewhere, one of the greatest barriers to entering and sustaining an arts career is access to tangible and intangible resources.”

For the first time, Soomaal House partnered with CLA’s Department of Art to provide four Somali artists, Abdimalik Ahmed, Sabrin Nur, Miski Omar, and Mumtaz Salad, a space to create and showcase their art. This yearlong partnership fostered the larger goal of their Hub residency: to co-create a framework for ethical collaboration and reimagine how institutions and communities partner, centering diaspora voices in decision-making.

How have the artist’ residency activities helped meet Soomaal’s vision?

First and foremost, the residency’s goal is to give the artists room to be themselves, think, and create, with the assurance that they are supported by Soomaal’s staff and resources. The residency also seeks partnerships with institutions and organizations that share our core mission: promoting and highlighting artists while protecting their ability to produce work free from tokenism or censorship. The activities we facilitated were structured around this aim: staff support, funding for materials and artists’ time, and a culminating exhibition that gave each artist a public outlet to share their work with the community.

Together, these forms of support allow artists to focus their creative energy on making work, while receiving meaningful compensation and professional visibility. The residency amplifies their work, while strengthening their relationship to Soomaal, partner institutions, and the wider community.

Abdimalik Ahmed, Mumtaz Salad, Sabrin Nur, Miski Omar, and Mohamud Mumin in dialogue during an artist talk at Soomaal House on May 24, 2026.

Why is breaking down barriers to institutional access so important to your residency's cause?

Rather than waiting for token gestures, we realized that we needed to create opportunities ourselves. We make the art and sustain these institutions with our labor, so we should also have platforms to share our work without being required to conform to standards that do not reflect us. As a result of our efforts, mainstream institutions are taking notice and must contend with us on our terms. We are not seeking preferential treatment. We are asking for the same access and opportunities offered to others, without strings attached.

What do structured dialogue conversations with the artists look like?

To us, dialogue means ensuring that the people who have done the work are central to the conversations their art generates. We put artists in the driver’s seat and keep the dialogue focused on the work and the ideas it produces.

Our moderated conversations give artists space to discuss their work, ideas, inspirations, challenges, and the joys of being artists. These exchanges also invite community members to learn from the artists, ask questions, and better understand the journey of building an artistic practice.

How does the artists’ residency uplift your community's voices?

There is a symbiotic relationship between the artists and the community. Artists often reflect the community’s joys, concerns, and experiences back to it, while the community gives artists an opportunity to listen, learn, and deepen their understanding of the people they serve.

Artists frequently bring family members to events, and some have shared that it is their family’s first time experiencing art in a gallery setting. At Soomaal, they often describe a sense of belonging that can be difficult to find in other arts institutions. The residency creates a space where artists, families, and community members can see themselves reflected and valued.

Photo by Mohamud Mumin

What types of collaborative workshops have you held? How has that helped you connect the community with CLA?

The residency has included collaborative activities that connect artists with University faculty and students so they can learn from one another. Our goal is to foster interpersonal communication between these communities, with art serving as the connector. This year’s cohort experience includes exhibitions at both Soomaal and the University, bringing the two communities into closer proximity.

University staff and faculty have been supportive and responsive to the growing needs of our artists. The program aims to provide as much educational and professional support as possible, and the University’s formal arts education setting creates space for learning to happen organically.

What is the "collaboration toolkit"?

The hallmark of the collaboration toolkit is dialogue among all stakeholders, including the University, Soomaal, and participating artists. From the beginning, we made clear that we did not want to impose prescriptive objectives. Instead, we wanted to create a process in which the University, Soomaal, and the artists could develop a plan that benefited everyone involved.

This approach gives each partner an opportunity to contribute their strengths toward a shared purpose. Our University partners have been willing and conscientious collaborators in this effort. Other residencies could implement this toolkit by beginning with open dialogue, establishing shared goals, and remaining responsive to artists’ and community members’ needs throughout the process.

How has the residency helped to strengthen your community's relationships with University?

For artists in our community and elsewhere, one of the greatest barriers to entering and sustaining an arts career is access to tangible and intangible resources. Through The Hub and the Department of Art, the University has provided both financial and nonfinancial support to the Soomaal House artists residency program.

Above all, the people at the University have listened to our concerns and needs. This residency has become a strong example of what a community and institutional collaboration can look like: one grounded in mutual respect, understanding, and a shared commitment to serving and elevating artists.