ACACIA by APS

A day-to-night gathering exploring psychedelic science, Arab culture, consciousness, music, and collective experience in NYC.
About this Event

We are launching our ACACIA global event-series! A first-of-its-kind day to night gathering exploring psychedelic science, Arab culture, consciousness, music, and collective experience in New York City.

Join us for an intimate gathering bringing together researchers, practitioners, artists, musicians, and curious minds for a day of conversation, cultural exchange, experiential programming, and communal connection, flowing into an evening of live music, jamming, and DJs from across the Arab diaspora.

Presented by the Arab Psychedelic Society (APS) in collaboration with the Brooklyn Psychedelic Society (BPS), the daytime program will introduce APS and its work while exploring questions around psychedelic science, mental health, culture, altered states of consciousness, decolonization, and safety in healing spaces. Conversations will be complemented by experiential activations rooted in Arab cultural traditions, including Arabic Maqam and other traditional embodiment practices.

At its heart, ACACIA is about communal connection and belonging. It is a space to meet others, exchange ideas, build relationships, reconnect with culture, and experience something together.

As the day transitions into night, the space opens up through live performances, collaborative jamming, and a curated lineup of DJs, celebrating our identities.

This event is a fundraiser. A portion of proceeds from ACACIA will support APS’s mission and ongoing community work, including education, research, practitioner training, and community programming.

Limited capacity of 100 guests.

Agenda

🕑: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Rhythm, Ritual, and Release Across Ancient & Modern Dance Floors
Host: DREEEMY

Info: From ancient rituals and communal ceremonies to contemporary dance floors, music and movement have long brought people together, shaped altered states of consciousness, and created spaces for expression, connection, and release.

This panel explores the intersections of music, psychedelics, ritual, culture, and decolonization, with a focus on Arab perspectives. We'll trace the relationships between traditional musical practices and contemporary dance cultures, exploring how rhythm, repetition, and collective movement can shape our experiences of ourselves and one another.

Together, we'll consider how cultural traditions are carried, transformed, and reclaimed across generations, and what it means to create spaces for collective expression, belonging, and liberation.

A conversation about sound, ancestry, and the power of music to move us, individually and collectively.

🕑: 03:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Meet the Arab Psychedelic Society
Host: Haya Al-Hejailan

Info: Who is the Arab Psychedelic Society, and why does this work matter?

Join Haya and Leah for a 20-minute introduction to APS, its story, and the work it is building across Arab communities.
We’ll explore why culturally grounded approaches to psychedelic science and mental health matter, what APS is working toward, and how practitioners, researchers, artists, and communities can participate in shaping what comes next.

A chance to get to know some of the people and ideas behind APS, and the wider community it is building.

🕑: 03:45 PM - 04:00 PM
Healing From Healing Spaces:
Host: Rua Al-Fadil

Info:
What happens when the spaces we turn to for healing become the very places that cause us harm?

Through personal storytelling and reflection, Rua explores the delicate dynamics of power, trust, attachment, and boundaries within therapeutic, spiritual, and psychedelic spaces.

Moving beyond harm toward awareness, accountability, and repair, this talk invites us to reconsider what truly makes a space safe, and how humility, self-awareness, and compassionate care can help us create spaces where healing is supported rather than compromised.

🕑: 04:00 PM - 04:45 PM
Let’s Talk: Community, Care & Co-Creation
Host: Leah Fawaz

Info: Turning It Back to You!

After hearing from our speakers, we turn the conversation back to you, the community.

An open and participatory space to reflect, share, and explore our experiences of community, care, safety, and the spaces we create together. What do we need from the communities we are part of? What does it mean to care for one another? And how might we create spaces that feel safer, more connected, and more accountable?

Come with your experiences, questions, and curiosities. This is a space for the room to shape the conversation.

🕑: 05:00 PM - 05:15 PM
Guest Performance

Info: performance showing an example of how one can enter a state of trance through movement and rhythm

🕑: 05:20 PM
Experiential Activation: Arabic Maqam, Voice & Plant Traditions
Host: Sami Abou Shumays

Info: An experiential exploration of Arabic Maqam singing and its relationship to altered states, embodiment, and collective experience.

Through voice, listening, and shared musical practice, we’ll explore the qualities of Maqam and its place within Arab musical traditions, including its relationship to plant traditions and other ways of shifting consciousness.

No prior musical experience is needed. Come listen, participate, and experience the power of voice and Maqam together.