Arts and Culture

Shaikha Hala bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, an artist and the culture and arts director at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, discusses Bahrain's flourishing art scene.

AGSIW was pleased to host a conversation on the arts and culture scene in Bahrain with Shaikha Hala bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, an artist and the culture and arts director at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities.

In the Gulf Arab states, there is a growing trend of entrepreneurship in the field of art, as millennials pursue creativity in their careers. These “artrepreneurs” often collide with a complementary trend of social entrepreneurship, bringing together art and philanthropy in ways that are meaningful and even profitable.

The career of curating is new to the Gulf, though the role of a curator is not. People have long curated exhibitions in the region at their homes or in art galleries without being addressed as a “curator.” When asked about how familiar people are in the Gulf with the term “curator,” Aisha Stoby said:...

As part of AGSIW’s inaugural Gulf Arts and Culture Symposium, the institute hosted a panel discussion on “Culture and International Outreach.” As arts in the Gulf have matured, Gulf artists, and increasingly Gulf governments, have seized upon arts and culture as an alternative means of global connection and diplomacy. The panel explored individual and state...

The panel on July 12 explored the transformation of arts and culture in the Gulf under the influence of a new media-savvy generation, and state investment in new arts industries. The speakers mapped out the new dynamism in the arts that the region is experiencing.

As part of AGSIW’s inaugural Gulf Arts and Culture Symposium, the institute hosted a film screening at the Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema, showcasing director Nujoom Al-Ghanim’s documentary, “Nearby Sky.” The film depicts the unique story of Fatima Alhameli, the first female Emirati camel owner to take part in the Camel Beauty Pageant Competition. Her first...

Panelists explore the transformation of arts and culture in the Gulf under the influence of a new media-savvy generation, and state investment in new arts industries.