Arts Chat: Building a Life as an Artist in the UAE (Part 5)

The latest in this excellent series of panel discussions spotlighting the experiences of local talent, presented by NYUAD Art Gallery and NYUAD Career Development Center, considers current opportunities and challenges for artists in the UAE.

The panel:

Shilpa Ananth – singer, vocalist, songwriter, and performing artist based between the US and the UAE. Shilpa brings together three of the oldest Indian languages – Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi – with English to create art that transcends borders and cultures in a unique sound that fuses the dreamy landscapes of South India with soul, jazz, and electronic influences. She is a graduate of Berklee College of Music

Gautam Goenka – actor, writer, producer and co-founder of The Junction: an integral part of the Dubai theatre scene for 22 years, during which he has successfully staged over 100 plays in various capacities. In 2015, he co-founded The Junction – a 180-seater black box theatre in Alserkal Avenue – and now serves as its Artistic Director. He is also the president of H72 Productions, the largest community theatre group in the UAE

Mohamed Khalid – Emirati artist who examines the materiality of everyday objects to coax out their metaphoric potential. He is an alumnus of the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship and Campus Art Dubai 7.0