Art Dubai welcomes Hala Khayat as new regional director, who will work with the team to develop strategies for local and regional collectors’ engagement. As Art Dubai aims to continue fostering regional relationships, Khayat’s extensive expertise in the Middle East and UAE will drive the growth and development of sustainable long-term engagement.

Khayat is a scholar on Arab and Middle Eastern Modern and Contemporary art and has been integral in developing Christie’s Dubai since its inception in 2007, playing a key role in the expansion and globalisation of the Middle East’s art market both within the UAE and the greater region.

During her time at Christie’s, Khayat was known as a specialist on Arab, Iranian and Turkish art, and she worked closely with collectors on an international scale to oversee the production of catalogues. She also established research criteria for the Middle East’s top modern artists, establishing key relationships with artist estates.

Khayat is also an advocate for Syria’s art community, having founded an NGO titled SAFIR in 2014 that aims to support and bolster the work of young Syrian artists. She also played an integral role in documenting the collections of key Syrian collectors, including the Jalanbo Art collection and the Khair collection of Fateh Moudarres. Furthermore, Khayat has lectured on Arab art history and the market throughout the region since 2010 and developed curriculum on Modern and Contemporary Arab art that were later adopted into short courses under Christie’s education in Dubai and Doha.