About
My journey in the art world started with the Siwa Project in Egypt in 2004, working with artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, and I never looked back. Since then, I have established an extensive portfolio of international cultural initiatives and projects in varied roles.
Patronage
Patronage is at the heart of all my work. I hold a variety of non-profit board and committee positions with the focus on governance, strategy, advisory, acquisitions and education.
I am on the Board of Trustees of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), the Board of Trustees of The Showroom (London) and continue to serve as a founding member of the Tate's Acquisitions Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, as well as being on the Board of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim and the Serpentine Future Contemporaries, as well as UCCA Contemporary Circle (China). I am a member of the British Museum Committee For the Acquisition of Middle Eastern Art. I have been recently appointed a founding Global Co-Chair of the LACMA Ambassadors Board (USA). I am also a part of the Design Trust Gala Benefit Committee (Hong Kong) and on the Board of Trustees of Global Heritage Fund UK. My previous affiliation include serving as the Chair of the Tate Young Patrons.
Cultural Advisory
As a cultural advisor I take on roles with strategic focus on development of cultural ecosystems locally and globally.
In 2019, I was appointed Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia. My focus is on developing international networks and partnerships whilst working on a variety of projects across the Ministry’s commissions. For instance, I have been collaborating with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation on two major international biennales, contemporary art and another focused on Islamic arts, as well as working with the Visual Arts Commission on strategy.
I am a consultant for arts programming and collection at The Wilde Milan, Italy and work as a cultural consultant at MISK, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I am also a Founding Chairperson of the K11 International Council (Hong Kong), part of the K11 Art Foundation.
I have a variety of advisory roles on committees and boards of cultural institutions, including Tate Modern Advisory Council (London); the Strategic Advisory Panel of the Delfina Foundation (London); Therme Advisory Board (Germany); Sotheby’s Institute / Lund Humphries: International Series Advisory Board and Afikra, Board of Advisors, as well as the Executive Committee of Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA).
In the past I used to work as Senior Arts and Culture Advisor to the Milken Institute; Advisor: Arts and Culture, Piaget, and as the Cultural Consultant for Great Egyptian Museum.
Art Market
I perceive the art market intertwined with the idea of the art world ecosystem: as a network of people and places connected to each other through art. It is a cultural marketplace for the local and global exchange of art, dialogue, learning, events and experiences. The art market, and the ecosystem we occupy is part of a transnational conversation on culture.
Since 2011 I have been involved with Art Basel, an international art fair taking place annually in Basel, Miami, Hong Kong and from 2022 in Paris as well. Currently, I serve as Art Basel's UK and MENA Representative as well as International Outreach Senior Advisor, contributing my expertise and insights globally. In short, my role focuses on establishing and maintaining relationships with art collectors, institutions and galleries but with a bigger picture in mind, I engage with the whole cultural ecosystem locally but also on a global level, connecting people and places around the world.
In addition, I played an integral role in the founding of Art Dubai, and in forming the Board of Patrons of this important platform of arts of the Global South.
Academia
I have a PhD in Politics from SOAS (London) awarded in 2019, which examined the nexus of power and cultural patronage, featuring Saudi Arabia as a case study. I hold two degrees from Brown University: a BA (2003) in International Relations and Middle East Studies (graduated Magna Cum Laude), and Masters in Political Science (2004). In 2005, I graduated from London School of Economics with MSc in Law, Anthropology and Society. Prior to university education, I graduated from from Aiglon College, Switzerland in 2000, top of class.
I continue my involvement in academia in various ways. I regularly lecture at the Sotheby’s Institute, London (e.g Art & Patronage: New Global Models + Middle East update) and I am an affiliated scholar and guest lecturer at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and its Centre for Middle East Studies (e.g. The New Saudi Arabia: a Kingdom Embraces Soft Power (lecture) / New Models of Patronage Within Arts and Culture: Focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council’, lecture). I share my knowledge with students on one off-basis as well, for instance being invited by Bard College Berlin to deliver a lecture on the art world ecosystems.
Additionally, I sit on Middle East Studies Advisory Committee at Brown University (USA) , I am on the Board of Governors of Aiglon College (Switzerland). I also support educational organisations like FUNTASIA/Elisa Sednaoui Foundation (UK / Egypt / Italy) where I am part of the Board of Trustees.
Public Speaker
I regularly deliver lectures and speeches as well as take part in public talks, often acting as a moderator on cultural panels. My experience as public speaker comes from organisation like Milken Institute (e.g MENA Summit, ‘Investing in Arts and Culture’, speaker); Art Basel (e.g Artistic Practice - Street Art in the Middle East: Alternative Forms of Political Expression, panel) and Diriyah Biennale Foundation (Public Program, Saudi Arabia, moderator).
I am often invited to speak at cultural events, conferences and summits. Some examples include: Therme One Health, One Health Research Centre, Wellbeing Culture Symposium - Hildegard von Bingen ‘ Social empathy and the natural world’ (discussion); Visual Arts Commission, Saudi Arabia, Dialogues in Contemporary Art: The Dynamism of Today's Visual Arts Sector (Moderator); MISK, The Art Library Launch, Lulwah AlHumoud, in conversation; 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair: Virtual Salon, Women Power Forum, Women as Game Changers, Hong Kong; The Oxford-GCC Business Conference, St. Antony's College, ‘The Arts and the Creative Economy in the Gulf’, (panel); Culture Summit 2017, Abu Dhabi, ‘The Future of Culture’ (panel); Institut Français de Tunisie, Libya Festival, Tunis; Tate Modern, Frances Morris, Director, Tate Modern, in conversation with Alia Al-Senussi, Chair of Tate Young Patrons Ambassador Group, (moderator).