Rose Issa
Living in London, curator, art critic and author, Rose Issa specializes in visual arts and film from the Near East and North Africa. She has curated many film festivals and exhibitions of contemporary art together with: the Barbican Centre, Leighton House, Brunei Gallery (SOAS), the National Film Theatre and British Film Institute, the Institute of Contemporary Art / ica (London); Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (Spain), Beyeler Foundation (Switzerland), La Villette (Paris), Asia Society (New York), and ifa (Germany).  She has advised the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Museum of Mankind, the Victoria & Albert Museum in their acquisition of contemporary art from the Middle East. She has been advisor to the London and Rotterdam Film Festivals on Arab and Iranian films for several years and organised many film seasons at the NFT, the Barbican and the ICA in London, and was a member of the Jury of National Pavilions at the 50th Venice Biennial.

Patricia Millns
art educated in UK, has been resident in Middle East for over 25 years and is presently studio based in Dubai, graciously supported by DIFC. Shows internationally but retains strong artistic links with region.

Patricia is on the Patrons Board of ArtDubai, acts as art consultant within UAE and as advisor for GMMA Oman, Contemporary Practices and the Sovereign Art Foundation (UAE). Elected Societaire of the SNBA, France. She has exhibited at the Worlds Congress of Women, Beijing and United Nations, New York, British Museum, London, Carousel De Louvre, Paris in the Middle East at DIFC, Dubai, Sharjah Art Museum, Cultural Foundation of Abu Dhabi, National Museum of Jordan and Cairo Art Museum and Kuwait Museum. She has represented UK at the Cairo, Sharjah and Alexandria Biennials, the 4th Worlds Congress, Beijing, China and at the United Nations in New York.
Patricia Millns is honored to include Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, Sultan Qaboos Al Said, HRH The Prince of Wales and the late Emir of Kuwait amongst her patrons. A famed practicing artist, her works can be seen in public collections in UK including the British Museum, British Council, Royal Commonwealth Society, and the Sainsbury Foundation. Works can be found in the USA in the United Nations and UNIFEM, and in the Middle East, DIFC Collection and National Collections of the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan.

Venetia Porter
Curator at The British Museum, responsible for the collection of Islamic art, in particular of the Arab World and Turkey as well as the collection of the modern and contemporary art of the Middle East, Venetia Porter was previously curator of Islamic coins in the Department of Coins and Medals. She studied Arabic and Islamic art at Oxford University and obtained her Ph.D on the medieval history and architecture of the Yemen from the University of Durham. Her particular areas of research and interest are Arabic inscriptions, amulets and seals, ceramics and contemporary Middle Eastern art which are the focus of her lectures and publications.  Current British Museum projects include Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East. New exhibition and book for Dubai, February 2008, Completion of publication of Arabic and Persian seals in the British Museum, Salcombe Cannon site, with Susan La Neice and others. Previous British Museum projects include; Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East. Exhibition at the British Museum May –September 2006. External fellowships/ honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies; External examiner, University of Oxford Mst Islamic art, Committee member the Iraq school, Committee member Seminar for Arabian Studies, Fellow Royal Asiatic Society, Secretary Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund. Publications:  Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, Catalogue of the exhibition at the British Museum (British Museum Press London 2006), Mightier than the Sword, with Heba Salih Catalogue of the exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur 2004), ‘Inscriptions of Companions of the Prophet in the Merv oasis’ in Islamic Reflections Arabic Musings: Studies in Honour of Alan Jones, ed. R. Hoyland and P. Kennedy, (Oxford 2004). 'The architectural decoration' and with Y. al-Nasiri ‘The inscriptions’, in al-Radi, S. The 'Amiriya in Rada', Oxford Studies in Islamic Art XIII, 1998. Islamic Tiles, London, (British Museum Press 1995, reprinted most recently 2005).

Karin Adrian Von Roques
Karin Adrian von Roques studied History of Islamic and European art, Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelm University Bonn, Institute of Oriental Art. For the past ten years she has given a particular professional focus on modern and contemporary art from the Arab world. She was Consultant to Sotheby’s London for art from the Arab region and Iran. She advises on the development of public and private collection, including Deutsche Bank and Dolphin Energy. Her curatorial projects include: The Present out of the Past Millennia – Contemporary Art from Egypt, Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2007; Languages of the Desert – Contemporary Arab Art from the Gulf States“ Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2005, Institut du Monde Arabe Paris, 2006, Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, UAE, 2007, Galeria Metropolitana, Barcelona, Spain, 2007; Europe and the Islam, Pasinger Fabrik, München, Germany, 2006; Written Cosmos: Arabic Calligraphy and Literature Throughout The Centuries, Museum of Applied Arts in Frankfurt, 2005. She was museum director in Lugano Switzerland. Main focus of the program of the museum, with an active events program, was on Ethics and Intercultural Dialogue. She writes books and regularly contributions for newspapers and art magazines.