During its annual Arts Week that that took place from October 16 to 19, King’s Academy hosted a panel discussion on Tuesday entitled “Art in the Real World” with five guest speakers representing different creative careers and backgrounds. The panelists discussed and answered questions posed by Farah Abu Dawwas ’25 and Mar Pizarro ’26, who emceed the event, in the Abdul Majeed Shoman Auditorium in front of an audience of students and faculty.

The panelists included Suheil Baqaeen, an abstract artist and activist who left a 25-year career in travel and tourism to teach his craft to visually impaired children; Shireen Talhouni, an Amman-based choreographer and architect who creates dance-based audio visual experiences; King’s alumna Yara Mustafa ’20, a singer and actor who recently starred in Netflix’s Al Rawabi School for Girls; King’s alumnus Suhayb Al-Jawhari ’11, a photographer and creative producer who has worked on film productions and currently works in King’s Department of Communications and Publications; and Rawan Alam, an abstract artist and former architect who is currently an arts faculty member at King’s.

The panelists spoke about what influenced them to become artists, how they developed their unique styles, how important they believe art is for a well-rounded education, and how they have overcome societal expectations and stigmas toward artistic careers to pursue their creative passions.