Maha Alsenan is the Executive Director at the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society, a Fulbright Alumni, and was a visiting Post-Doctoral fellow at the Agha Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University 2010/2011 where her project revolved around Islam and Contemporary Arts in Saudi Arabia. She is a Saudi Art Historian, and her studies cover both pre-Islamic and Contemporary Fine Art in Saudi Arabia. An Assistant Professor at PNU, Riyadh, with a PhD in Archaeology (Art History) awarded from KSU, Riyadh in 2009, her thesis was a comparative study on unpublished religious sculptures from Qaryat Al-Faw in Saudi Arabia (400 B.C- 400 A.D), a study that was awarded the Prince Salman prize for best Doctoral Study of Arabia (2012) . She also holds an MA from PNU, and her thesis was on contemporary art in Saudi Arabia, a theme which she covered in 3 books in 2007-2008. She is active in the arts field and discusses women's role in this domain through her weekly Columns in Aljazeera Newspaper and her role as a Member & Member of Board of many cultural committees, also by coordinating, consulting, lecturing and other participations in art exhibitions or associated activities both locally and internationally. Maha has been awarded for her work through prizes notifications and fellowships in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, and the USA.

Hala Ali is an artist and poet born in Saudi Arabia and studied in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Hala’s art deals with text, language, and meaning. She has exhibited in Dubai, Sharjah, Berlin, Istanbul, and Chicago. Hala's poetry, often composed within the forms of spoken word, is direct and argumentative, reflecting on contemporary society and speaking to ideas of female invisibility, human relations, politics and social dogmas. She has performed in Abu Dhabi, London, and Vienna.

Mr. Khaleeji Man (2011) is a harsh rebuke of men from the Gulf. Written as a poem, Mr. Khaleeji Man is a 12-minute spoken word performance piece, performed in London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The poem deals with the visceral reaction of the performer to gulf patriarchy. Given the contentious nature of the text and the performance, this poem is not published, as text or video, anywhere, and requires ephemerality. Upon establishing trust between the performer and a potential viewer, a secret link is given to the viewer to view it online if unable to make it to an actual performance.

Manal AlDowayan is a conceptual artist with a research-based practice, born and raised in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Mainly producing in the medium of photography, AlDowayan often works in collaboration with invited women participants to address subjects spanning feminist politics and collective remembering within the Gulf region and beyond. AlDowayan has a Masters degree in Systems Analysis and Design and worked as the Creative Director of the Saudi Arabian oil company for ten years before becoming a full-time artist. She has participated in several residencies including: Delfina Foundation in London, The Town House Gallery in Cairo, and Mathaf: Project Space in Doha.

AlDowayan has been inducted into various cultural leadership initiatives including the Clore Leadership program and the British Council International Cultural Leaders program. She has also been invited as the key note speaker in many international conferences and seminars; most recently at the Clinton Foundation in Little Rock, Arkansas as part of the Club de Madrid’s 2012 annual conference, entitled “Harnessing 21st Century Solutions: A Focus on Women” and at “Beyond Borders, The Platform for Small Nation Dialogue and Cultural Exchange” in Scotland 2012.

Manal AlDowayan has participated in international exhibitions including the The American Biennale: Prospect 3 in New Orleans 2014, collateral shows at Venice Biennale in 2011 and 2009, the Berlin Biennale in 2010, and in a collateral exhibition that coincided with Contemporary Istanbul in 2010. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the British Museum, LA County Museum, Mathaf Museum of Modern Arab Art, the Jordan National Museum of Fine Art, the Abdul Latif Jamil Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the Nadour Foundation, and the Barjeel Foundation. Manal AlDowayan is represented by Cuadro Gallery in Dubai. She currently lives and works between her native Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, UAE.

May Abdallah Al-Dabbagh is an Assistant Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University Abu Dhabi with an associated appointment at the Robert Wagner School of Public Service at NYU in New York. Previously, she was the Founder and Director of the Gender and Public Policy Program at the Dubai School of Government and a Research Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program, HKS, Harvard University.

Al-Dabbagh is a specialist on gender and globalization in the Middle East and has conducted research on the topic using a combination of social psychology, public policy, and feminist lenses. Her current research projects include: the psychology of globalization; gender and negotiation; feminist activism in Saudi Arabia, and the intersections of family formation and women’s work in the Gulf Cooperative Council countries (GCC). Al-Dabbagh has publications in both academic and policy outlets in Arabic and English and her work has been featured in over 40 local, regional, and international media outlets. She is a member of a number of local and international associations such as the Arab Women and Gender Studies Consortium in the UAE, the Development Forum (Academic Social Sciences Society in the GCC), and the Saudi Sunday group (Multaqa Ahadi), the Academy of Management (AOM) and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Al-Dabbagh is a graduate of Dhahran Ahliyya Schools in Saudi Arabia, received a B.A. in Psychology (with high honors) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Oxford. She is married to Hashem Montasser and they have one son, Abdallah, who keeps them both highly entertained.