Forum Fellows, Art Dubais fellowship programme for mid-career art practitioners, returns this year with a focus on writing and is led by writer and curator Tirdad Zolghadr. This intensive programme of discussions and workshops supported in 2015 by Julius Baer, the leading Swiss private banking group -- enables exceptional writers based in the Middle East to hone their writing skills, share and debate experiences, while engaging with the international editors, critics, curators and museum directors that attend the fair.

Fellows selected for the 2015 programme are: Rahel Aima (Dubai), Liane Al Ghusain (Kuwait), Mirene Arsanios (Beirut), Kareem Estefan (New York), Yara Saqfalhait (Ramallah) and Stefan Tarnowski (Beirut/London).

Education has been at the heart of Art Dubai since its launch in 2007; the fair now has the largest education and community programming of any such event worldwide, providing opportunities for children and teenagers through to students, graduates, collectors and enthusiasts.

Forum Fellows is aimed at those already established and working in cities across the region; over the years, the programme has highlighted and nurtured a group of outstanding young curators and writers. The Fellows are selected via an intensive nomination and jury process, relying on the expertise of a network of independent arts professionals from across the region.

Art writing and critique have been identified as areas needing urgent attention in this region and beyond, said Antonia Carver, Fair Director, Art Dubai. Were thrilled to be working with Tirdad Zolghadr, and six brilliant writers, through the fellowship programme to address and debate the current state of the art of writing.

Julius Baer, a lead sponsor of Art Dubai, is supporting the Forum Fellows programme for the first time in 2015. Commenting on the partnership, Rmy Bersier, Member of the Executive Board, Bank Julius Baer said: We take pride in continuing to support the UAEs emergence as both a financial and a cultural hub. As such, we are very pleased to partner with Art Dubai to showcase our ongoing commitment to this valuable endeavour, as well as to promote the thriving art scene that is currently developing in the Emirates. After celebrating our 10th anniversary in the UAE, we remain committed to supporting the development of the region and to our long-term strategy of growing our presence in the UAE and the broader Middle East.

The 2015 edition of the fellowship program is plotted along two axes. The first is a series of discussions addressing the topic of new technologies, to which the 2015 Global Art Forum is devoted. The fellows will be engaging with invited speakers from the fair and beyond to explore the online developments that are increasingly marking criticism, curatorial prose and art journalism. The second axis is an intensive writing workshop, for which the participants will present and critique each others work on a daily basis.