Off-stage Talk: Cultivating Culture - Audience Development and Engagement in the GCC Region

Bill Bragin is the founding executive artistic director of The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, a “game-changer” in the UAE (The National) since it began its programs in 2015. At The Arts Center, he has co-commissioned nearly 60 new works and hosted over 300 artist residencies, resulting in nearly 800 performances to a total audience of over 240,000 people. Under his leadership, The Arts Center received the 2018 and 2019 Pride of Abu Dhabi Award.

Bragin is a co-founder of globalFEST, 2018 winner of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence. As director of public programming of the Lincoln Center from 2008–2014, he oversaw the Midsummer Night Swing and Lincoln Center Out of Doors festivals. As Director of Joe's Pub at the Public Theater from 2001–2007, he presented thousands of performances and commissioned the Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange. Previous activities include roles at Symphony Space, NYNO record label, Central Park SummerStage, and George Wein's Festival Productions, Inc.

Umberto Fanni, Director General and Artistic Director of Royal Opera House Muscat, has led a distinguished performing arts and management career. An award-winning concert pianist, Fanni graduated with high honours from the Conservatory of Music in Brescia and completed his studies at the Conservatory of Music in Geneva. Among his early achievements was the founding of the Young Italian Chamber Orchestra, composed entirely of talented young musicians who have now established themselves as either soloists or members of renowned orchestras.

At the urging of the conductor Claudio Scimone, Fanni’s career in performing arts management began as Assistant Artistic Director of the ensemble, I Solisti Veneti.

Following these experiences, Fanni taught Management of Performing Arts at the Catholic University of Milan and held appointments at Fondazione Teatro Lirico “Giuseppe Verdi” of Trieste, Fondazione Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Teatro Grande in Brescia, and Fondazione Arena di Verona.

Since 2014, Fanni has been the Director General and Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House Muscat. Through his leadership, Fanni has contributed to making the Royal Opera House Muscat a world-class institution, including developing several productions co-produced operas with leading international opera houses and producing original, home-grown cultural projects.  

Fanni was conferred the Order of Honour in 2024 by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, in recognition for his contributions to enriching musical art in Oman. In 2025, he was appointed Paganini Ambassador by the Paganini Prize. In 2026, he was conferred the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy by the President of the Italian Republic and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia.  

Since 2020, Fanni has served as a Council Member of the Beijing Forum for Performing Arts and, from 2023, as a Board Member of the World Association of Performing Arts.  

Dr. Paolo Petrocelli is an international cultural leader, academic, and author working at the intersection of performing arts, cultural diplomacy, education, and institutional strategy. He is the Founder and President of EMMA for Peace (Euro-Mediterranean Music Academy), an international non-profit organisation promoting music diplomacy and cultural dialogue across the Euro-Mediterranean region and beyond.

Over the past two decades, Petrocelli has held senior leadership and advisory roles across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States, working with opera houses, performing arts venues, music academies, festivals, universities, foundations, and international organisations.

Petrocelli has served as Head of Dubai Opera, the flagship performing arts venue of the United Arab Emirates, leading the institution’s artistic, strategic, operational, and commercial development. Under his leadership, Dubai Opera achieved three consecutive years of record-breaking results, including its highest audience attendance and strongest institutional performance since opening. His work in the GCC has focused on strengthening the role of performing arts venues within rapidly evolving cultural ecosystems, building diverse audiences, and connecting local, regional and international artistic communities.

Petrocelli has also served as Director General of the Stauffer Academy in Cremona (Italy), Advisor to the Royal Opera House Muscat and Advisor to the Music Commission of the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Assistant to the Superintendent for International Development and External Relations at the Rome Opera House. He is a Research Affiliate at metaLAB at Harvard University and has been a Visiting Researcher at the MIT Media Lab and Visiting Fellow at Yale University.

He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a European Young Leader by Friends of Europe, and a UNESCO Intercultural Leader for Peace. Petrocelli is a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

For more than 20 years, Cindy Hwang has served the performing arts industry across the United States, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. She is the Founder and President of InPulse Creatives, an agency established in 2018 to provide creative solutions for artists, producers, and cultural organisations seeking to build partnerships and touring opportunities across the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Key initiatives include the Artist Career Development Residency for the Stauffer Center for Strings (Cremona, Italy) and “Close Encounters”, an online talk series on the evolving global performing arts landscape.

Hwang began her career at BMG International A&R, facilitating collaborations between the company's Asian and US offices. She later joined CAMI (Columbia Artists Management), where she worked with internationally acclaimed artists including Tan Dun, Howard Shore, John Mauceri, and Cirque Éloize. From 2004 to 2015, Hwang worked at Concert Artists Guild, mentoring and managing emerging classical artists throughout the Asia Pacific. She later served as Director of Booking and Business Development for the Middle East and Far East at Cadenza Artists.From 2022 to 2026, Hwang served as Music Programmer at Ithra (King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Hwang served on the Board of the International Society for the Performing Arts through 2025 and recently joined the Executive Committee of the Federation of Asian Cultural Promotion (FACP). She also served seven years on the Board of the Western Arts Alliance, including her final term as Secretary/Treasurer.

Hwang holds a BA in Music Business and an MA in Music Ecology from New York University.