October 7, 2011  |   Kuwaiti playwright and theater director Sulayman al-Bassam adapts Shakespearean plays to the modern Arab context to explore issues of religion and society in the contemporary Gulf. Art Beat spoke with al-Bassam on the phone from Brooklyn about the effect of the Arab Spring on his play and on art across the Arab world.

December 8, 2009  |   As the year draws to a close, and critics everywhere are drawing up their "Best Of" lists, we thought we'd enlist the PBS NewsHour mindshare to give us their picks for their favorite books, films, concerts and plays of 2009.

March 9, 2009  |   In another in our series about the Kennedy Center's Arabesque art festival, Jeffrey Brown profiles Egyptian musician Fathy Salama, who began playing the piano at age 6 and performing at Cairo clubs at 13.

March 6, 2009  |   Jeffrey Brown profiles Fathy Salama in our series about the Kennedy Center's Arabesque art festival. Salama began playing the piano at age 6 and performing at Cairo clubs at 13.

March 2, 2009  |   In another in our series about the Kennedy Center's Arabesque art festival, Jeffrey Brown profiles Lebanese folk singer Marcel Khalife, who for nearly 40 years has been rousing audiences with songs about love and strife, politics and injustice.

February 27, 2009  |   Friday on the NewsHour, Jeffrey Brown profiles Marcel Khalife, who for nearly 40 years has been rousing audiences with songs about love and strife.

February 27, 2009  |   Azza Fahmy is a jewelry maker taking from the past to create beautiful new objects. Karima Mansour is a dancer struggling to find acceptance in her own country. Lara Baladi is an artist who sheds a dark light on life in her city.

February 26, 2009  |   On Thursday's NewsHour, Jeffrey Brown reports on three artists from Cairo with their own perspectives on the fascinating city he visited earlier this year: jewelry maker Azza Fahmy, conceptual artist Lara Baladi and dancer and choreographer Karima Mansour.

February 25, 2009  |   Here's the second in our broadcast series on Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World, which began Monday at the Kennedy Center. Tuesday evening, Jeffrey Brown profiled Kuwaiti writer and theater director Sulayman al-Bassam.

February 24, 2009  |   Tuesday on the NewsHour, Jeffrey Brown profiles Kuwaiti writer and theater director Sulayman al-Bassam, who adapts Shakespeare to explore contemporary culture and politics in the Persian Gulf.

February 24, 2009  |   Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Monday. Here's the first in a series of broadcast reports, which aired Monday evening on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

February 23, 2009  |   Regular visitors to Art Beat will remember that I was in the Middle East a few weeks back talking to artists (and, as it turned out, reporting on the Gaza conflict's fallout) for a series of profiles tied to Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World.

January 22, 2009  |   News from Gaza on every television. One man said to me: "I feel as though I've seen every one of the 1,200 bodies of those killed." And on every tongue: expressions of outrage, helplessness, sadness.

January 16, 2009  |   I have been to Cairo before, but not like this. Before, I walked anonymously; today, I'm part of a small group carrying a magnet for endless attention -- a TV camera.

January 13, 2009  |   Marcel Khalife is often described in articles as the "Bob Dylan of the Middle East." (In my preparation for this trip, by the way, I discovered two different women described as the "Oprah of the Middle East").

January 12, 2009  |   Hezbollah by day and Dunkin' Donuts by night. And that was just our first 24 hours in Beirut. I didn't go into the Dunkin' Donuts shop; I just stared in the window. Wherever we go around the world, the brands follow us.

January 2, 2009  |   We continue to receive many wonderful comments and responses to specific stories and to the entire Art Beat effort. But the news is not always good.