A multifaceted artist and cultural leader, Reem Fayyad works at the intersection of music, literature, and community building. Her artistic world is a captivating space where the timeless soul of Arabic music meets a fresh, contemporary voice.

As a soprano vocalist, Reem's practice is a heartfelt celebration and reinterpretation of the Arabic canon, from the beloved classics of Fairouz to innovative fusion projects that bridge musical worlds. Her performances are both an homage to tradition and a forward-looking conversation with global sounds.

Reem has collaborated with various musicians in New Brunswick.

Driven by a profound mission to enrich her community, Reem founded the Arab Cultural Club, a vibrant platform dedicated to showcasing Arabic and Arab-inspired art in all its forms. Through her powerful artistic output and direct community engagement, she is committed to nurturing a more diverse, accessible, and inclusive cultural landscape in Moncton and beyond. Reem is not just a performer; she is a curator and catalyst for cross-cultural connection.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what sparked your interest in community cultural work?

My journey in Canada began in 2010, rooted in the desire to build a new family and future. The initial spark for cultural work came from seeking connection within the Lebanese community in Moncton. Joining the Lebanese Association offered a vital lifeline to heritage and belonging. However, it was my active participation in events like the MOSAÏQ Festival that truly illuminated the transformative power of public cultural sharing. I witnessed not just the preservation of culture within a community, but its joyful transmission to a wider audience. This experience coincided with a pivotal shift in Moncton, as the city began to welcome more immigrants around 2015-16. I felt a growing conviction that this new, richer social fabric needed—and deserved—a platform where diverse cultures could move beyond existing in parallel to actively enriching the shared community space. That realization was the catalyst for my deeper commitment to this work.

As the founder and president of the Arab Culture Club, what led you to start up this organization?

For my first eight years in Canada, I deeply valued the crucial work of ethnocultural associations in fostering internal community bonds and preserving roots. Yet, I observed a gentle but persistent void: a space where the profound beauty and richness of Arab culture could be shared outwardly, as a generous gift to the wider community. Simultaneously, I saw a growing potential. With Arabic becoming New Brunswick's third most spoken language, its artistic and cultural expressions were a latent, vibrant force waiting to be woven into the province's cultural scene. I felt a compelling responsibility to move beyond preservation to active exchange—to illuminate the rich diversity within Arab culture that often remains unseen. This vision, shared with a few like-minded friends, crystallized into the founding of the Arab Culture Club in late 2019.

What is the Arab Culture Club and its key mandate and activities? 

The Arab Culture Club is a not-for-profit organization, founded in November 2019 and formally incorporated in 2022. Our mandate is to create a vibrant, welcoming environment where Arab culture, language, history, and heritage can be experienced and shared not as something separate, but as a beautiful, integral thread in the Canadian mosaic. We aim to forge meaningful links between the depth of Arab culture and the diverse community that surrounds it, facilitating a dialogue built on curiosity, respect, and shared artistic experience.

What is your vision, key role, and responsibilities with the Arab Culture Club? 

Our overarching vision is to cultivate a world where Arab culture and art are recognized as powerful sources of inspiration, fostering social cohesion and collective growth. As the President and Chair of the Board, my role is to steward this vision. I am responsible, together with board members, for setting the strategic direction, guiding the operations, and ensuring that every initiative—from our artistic programming to our community partnerships—remains authentically aligned with our mission of building bridges through cultural beauty.

What skills are most important for this type of work?

Beyond foundational organizational skills, this work demands a particular fusion of competencies. Strategic planning is essential to translate a cultural vision into sustainable action. A profound, nuanced connection to Arab culture provides the authentic foundation. Strategic communication and relationship building are the ligaments that connect our work to the community, while resource mobilization ensures we have the means to execute our ideas. Finally, artistic direction and programming skills are crucial—the ability to curate innovative experiences that are both culturally resonant and universally engaging, transforming abstract concepts into felt, lived encounters.

What inspires or excites you in your work?

My deepest inspiration springs from a powerful reciprocity: my own passion for arts and culture met by a genuine, curious desire from non-Arab artists and community members. Witnessing a local musician's fascination with an Arabic maqam (musical mode), or a neighbor’s captivated response to a classical Arabic poem or stunning strokes of Arabic Calligraphy, is profoundly exciting. It confirms that culture, when shared with generosity, creates a magnetic field of mutual learning. This exchange isn't about assimilation, but about the creation of a new, shared cultural vocabulary—and that creative frontier is where I find endless inspiration.

As a multifaceted artist (musician and author) and cultural leader, you’ve worked at the intersection of music, literature, and community building. How has this unique combination of experience and perspectives helped you to innovate in your role?

This combination has been instrumental, providing both the "what" and the "how." As an artist, I am intimately familiar with the raw materials—the poetry, the music, the narratives—that constitute the soul of the culture. As a community builder, I understand the context and the "soil" into which these seeds can be planted. This dual perspective allows me to innovate by creating a unique value proposition: we don't just present art; we facilitate immersive experiences. It’s the synergy between deep cultural knowledge and grassroots community sensibility that allows us to create something genuinely new and beautiful for New Brunswick.

You have collaborated with various artists and performed in multiple events such as AcadieRock, MOSAÏQ, CultureFest, and became the first female vocalist in New Brunswick to sing in Arabic. Describe that experience of performing in Arabic for a New Brunswick audience and the responses you received. 

Stepping onto the MOSAÏQ stage in 2017 to sing in Arabic for the first time in the festival’s history was a transcendent moment. It felt less like a performance and more like the opening of a long-awaited door. The audience's response, the immediate connection, the dancing to unfamiliar rhythms, the palpable sense of discovery—was a powerful testament to music's universal language. That experience was a revelation: the shared human heart can bypass linguistic barriers when met with artistic authenticity. The subsequent invitations, including the profound honor of kicking off Moncton's virtual Canada Day in 2020, were more than just opportunities; they were messages. They signaled a community actively choosing inclusion and expressing a hunger for diverse cultural voices. The most heartening evolution has been the collaborative invitations from local musicians, eager to blend their sound with Arabic lyrics. This proved the journey had moved beyond presentation to true co-creation, which is where the most meaningful connections are forged.

How do you see art being used to share culture within the community? How does the arts help strengthen community identity?

Art is the most graceful diplomat and the most compelling storyteller we have. It shares culture not through explanation, but through experience. A melody, a brushstroke, a poetic verse can communicate emotional truths and historical depths that textbooks cannot. In sharing culture, art builds a bridge of empathy, allowing individuals to "feel into" another's heritage, fostering understanding on a pre-intellectual level.

In strengthening community identity, art acts as both a mirror and a loom. For cultural communities, it is a mirror that reflects their beauty and complexity back to themselves, affirming pride and continuity. For the wider community, art is the loom that weaves these distinct threads into a stronger, shared fabric. It demonstrates that identities are not monolithic or competing, but can interact in graceful and innovative ways. A strong community identity in a multicultural society isn't about uniformity; it's about confidence in one's own thread and appreciation for the pattern it helps create alongside others. Art is the practice that makes this beautiful integration possible.

Why do you think cultural work is important for community well-being?

Cultural work is fundamental to community well-being because it addresses our core human need for belonging, understanding, and shared joy. On an individual level, it provides a vital anchor—a way for people, especially newcomers, to maintain their identity and heritage, which is crucial for psychological resilience and self-esteem. For the wider community, it acts as a powerful antidote to isolation and misunderstanding. When we share our cultures through art, food, and storytelling, we transform "the other" into a neighbor with a fascinating history. This exchange builds social cohesion not by erasing differences, but by celebrating them as assets that enrich the collective life. Ultimately, cultural work fosters a healthier social ecosystem: it reduces prejudice, sparks innovation through the cross-pollination of ideas, and creates public spaces where people can connect across backgrounds, building the mutual respect and empathy that are the bedrock of a truly thriving community.

Can you share an example of a project or initiative that had a strong impact on the community?

One powerful example is the Arab Heritage Festival, an initiative we launched in 2022 to celebrate April as Arab Heritage Month. This multidisciplinary program has grown into the largest and most comprehensive event of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

Through this festival, we’ve created more than just a series of events—we’ve opened a vibrant cultural doorway. What has been most impactful is witnessing the profound sense of visible pride among Arab artists and community members, who see their heritage honored on a public stage. Simultaneously, we’ve seen heartfelt curiosity and engagement from the wider community (Anglophone, Francophone, Indigenous, and multicultural), who attend not as passive spectators but as active participants eager to learn and connect.

The festival’s true strength lies in its evolution—each year, it deepens in artistic quality and broadens in community reach. It has become a vital platform where culture is not simply displayed, but dynamically shared, fostering a sense of belonging and mutual appreciation that continues to resonate long after the final performance.

How do you handle challenges or unexpected issues that arise with managing a cultural organization?

I approach challenges with a mindset that views them not as roadblocks, but as invitations to innovate. In cultural work, constraints often become the most powerful catalysts for creativity. The key lies in two interdependent principles: adaptive innovation and transparent communication.

For instance, uncertainty in funding—a perennial challenge—has repeatedly pushed us to rethink our models. Instead of scaling back our vision, we've learned to pivot, forging unconventional partnerships or reimagining our programming in more agile, community-embedded ways. Some of our most resonant and powerful initiatives were born from these very moments of fiscal constraint, proving that resourcefulness can be a profound artistic resource.

Fundamentally, however, none of this is possible without radical communication. When an unexpected issue arises, I prioritize open dialogue with our team, artists, and community stakeholders. By honestly sharing the challenge, we transform a potential point of friction into a collective problem-solving session. This builds trust and often surfaces solutions that a single perspective could never see. Ultimately, it's about leading with both resilience and relationship—navigating the storm while keeping everyone firmly in the boat, rowing together toward a reimagined, yet still beautiful, shore.

What has been the biggest success and/or biggest challenge in your journey as an artist and cultural worker, and how did you grow or learn from that?

The most defining moment in my journey—encompassing both a significant challenge and a profound success—was leading the 2025 Arab Heritage Festival for the Arab Culture Club.

Our vision for the festival’s fourth iteration was ambitious, centered on a major grant to bring a renowned music group from Ontario. When that essential funding fell through just three months before the event, we faced a crisis of confidence. The team’s initial reaction was understandable: should we cancel the concert, or even scale back the entire festival?

I saw this not just as a setback, but as a critical test of our mission. Instead of retreating, I led a strategic and creative pivot. We moved from importing art to excavating and elevating the talent within our own community. I reached out to local solo musicians—many of whom had never collaborated—and proposed an original production. This became “Fairouz - A Melody of Time and Tales,” the Arab Culture Club’s first-ever original music piece, where local musicians created moving arrangements for Lebanese Classics that have mesmerized the audience. To make it happen, I stepped outside my organizational role and onto the stage as a vocalist, a personal challenge that mirrored the collective leap we were asking of the team.

Through this process, I learned and grew in several key ways:

The Power of Adaptive Leadership: I learned that true leadership is less about executing a perfect plan and more about navigating uncertainty with principle. By shifting our focus from a single, external act to a collaborative, homegrown production, we stayed true to our goal of cultural celebration while strengthening local artistic bonds.

Resourcefulness Over Resources: The experience taught me to see our community itself as the primary resource. We deepened existing partnerships and forged new sponsorships by framing the festival as an investment in local talent. This built a more sustainable foundation for the future than a one-time grant ever could.

The result was a festival that was not only successful but also uniquely meaningful. It created a lasting network of local artists and solidified our organization’s credibility as a resilient, community-centric incubator. That challenge taught me that the most authentic successes often come from the obstacles you transform into opportunities.

How do you see your work contributing to New Brunswick’s cultural landscape?

My work is fundamentally about enriching New Brunswick's cultural landscape by fostering connection, access, and collaborative creation. I see my role not as simply presenting a singular cultural narrative, but as actively building bridges that invite shared participation.

My experience leading the Arab Culture Club is a clear example of this philosophy in action. Moving forward, I aim to contribute in three specific ways:

1- Amplifying Underrepresented Voices: By creating platforms like the Arab Culture Club and the Arab Heritage Festival, I work to ensure that the cultural landscape of New Brunswick visibly includes and celebrates its Arab and other diverse communities, adding essential threads to the province's identity.

2- Facilitating Creative Collaboration: I believe the most vibrant cultural scenes are built on collaboration. My goal is to be a catalyst, inviting artists and communities from all backgrounds to co-create with us. This turns cultural presentation into a two-way exchange, fostering mutual understanding and innovation.

3- Building Resilient Cultural Infrastructure: Through strategic partnerships and community-focused models, I want to help develop sustainable frameworks for cultural programming. This contributes to a landscape where diverse arts and heritage are not just occasional events, but an integrated and accessible part of life in New Brunswick.

Ultimately, I see my contribution as helping to shape a cultural landscape that is more dynamic, inclusive, and reflective of the people who call this province home. It’s about moving from invitation to collaboration, and from diversity to shared creative vitality.