Widely known to be city of skyscrapers, growing business and luxury, Dubai is also a growing hub when it comes to culture. Be it music, art or theatre, the city has established itself as a one stop destination for culturally inclined individuals. Luxhabitat takes you on a quick tour to the cultural side of the glamorous city.
Dubai Opera
The masterpiece of contemporary design, Dubai Opera is located in the vibrant Downtown Dubai and is an ideal tribute to Dubai’s maritime history. It has been built in a way to host a wide variety of performances and events that include theatre, opera, ballet, orchestras, concerts, fashion shows, live entertainment, conferences, galleries and art exhibitions. With its 2000-seat multi-format theatre, Dubai Opera is a vibrant cultural hub of the city and hosts one of the finest, authentic, creative and engaging performing arts from Dubai and all over the world. The stunning opera has seen renowned artists including Placido Domingo, Anoushka Shankar and Sara Baras, mesmerising the art loving audiences of Dubai.
Dubai Design District
The Dubai Design District (D3), aims to provide a creative environment and a leading destination of design, art and culture of the city. It engages, inspires and enables emerging talent and educate the upcoming generation about the importance of all forms of design. D3 has been built as part of the Dubai Plan 2021 using the Smart City principles, offering digital connectivity to create an innovation-led economy. The ambitious hub for the city’s fashion and creative industries, has been especially designed as a space to provide a platform in order to showcase creative talent of Middle East to a global audience.
Alserkal Avenue
Situated in the industrial quarter of Al Quoz, Alserkal Avenue was established in 2007 to support and encourage the region’s growing contemporary art scene and nurture an organic and prolific community in the UAE. It comprises of architect designed warehouses, that combines the work of contributors from diverse artistic disciplines. This space encourages open dialogue, shares ideas and helps creative ideas come to life.
Alserkal Avenue initially consisted of 20 warehouses but the expansion which took place only in 2015; where it welcomed a number of new galleries of international repute, dynamic art spaces and homegrown cultural initiatives. Not-profit-artists’ studios, residence programmes, project spaces, concept stores, black box theatre, independent cinema, outdoor event facilities and community-led cultural initiatives along with unique food and beverage outlets are part of the initiative.
Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
The largest literature festival in the Arab world, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature was launched in 2009 and currently hosts over 185 authors from 37 countries catering to 44,000 visitors. Home-grown talent are provided with the centre stage in this festival which also offers fans an opportunity to interact with their favourite authors, attend literary debates and workshops as well as participate in competitions.
Dubai International Film Festival
Known to present new and exciting cinema from Arab world and beyond, Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), features new talent, along with original and distinctive film-making. The latest edition of DIFF showcased 140 feature films, short films and documentaries from 51 countries of 38 languages. 50 of them represented world and international cinema, the remaining represented the MENA film industry.
Art Week
Initiated by the Art Dubai Group, and supported by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Art Week is the region’s largest cultural festival, that residents and visitors of Dubai have gotten to witness during the month of March for the last 6 years. The festival features more than 350 cultural activities, the main event of which takes place at Madinat Jumeirah and the other events at institutions, universities, commercial galleries, hotels and outdoor public spaces.