Participants praise Al Quoz Creative Zone
DUBAI: The creative talents who participated in the Al Quoz Accelerators workshop launched by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) in cooperation with its partners at Alserkal Avenue, brought together representatives from the emirate’s creative community to nurture creativity and innovation in the sector.
The workshop reflected the keenness of the government entities involved in the implementation of the project to support creativity and creative talents based on the community’s aspirations. It also affirmed the Al Quoz Creative Zone development project’s role as a historic step to strengthen Dubai’s role as a source of creative innovation and empowered creative industry.
Mohammed Saeed Hareb, of the creative community members who participated in the workshop, asserted the importance of the project, stressing that the reality in Al Quoz proves the possibility of transforming the industrial environment into a creative one, thanking Dubai Culture for its efforts and for bringing together all concerned parties.”
Abdalla Al Mulla said: “The workshop produced important outputs to address the challenges that the creative community experiences in Al Quoz, including the provision of business licences, identifying the type of rental contracts, and zoning among others. Frameworks that are put in place to facilitate these maters will have a ripple effect that will positively affect other sectors.”
Vilma Jurkute, Executive Director of Alserkal, said: “With Dubai forming a key pillar for arts infrastructure and the creative economy in the region through the contribution of homegrown initiatives, such as Alserkal, it is only natural that we would steer towards contemporary policy-making processes.”
Butheina Kazim, Co-founder of Cinema Akil, said: “This is the first time that we see a comprehensive and consensus-based effort on behalf of the creative community and beyond. Dubai Culture’s efforts to build an integrated infrastructure and comprehensive system to serve the creative industries, as well as bring about real change by transforming the challenges and obstacles that creative people face into strengths, are truly exceptional and require long-term work.”
Hind Bin Demaithan, owner of Hamzat Wasl studio, said: “The focal point that the project can provide is in producing the materials in Dubai instead of shipping them from outside the country, especially when we have the infrastructure that would enable us to manufacture these items at a cost equal to their manufacture in other countries.”