International Museum Day is on Thursday and many institutions will be offering free entry for visitors.
The event, co-ordinated by the International Council of Museums, first took place in 1977 with tens of thousands of museums across more than 140 countries participating. Each year a different theme is highlighted that reflects upon issues that museums face globally.
Since 2020, the focus of the day has been Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the role of cultural institutions in shaping green futures through educational programmes, exhibitions, community outreach and research.
The theme for this year’s iteration is Museums, Sustainability and Well-being. To mark the occasion, here are five museums in the UAE celebrating International Museum Day.
Louvre Abu Dhabi
Louvre Abu Dhabi will be offering free entry to UAE residents on Thursday. Located on Saadiyat Island, the museum has a permanent collection featuring the likes of Edouard Manet, Paul Gauguin, as well as artefacts that are thousands of years old, including the Ain Ghazal statues from Jordan, which are the oldest large-scale human statues ever discovered.
The museum also has on loan several landmark pieces from art history, including Leonardo da Vinci’s St John the Baptist. The galleries, exhibitions and boutique will remain open until 8.30pm. The restaurants and dome will close at midnight.
www.louvreabudhabi.ae
Expo City Dubai
Expo City Dubai is offering visitors free entry to all of its flagship pavilions on Friday. The celebration includes curated educational programmes and a treasure hunt across seven attractions.
The offer also encompasses Alif – the Mobility Pavilion, Terra – the Sustainability Pavilion, The Women's and Vision Pavilions, as well as the three Stories of Nations Pavilions.
Activities planned for the day include climate-focused film screenings and informative tours at Terra, as well as a Lego workshop at Alif where participants can build robot hands to learn about motors, sensors and engineering principles. Craft activities will be available for all ages at the Women's and Vision Pavilions.
www.expocitydubai.com
Al Shindagha Museum
Located in the Dubai Creek area, Al Shindagha Museum offers insight into the city’s history, charting its many transformations over the centuries.
The museum is a celebration of Emirati heritage and culture. It features interactive videos, touch displays and photographs to give visitors a deeper, layered understanding of the city.
The museum is offering free entry on Thursday.
alshindagha.dubaiculture.gov.ae
Sharjah Museums
Sharjah Museums will be holding several workshops across its venues to celebrate the sustainability-related theme. The activities will be held from Thursday until May 25. Furthermore, all museums across Sharjah will be free to enter on International Museum Day.
A paper windmill workshop will be held at Al Mahatta Museum at 5pm on Friday. Participants will learn how to make paper windmills to help them determine the direction of the wind. Another workshop will detail how to build a car model powered by hydrogen and charged by solar energy. The workshop will be held at the Sharjah Science Museum on Thursday at 5pm, as well as May 22 and May 23 at 10am.
There will also be several recycling workshops held in different locations across Sharjah Museums, each dealing with different materials, including paper and fabrics.
www.sharjahmuseums.ae
Etihad Museum
Originally named the Union House, Etihad Museum is located in Jumeirah where the founding fathers of the UAE signed the declaration that marked the country’s formation in 1971.
The manuscript-shaped building has eight permanent pavilions, which employ interactive technology to narrate the UAE’s foundational history.
The museum is free for visitors on Thursday.
etihadmuseum.dubaiculture.gov.ae
Company%20profile
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Company Profile
Company name: Fine Diner
Started: March, 2020
Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka
Based: Dubai
Industry: Technology and food delivery
Initial investment: Dh75,000
Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp
Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000
Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
