Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, spoke on Thursday of the long friendship and mutual understanding at the heart of the UK/UAE 2017 Year of Creative Collaboration.
“This Ministry is honoured to be partnering with the British Council in full support of this imaginative cultural venture,” he said. “When the joint patrons of UK/UAE 2017 – His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – inaugurated this creative collaboration at Al Jahili Fort in Al Ain last November, we knew that a great adventure was on the horizon. Now we are getting under way.”
Held at the Abu Dhabi headquarters of the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, the ceremony, which was also attended by Philip Parham, the British Ambassador to the UAE, was used to announce the events that will form the spring season of the year-long programme.
As well as the public and the popular, the spring season also includes events that are aimed at industry specialists and all of these have been organised according to three themes: next generation, community, and inclusion.
These include performances by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Dubai Opera as part of the BBC Proms, a science strand featuring UK authors at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and commissions from UK-based artists as part of this year’s Sharjah Biennial 13 as well as an international symposium for scientists engaged in Smart City research and workshops for UAE-based museum professionals.
“The UK and the UAE have always shared common values — a devotion to our own cultures and a deep respect for and appreciation of other cultures, ethnicities, languages, religions, and beliefs,” Sheikh Nahyan added.
“We share the joys of civilisation [and] this year of creative collaboration between the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates will intensify those joys.”
nleech@thenational.ae