KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (DUBAI)
At the World Governments Summit in Dubai, H.H. Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and Member of the Dubai Council, spoke about Dubai’s strategy to become a global centre for culture.
Her Highness stressed the importance of government to act as a “catalyst” rather than the primary creator.
Her Highness said this was to ensure an organic and diverse industry that was not led by government, but rather enabled by it.
“The industry has always grown organically, there were always creatives in Dubai, our role as a government is to enable them,” Her Highness said.
“As a government entity I don’t want to come up with all the initiatives and create all the fairs ourselves. We want the creatives to create it, I believe that’s how you get diversity.”
Her Highness highlighted the Al Quoz creative zone as an example of the how the Dubai government had helped enable its creatives by helping them surpass hurdles around zoning rights as well as creating incentives and creating funding options.
Her Highness said the Dubai government was planning on creating a one stop shop for financing, legal, and administrative needs for creatives and applauded efforts to create certification pathways for creatives that take under seven minutes. “A lot of the time these creatives have the answer to their challenges, all we need to do is listen.”