Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) participated in the just finished 2022 Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the National Mall in Washington, USA, and used the opportunity to highlight the legacy, traditions, and history of the emirate. United Arab Emirates: Living Landscape | Living Memory was the theme of the Authority’s innovative tour of the country.
This festival, one of the biggest creative and cultural gatherings in the world, is held every year in Washington. With the full support of the Ministry of Culture and Youth, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the UAE Embassy in the United States of America, this year’s festival welcomed the UAE after a two-year hiatus. The festival honoured Emirati legacy, identity, and cultural, artistic, and creative achievements with the participation of 80 artists from the UAE, showcasing the UAE’s hosting of numerous major cultural events that unite the intellectual world.
The participation of Dubai Culture included a display of traditional Emirati sailing boats from its holdings, as well as a collection of relics that were on loan from the Al Shindagha Museum, as well as collections associated with maritime culture, such as marine navigation and pearl diving equipment. In addition to the items on exhibit, lectures with experts were organised to illustrate the rich maritime legacy of the Emirati people.
It also gave visitors a rare chance to learn about how the Al-Durour map was made, which served as a guide for predicting weather based on the positions of the stars, and it emphasised the emirate’s efforts to protect Emirati cultural legacy for future generations.
Mariam Al-Tamimi, Manager of Al Shindagha Neighbourhood and Acting Director of Heritage Sites Department at Dubai Culture, stated that the Authority is eager to celebrate Emirati culture and heritage and makes no effort to spread Dubai’s cultural heritage around the world, enhancing the emirate’s cultural footprint in international fora and securing its position as a global centre for culture.
Al-Tamimi continued, “Dubai is a dynamic city that offers its citizens and visitors one-of-a-kind opportunities to discover its distinctive legacy and historical roots. The opportunity to participate in this event provided a platform for promoting Al Shindagha Museum as a significant cultural destination in the emirate and revitalising the museum’s cultural tourism. This took place as part of the Al Shindagha Museum and Smithsonian Folklife Festival’s collaboration, which arose from the Authority’s conviction in the value of cross-cultural harmony and the necessity of creating potent global alliances that support the creative economy and its value to the country’s economy.