Artists and creative practitioners often rely on grants, residencies and funds from various organisations to help them realise or sustain their research and projects.
Throughout the year, various institutions in the UAE and around the world announce open calls that enable artists, filmmakers, writers and designers to participate in an exhibition, a programme or receive financial assistance for their work.
Here are five ongoing opportunities for artists and creatives in the UAE and the region to consider.
Richard Mille Art Prize
Louvre Abu Dhabi’s first prize for contemporary art, launched in collaboration with Swiss watchmakers Richard Mille, will give $50,000 to one artist.
The prize aims to put a spotlight on UAE talent and coincides with the country’s 50th year.
Any artist working in the UAE is eligible for the award, and the winner will be selected by a jury. A shortlist of four to six artists will also be selected for a dedicated exhibition titled Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2021, which will be showcased at the museum.
The first year's theme, Memory, Time and Territory, asks artists to reflect on the UAE’s transformation since its founding.
Deadline for submission is Saturday. The winning and shortlisted works will be shown in November until March 2022.
More information available at louvreabudhabi.ae/en/art/louvre-abu-dhabi-art-here-2021
National Pavilion UAE at Venice Architecture Biennale
The National Pavilion UAE is accepting concept proposals for its participation at the next Venice Architecture Biennale.
Architects, designers, artists, historians or researchers with experience working in the UAE and the Menasa region are welcome to apply. The open call asks for concept proposals exploring the architecture of the UAE or its built environment.
The selected proposal will be shown at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, to be held from May to November 2023.
Deadline for submissions is on Sunday, October 31.
More information is available at nationalpavilionuae.org/open-call
Mophradat's Grants for Artists
Arts funding organisation Mophradat is offering grants for artists to help develop their practice. The programme is aimed at practitioners who are experimenting with new forms and knowledge-sharing endeavours.
The grant is open to contemporary artists from or living in the Arab world or are creating projects that are relevant to the region.
Mophradat encourages “eccentric and critical proposals challenging traditional arts genres and discourses”, which can include projects involving research, production of new work, publications, exhibitions, performances and others. This year, the organisation has expanded that scope so that artists can use the grants for financial support towards their livelihood or ongoing research.
Mophradat is currently offering 10 grants of either $2,500 to $5,000. The deadline is Friday, October 1.
More information is available at mophradat.org/open-calls/grants-for-artists-practice-pilot-edition
Mudun Short Story Prize
Launched by the Barjeel Art Foundation in June, the Mudun Short Story Prize is open to writers working on fiction that is set in one or more Arab cities.
The stories can explore a city’s architectural and historical features, as well as its society and social dynamics. Submissions are not restricted by genres, and works can be science fiction to fantasy. Writers can submit a work of fiction of up to 5,000 words.
The first-place winner will be awarded $350 in cash, while the runner-up will receive $250. The stories will be published on Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal’s website. Submissions are open until Friday, October 1.
More information is available at barjeelartfoundation.org/news/mudun-short-story-prize
Aarhus Arab Film Festival
The Aarhus Arab Film Festival aims to showcase the Arab world’s diversity through film.
The international film festival, which takes place in October, will showcase Arab films to Danish audiences in Aarhus, Denmark. Applications are open to filmmakers from the Arab world.
Applicants can submit their films for consideration to be part of the festival, which also has a competition for Best Short Film and Best Long Film. Previous films shown at the festival include Egypt's Between Two Seas, directed by Anas Tolba, which has won more than 20 international awards and was shown on Netflix.
The final submission deadline is Friday, October 1.
More information is available at aaffdk.com
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Pathaan
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 0
Stoke City 0
Man of the Match: Erik Pieters (Stoke)
Wayne Rooney's career
Everton (2002-2004)
- Appearances: 48
- Goals: 17
Manchester United (2004-2017)
- Appearances: 496
- Goals: 253
England (2003-)
- Appearances: 119
- Goals: 53
Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
