Abu Dhabi’s artistic engagement: Wednesdays at Warehouse 421

This week, Warehouse 421 launches Wednesdays at the Warehouse, the first public event at the cultural venue since its inaugural street festival attracted an estimated 10,000 visitors in November.

“During the launch, people kept saying, ‘Why can’t we see more of this? Why can’t you keep this going?’” says programming manager Faisal Al Hassan.

“We didn’t expect the feedback to be so positive, so we started looking at what is needed for arts and creative programming in Abu Dhabi that is fun, friendly, relaxed and to bring something new to the cultural scene.”

The result is Wednesdays at the Warehouse, a series of bi-weekly events running until April 27 that include creative workshops, outdoor film screenings and panel discussions. They are designed to explore and further Warehouse 421’s central mission: the development of a “creative ecosystem” in Abu Dhabi and the creation of a hub in Mina Zayed for emerging artists and designers.

The opening night’s events begin at 5.30pm, with a workshop in mixed-media collage techniques, followed by a double film screening at 7.30pm courtesy of pop-up cinema specialists, Cinema Akil, who recently organised screenings at Market OTB (Outside the Box), a part of Dubai Shopping Festival, and at the launch of the Dubai Design District (D3).

First up is the 2015 short Ave Maria – which, it was announced last Thursday, is nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film. It tells the story of a group of nuns in a West Bank convent who help a group of Israeli settlers who have crashed their car and are trying to get home in time for Sabbath.

It will be followed by the 2011 film Sea Shadow, an Emirati coming-of-age drama that follows two 16-year-olds as they struggle with traditions and conventions along with their impending adulthood.

Written by Mohammed Hassan Ahmed and directed by Nawaf Al Janahi, Sea Shadow was the first movie from Image Nation Abu Dhabi to be filmed in the UAE.

Other films that will be screened during the season include Hala Lotfy's impressive 2012 debut Coming Forth by Day, the story of an Egyptian mother and daughter who have to care for their stroke-ridden husband/father, and the Jordanian coming-of-age drama Theeb. The latter has been nominated for two Bafta awards by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and is also one of five films to make the final shortlist for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

The debut feature from British-­Jordanian director and co-writer Naji Abu Nowar, Theeb received financial backing from Abu Dhabi's Sanad fund for film development and post-production.

“We wanted to focus on contemporary Arab cinema as a way of supporting all of the initiatives that are happening here in the Middle East, with Image Nation, with Sanad and with what’s coming out of Palestine and Jordan and Egypt,” says Al Hassan. “There are great, great films that are coming out of the region and we want to celebrate that.”

Aimed at creative types of all skills and ages, the Wednesdays at the Warehouse workshops are presented by alumni from the closest thing Abu Dhabi has to an elite art programme – The Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF), a year-long, studio-based course taught by faculty from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), to which fellows cannot apply but have to be nominated.

“We’re very keen that some of the alumni from the SEAF fellowship take part in some of the workshops to help give the artists an educational element to their work, and hopefully we’ll start to see more and more involvement of the alumni in future phases of the programme,” says Al Hassan.

One of those alumni is Dubai-­based artist Khalid Mezaina, whose textile work has featured in the SEAF exhibition during Warehouse 421’s opening festival, and in the currently running Emirati Expressions at Manarat Al Saadiyat.

“The workshop allows me to give something back to the community and to share my knowledge and skills with people who might not necessarily have access to those,” says the 30-year-old.

“It will coincide with a film screening, so you’ll be able to take inspiration from the film or follow one of its themes. It also exemplifies the intentions of the Salama Foundation, it’s very community-orientated and it’s about fostering talent.”

RISD’s provost, Pradeep Sharma, and the programme director for the SEAF fellowship, Anais Missakian, will be joined by arts writer Myrna Ayad, Taskheel’s Jill Hoyle and Maisa Al Qassimi of the Tourism and Culture Authority Abu Dhabi for Wednesdays at the Warehouse’s first panel discussion.

Titled Artist Communities: Nature vs Nurture, it aims to get to the heart of the Warehouse 421/SEAF mission by discussing what it takes to create environments in which artists can flourish.

“This is our pilot programme, so it’s still a learning process for us, and we’ve made it varied because we hope a lot of people will be able to come and enjoy at least one or two of the activities,” says Al Hassan.

“But we’re actively seeking feedback from the community so we can develop the programme further.”

• Wednesdays at the Warehouse starts tomorrow and will be held every two weeks until April 27. For more details, visit www.warehouse421.ae

nleech@thenational.ae