Makers Month: Innovative Initiatives to Support Creative Entrepreneurship

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has announced the return of Makers Month, which will take place from 7 to 13 September in Al Quoz Creative Zone, aiming to bring together all makers, creative talent and entrepreneurs under one umbrella to develop their skills, artistic capabilities, and various abilities, in addition to strengthening connections and networks among manufacturers and showcasing the best global practices in supporting cultural and creative industries. This comes as part of the Authority’s efforts to enhance the emirate’s position as a global centre for culture, an incubator for creativity, and a thriving hub for talent.

During Makers Month, entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to participate in a series of workshops conducted in collaboration with Make Works UAE, Colab, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, and Art Jameel, featuring a selection of experts and speakers who will engage with the makers, providing them with the technical and professional consultations they need to develop their projects. The agenda for the month includes organising a ‘Make Works UAE Bus Tour’ that involves field visits to several sites in Al Quoz Creative Zone to learn about the practices, projects, products, and different requirements of the makers, highlighting the significance of the area and the inspiring activities it hosts.

The Makers Month programme also includes a series of sessions and workshops, including ‘Year-Round Artistic Opportunities: A Guide to Dubai Culture’s Projects and Competitions,’ which will showcase some of the key projects and initiatives organised by the Authority to support entrepreneurs, as well as ‘RETHINK: Material Development in the UAE,’ presented by Richard Wilson, Creative Director and Founder of Colab. This session will explore the growing list of materials that are currently or have been developed in the UAE and look at the emerging pool of designers who want to create materials that aim to build on locally available resources. Wilson will also engage participants in another session with a group of local material innovators to explore how the market interacts with their ideas and the main challenges they face in their projects.

The programme includes a ‘Painting on Ceramics’ workshop hosted by Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children, along with a ‘Makers Exchange’ event presented by Mansi Bavishi in collaboration with a group of manufacturers. Jassim Abdulrahman Al Awadhi, an expert on ease of doing business at the Department of

Economy and Tourism in Dubai, will shed light on the licensing procedures for members of the creative community during the ‘Empowering Creativity: Demystifying License Applications for the Creative Community in the UAE,’ session, while Neda Salmanpour and Caesar Binchy will deliver the ‘3D Public Art Printing’ session. Engineers Khaled Shalkha and Sara Abufarha, an architect and urban planner, will conduct the workshop ‘Art Jameel Creative Grants.’ Additionally, participants in Makers Month will have the opportunity to explore innovations in natural, sustainable, recycled, and bio-sourced materials or those helping carbon reduction, showcased in a special exhibition organised by Colab.

Khulood Khoory, Director of the Projects and Events Department at Dubai Culture, affirmed the importance of Makers Month and its role in supporting emerging makers and SMEs, enabling them to promote their work and services in innovative ways, which positively impacts the cultural and creative industries in Dubai, saying “Through its qualitative initiatives, Dubai Culture is keen to stimulate the local manufacturing ecosystem by creating suitable environments capable of attracting makers, entrepreneurs, and creative talent, opening horizons for them, and encouraging them to benefit from Dubai’s wide-ranging capabilities and the facilities and investment opportunities it offers. This unique environment empowers them to transform their ideas into successful projects, reflecting the distinctiveness of the emirate's environment and its suitability for talent in all fields. Makers Month contributes to encouraging entrepreneurs to add economic value to their products, and to enhancing the emirate's diversified knowledge and innovation-based economy and reinforcing its position as a hub for creativity.”