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 Audience questions
| What is the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development?The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development is a government service established under a federal government resolution issued in 2006, for the purpose of educating the UAE’s community about the meaning of culture, supporting knowledge, promoting all kinds of culture and arts (Arts, heritage and knowledge, etc.) and coordinating among institutions engaged in culture in the UAE and overseas, to become the country’s premier authority in this field.
Following the issuance of the federal resolution separating cultural, youth and community development functions, which were then the responsibility of the defunct Ministry of Information and Culture, from those of the media, the new Ministry shouldered the remaining functions entrusted to it by the government. These included promoting national culture, community and youth development, organizing the government’s official cultural activities and supporting the semi - governmental local and federal cultural organizations.
| What are the services provided by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development?The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development promotes culture and publishing, sponsors cultural festivals, establishes databases covering these activities, takes care of talented young Emiratis in all cultural fields and establishes a consistent cultural dialogue with local and international communities. The Ministry also takes care of adult educated and talented UAE citizen, provides them with material and moral support through several means, supports culture in areas like publishing, writing and fine and performing arts. Furthermore, the Ministry represents the UAE overseas, educates the community, protects the national identity, heritage and the Arabic language, It also sponsors youth cultural, artistic, sports and community development activities, nurtures talented young Emiratis and consolidates their concept of creativity.
| What is the nature of the work of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development? The Ministry strives to familiarize the local community with the meaning and concept of culture, using the appropriate methods to help it acquire this knowledge. It also strives to promote culture within the community, explain the objectives of knowledge, the importance of education to mankind, the means to get educated in culture and upgrade this education through all means available. The Ministry’s work involves three notions: implementation, dedication and planning and is mainly aimed at carrying out the tasks entrusted to it by the Strategic Plan of the federal government. It also involves implementing the Ministry’s own vision and strategy revolving around culture and national identity as a concept for the development of the community, youth and national identity. | Who is the Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development?The Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development is His Excellency Abdurrahman Bin Muhammad Al Owais. | What is the strategy of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development?The strategy of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development calls for upholding the national identity, promoting the sense of citizenship, investing in the potential of young talents, nurturing and raising the cultural awareness of the community, promoting creative cultural practices within an efficient framework that considers quality and performance as the main standards for success. | How does the public communicate with the Ministry?The public communicates with the Ministry either by personally visiting its headquarters in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, corresponding with it via PO Box 17, via dial-up telephone calls to its Abu Dhabi headquarters’ number 024466145, Dubai headquarters’ number 042617744, or its cultural centres in the UAE (the Western Region’s Cultural Centre and Public Library, The Umm Al Quwain Cultural Centre, the Fujairah Cultural Centre, the Ras Al Khaimah Cultural Centre, the Masafi Cultural Centre, the Diba and Fujairah Public Library, the Delma library and the Sharjah Music Centre). The public also communicates with the Ministry through its website: www.mcycd.ae. | - How do you support the public education initiatives of the Ministry of Education?The Ministry supports all initiatives aiming to educate the public through moral and material sponsorship and cooperation with the institutions or individuals launching those initiatives and promotes them among the community through all means such as theatre, art exhibitions, lectures, workshops and others.
The Ministry is focused on promoting reading among the public, by providing educational materials like books, publications and other publicity and publishing media according to individual competencies. These include free books provided by the Ministry to the visitors of book fairs, and in kind prizes presented to the winners of competitions organized by the Ministry’s cultural centres, as well as the regular events that focus on consolidating the national identity and its cultural dimensions among the Emirati public.
| How does the Ministry celebrate national occasions? The Ministry celebrates national occasions according to a diversified events agenda, replete with a host of offers, competitions and exhibitions, held in cultural and commercial centres throughout the country. The celebrations aim at promoting awareness about national occasions and national identity. The Ministry ranks the celebration of national occasions at the top of its priorities, in appreciation of their symbolic meanings and dimensions, which highlight the levels of community commitment to the national identity and the national cultural and religious heritage.
The Ministry celebrates these important occasions through community and cultural events hosted by its cultural centres throughout the Emirates, and those held by the Ministry in coordination and cooperation with its strategic partners from other government Ministries and national companies and sponsors.
| What are the Ministry's initiatives to educate the public and develop the community?These initiatives are represented by the launch of several projects to educate the public and develop the community, and consist of the project for publishing various intellectual works, the project for the support and patronage of local talents (talented young Emiratis), the projects aiming at promoting the national identity and the agreements concluded between the Ministry and other government institutions such as the Ministry of Education and others. The Ministry's website provides a variety of other services such as informing the public about its news and activities as well as launching competitions and introducing the public to activities and personalities and everything related to the cultural scene in the UAE.
The Ministry also sponsors a number of important initiatives for public education and community development, mainly by establishing cultural centres dotted with libraries in addition to public libraries. The Ministry further supports the process of educating the public about the nation’s moral heritage through the collection and purchase of archaeological finds and rare coins. It also supports industrial, handicraft and folkloric art events, and organizes a number of forums and conferences dedicated to culture, national identity and community culture, as well as a series of lectures and cultural and general information competitions hosted by the Ministry’s cultural centres when celebrating national occasions and book fairs.
| In which Emirates are the Ministry’s offices located?The Ministry has two head offices, one in Abu Dhabi and the other in Dubai, in addition to its cultural centres in the UAE (the Western Region’s Cultural Centre and Public Library, The Umm Al Quwain Cultural Centre, the Fujairah Cultural Centre, the Ras Al Khaimah Cultural Centre, the Masafi Cultural Centre, the Diba and Fujairah Public Library, the Delma library and the Sharjah Music Centre). | How can we meet one of the officials providing services in the Ministry?The doors of the Ministry are open to all concerned members of the public, who can meet any official they want by merely visiting the Ministry's headquarters in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, or any of its cultural centres, provided they know to which department or section that particular official belongs to. They can also meet such officials by booking an appointment over the telephone through their secretaries.
According to the instructions of His Excellency Abdurrahman bin Muhammad Al Owais, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, the Ministry has adopted a policy of open doors, not only to its own staff and local customers, but to all the members of the relevant public, as their feedback about the standard of the Ministry’s services is crucial for the success of its role and its consistent efforts to secure their satisfaction.
| What are the awards allocated and sponsored by the Ministry?The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, allocates a number of major awards, in addition to a greater number of other awards related to special competitions launched on national occasions and targeting youth and the public in general, such as the cultural competition it organizes at book fairs, the general information contest it organizes to celebrate the National Day, the arts competitions it organizes such as “The Emirates in Arab eyes” and many more. One of the most important such competition awards are “The Emirates Appreciation Award”, established under the Council of Ministers’ Resolution No. (17) for the year 2006, on 17 Rabi II 1427 AH / May 15, 2006. This award conveys a message of appreciation of the efforts of the UAE’s writers, researchers and artists in all cultural fields, and recognizes their works that served the UAE and enriched its history with a beneficial harvest of innovation and science.
Commemorating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and launched on 1425 H. / 2004 AD, the Al Burdah Award is another such major competition award, annually organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development. The Al Burdah Award seeks to be the leading and most distinguished award celebrating the birth of the Prophet (PBUH) throughout the Islamic world and to honour the winners of the various competitions revolving around his birth and biography. There are also the poetry contest award launched by His Highness Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the awards for the short story contests and others. | What are the exhibitions attended by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development?The Ministry participates to a large number of exhibitions both in the UAE and overseas, and focuses on highlighting the cultural and civilized aspects of the UAE, through its distinctly designed stands and pavilions and their exclusive offerings, including promotional materials with a rich cultural, heritage and creative content. This is clearly evident at travel and tourism events such as The International Arab Tourism Conference recently held in Beirut, book fairs and cultural and arts events. The Ministry also represents the UAE at overseas travel and tourism fairs and dedicated international and regional conferences, and actively participates to overseas book fairs such as the Cairo International Book Fair and local ones such as the Sharjah International Book Fair and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. | What is the role of the Ministry in supporting the activities of Emirati youth and students?The Ministry implements several projects aimed at supporting the activities of young Emiratis such as the "Young Creative Talents" and other contests addressing this community segment through universities and schools, in addition to the Ministry's promotion of youth forums that bring together young people to discuss their concerns and display their talents.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development also cares for youth and students through a series of events hosted by its cultural centres to educate the local community, its youth and students, including educational courses boosting the educational and scientific potential of students, or those talented and skilled in calligraphy, arts, photography, playing music and traditional and folkloric dances.
The Ministry also encourages students’ cultural activities through its support of student unions and organizations in colleges and universities, and of talented students and young people, to further their scientific education and encourage them to join the practical programs and activities organized by the different sectors of the Ministry.
| - What is the vision and mission of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development?The Ministry's vision is to lead the development of a culturally educated community and talented youth, to help realize the country’s ambitions for a brighter future. The Ministry's mission is to strive to highlight the national identity and support it through community development programs, revive culture and its heritage and consistently nurture talents and talented people, in order to make the country a leading global cultural centre. | - How does the Ministry nurture Emirati cultural and talented Emiratis?The Ministry launches successful projects and programs to attract culturally and creatively talented young Emiratis through programs such as the "Talented Emiratis" program that sponsors publishing the books written by talented young Emiratis and those talented in the technical and electronics field. It also sponsors publishing the works of Emiratis from both sexes, purchasing their books or those talking about the UAE.
The Ministry further allocates prizes to Nabatean Arabic poets and sponsors cultural exchange and familiarization programs, through which it sends Emirati students overseas to avail from scholarship and exchange opportunities such as the “Horizons” program, which sponsored a familiarization tour by fifteen female fine arts students in Spain, where they were introduced to the country’s artistic and architectural achievements in general and to its rich Andalusian heritage in the south.
| How are the Ministry’s departments and cultural centres distributed on the federal level?The Ministry has two headquarters, one in Abu Dhabi and the other in Dubai, in addition to a large number of cultural centres throughout the country, including the Abu Dhabi Cultural Centre, the Western Region’s Cultural Centre and Public Library, The Umm Al Quwain Cultural Centre, the Fujairah Cultural Centre, the Ras Al Khaimah Cultural Centre, the Masafi Cultural Centre, the Diba and Fujairah Public Library, the Delma library and the Sharjah Music Centre. The Ministry’s various sectors are represented in those Centres, through which each sector implements its strategies and activities according to the Ministry's plan and strategy. | What is the Ministry’s role in other community activities such as sports, heritage and health?The Ministry is closely connected to sport since the Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development personally heads the sports and youth authority. As for heritage, the Ministry has a dedicated Arts and Heritage Department, which supports and sponsors heritage related events and activities.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development believes that community work is multifaceted and multidirectional, and as such, may not be solely confined to the jurisdiction of a single government, local or community authority. Some of the Ministry’s activities such as caring for youth and developing the community intersect with the competencies of the Ministries of Education and Health and Culture, Arts and Heritage Authorities. As such, the Ministry strives to integrate its activities with those of the said parties, by organizing educational and health lectures at its cultural centres, first aid and health education courses in collaboration with community-based health organizations and celebrating national occasions with a focus on the heritage aspects and traditional folkloric arts and crafts events.
| What is the role of Emirati citizen in the Ministry's strategy and vision?Emirati citizen are the focus of the activities of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development. They are the ones targeted by its strategy’s programs, plans, activities and events. Their role is therefore one of positive interaction with that strategy, by contributing to its success and upgrading its quality and ability to achieve their cultural and community development aspirations. The Ministry’s activities also involve the proper guidance of youth on the paths of creativity and professionalism and encouraging them to interact with the Ministry’s activities and community and cultural events that require their support and attendance, in addition to self developing themselves in order to benefit from the Ministry's support for their creative and cultural activities, ideas or initiatives of interest to cultural work in the country. | What are the activities that benefit the public in the Ministry’s projects? Many major activities in the Ministry’s projects benefit the public, including exhibitions, festivals, competitions, promotional purchases, works of talented young Emiratis, national identity promotion programs and many others. The public needs cultural and community events that serve its causes and address its concerns, mainly the prime national concern that calls for preserving the nation’s heritage and maintaining the features of its national identity in a community struggling with the problems of its unbalanced population structure and linguistic diversity, all challenging its national language, heritage and its very existence.
Hence the importance of the Ministry’s sponsorship of the efforts aiming to maintain the national identity, protect the Arabic language, revive the UAE’s culture, art, folklore and heritage, assist local theatre associations and support Emirati artists by purchasing and acquiring their works and presenting them as gifts to official foreign delegations visiting the country. His Excellency Abdurrahman bin Muhammad Al Owais, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, insisted on including this custom in the country’s diplomatic protocols, following its adoption by the Council of Ministers.
There also are countless other activities that directly benefit the public and fall within the programs and plans of the Ministry’s cultural centres, targeting specific community segments such as school and university students (awareness lectures, creativity memorandum, creativity magazine, general information contests and community activities such as trips, forums and courses, etc.).
| How can we evaluate the Ministry’s role in the community? The Ministry relies on periodic surveys it launches to track the levels of satisfaction of its customers and the target segment of the public benefiting from its services. It also monitors all news and features published by newspapers concerning its services and activities, including those positively or negatively criticizing its performance. The Ministry also applies other tracking methods such as the number of customers visiting its headquarters and cultural centres, or communicating with them through the telephone, mail, e-mail or website. It also monitors the percentage of participants to the events it organizes and that of the partnerships and agreements it concludes with third parties. Moreover, the Ministry adopts the recommendations of exclusive and public meetings and conferences as a measure to assess its role and the impact of its community services and activities. | Media Questions
| What are the Ministry's most important open ended achievements?The Ministry believes that establishing confidence with the local community, a database of talented Emiratis through the national cultural encyclopedia, winning the best local publisher award to prove its competency in publishing and launching e-cultural services, constitute its best ongoing achievements so far. | What is the media plan of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development?The Ministry has established a media team working within the Ministry. The Ministry’s media office is now being equipped with all sorts of modern communications apparatus available, and competent permanent staff officers and senior officials. The Ministry is also cooperating with all local media organizations, communicating with overseas media organizations, publishing all its press releases on its website and invite the media to attend all its press conferences, supplying media institutions with the schedules of its festivals and events in advance, and designing a media and institutional image promotion plan to be implemented by the Ministry.
| Questions from elite intellectuals
| What is the mechanism for the selection of the candidates to the Emirates Appreciation Award?Following the Supreme Committee’s approval of the desired themes and fields, the lists of candidates and their qualifying documents are forwarded to arbitrators specializing in the field of each candidate. If the number of candidates is not sufficient and the Committee realizes that there are substantial differences between the qualification levels of candidates, the Committee consults experts whose names remain anonymous. If those experts unanimously agree on certain candidates, the matter would be considered as settled; otherwise, all nominations must be referred to an Arbitration Committee, the findings of which will then be adopted. | Why not assign awards in all fields instead of restricting them to those adopted by the Emirates award now?The Ministry is aware that the number of talented people is relatively limited, so if this number is honoured in the first five or ten years of the award’s launch date, we will either have to withhold the award or honour candidates who do not command the same experience, creativity and excellence levels. In this case, the award will not be granted in appreciation of the creative age and accumulated experience of the candidate, but will become a reward granted only to those who are merely active in the relevant fields. | What are the methods and mechanisms adopted by the Ministry to communicate with Emirati writers, poets and artists?In addition to its annual national cultural forum and dedicated cultural partnerships and forums, the Ministry communicates with Emirati writers, poets and artists, by inviting them to attend the cultural weeks, forums and seminars it organizes in the UAE and overseas, and to publish their works through the Ministry. It also publicizes all its projects and initiatives on its web site, and consistently coordinates with the Union of the Emirates Writers, official and community organizations and associations such as the Emirates Theatre Association, the Emirates Plastic Arts Association and culture and heritage authorities and associations in the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman and Fujairah and the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah, among others.
The Ministry also attracts a large number of writers, poets and artists to its senior and junior administrative staff structure, since they can act as biased mediators who better understand the needs of intellectuals and culture in the country.
| Why not adopt a full time work system for creative people?Due to lack of such people at this stage and the commitment of most of them to important public service jobs that cannot be interrupted, patience is required. The full time system is being pondered, taking into consideration similar systems adopted by other countries and specific local conditions. | How does the Ministry promote its Local, Gulf and Arab cultural presence?The Ministry is striving to take part in launching a multi – party cultural initiative under the banner of partnership, cooperation and coordination with other local, regional and Arab cultural institutions and by participating to cultural exhibitions, meetings and forums when invited. The Ministry also organizes exhibitions for the works of talented Emiratis, establishes leading and unprecedented framework projects of interest to the whole community. It also contributes to developing the community through broad interest cultural initiatives and concluding cultural agreements with all relevant cultural institutions, in order to merge their cultural activities and projects with its own.
The Ministry’s contacts and the meetings of HE the Minister, the undersecretaries and executive directors with those Local, Gulf and Arab parties, are aimed at consolidating the Ministry’s regional and Arab presence.
| What are the Ministry's initiatives when representing Emirati culture overseas?The Ministry consistently participates to all Gulf, Arab and international forums, Arab and international book fairs and the cultural weeks it organizes overseas, in order to represent the bright side of the local culture as well as the program launched by the Ministry to translate the works of talented Emiratis to foreign languages, under the supervision of its Publishing and Authoring Department.
The Ministry has also launched a number of other initiatives representing Emirati culture overseas, the most important of which is the “Gifting Program” (the purchase and gifting of local paintings and literary works within the UAE and overseas and supplying them to the libraries of the country’s embassies overseas). These initiatives include inviting talented Emiratis to participate to the cultural weeks and festivals, dedicated international book fairs, art exhibitions, and signing an agreement with the UNESCO for the translation and publishing of creative Emirati works.
| What are the Ministry's priorities in local publishing?The present priorities of the Ministry regarding local publishing, focus on publishing and republishing the works of talented Emirati writers and authors, publishing of rare literary works, works related to the preservation of local heritage, studying Emirati literature and culture, translating local creative works into foreign languages, as well as disseminating creative works of debutants and young talents. | Why are we not witnessing a culture and heritage festival at the national level?The Ministry is keen on organizing such a festival, but the idea is still under consideration and may see the light soon. | What are the Ministry’s local publishing initiatives?The Ministry's local publishing initiatives include its important cultural initiative which consists of the “Isdarat”, “Turathiat” and “Ibdaat Shabbah” (Collections, Heritage and Young Creative works) series of books. This initiative consists of inviting Emirati authors and talented Emiratis to publish their works through the Ministry, and get rewarded. The Ministry’s local publishing initiatives also include the promotional purchase of works published by those Emiratis, provided they are of interest to the UAE or evolve around it. They further include the “Ibdaat Shabbah” program that publishes the works of young talented Emiratis and translates them into foreign languages, in addition to the translation of all sorts of other works. | How can talented Emiratis benefit from the Ministry’s moral support?Talented Emiratis may publish their works through the Ministry’s publications, increase the sales of their previously published works through the Ministry’s promotional purchase or re-release programs, and benefit from the Ministry’s cultural centres to hold poetry and short stories reciting and presentation evenings, if they are poets or story writers, display their artworks at plastic arts exhibitions if they are plastic artists and present their plays, if they are play writers. They can also consider the Ministry’s staff as an important segment of their audience.
| What is the nature of the relationship between the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development and the Union of the Emirates Writers and other cultural institutions in the UAE?The Ministry is a cultural authority that coordinates between all cultural institutions in the country and supports and funds them if necessary. The Ministry signs publishing agreements with the Union of the Emirates Writers, the League of Women Writers and supports other institutions by supplying them with its publications, inviting them to its events and to take part in mutual projects.
The Ministry cooperates with the Union of the Emirates Writers by financially supporting its publishing of the works of Emirati writers. The Ministry is working on upgrading this cooperation to become a lasting partnership with the Union and other local cultural institutions, for publishing books and coordinating in organizing cultural events and festivals on various occasions. The Ministry believes that the partnerships set up through the agreements to be signed with these institutions and cultural establishments will be completed in the coming years, to live up to the international conventions and principles that will locally and federally regulate cultural activities, in order to maintain its guiding role towards the various cultural authorities and institutions.
| What are the procedures required by talented Emiratis to obtain the Ministry’s financial and moral support?Talented Emiratis, being the parties entitled to such support, are required to directly contact the Ministry to obtain all the moral and material support they need, either by calling the Ministry over the telephone, visiting its web site, its headquarters and cultural centres, to personally submit their request in writing detailing the required support. They can apply for the promotional purchase or support for publishing their works through the Ministry’s relevant section of the culture and arts sector. | What are the areas in which the Ministry seeks to strengthen its role over the coming years?The Ministry strives to promote its cultural and community role in sponsoring cultural activities through a coordinated move with all concerned local institutions. It also promotes community and youth development, the concepts of national identity, provides a comprehensive definition of the ideal UAE citizen, supports nurturing a generation of talented youth, teaching national curriculum and the use of Arabic within the concept of national identity, in order to upgrade its role in the documentation, support and promotion of the UAE’s cultural achievements. | What are the obstacles that weaken the presence of the Ministry in local cultural events?The presence of the Ministry in local cultural events mostly lives up to its required role and fulfills the aims of the Ministry’s officials, considering that the Ministry is the authority officially in charge of handling the UAE’s cultural affairs at the federal, local and foreign levels. This presence however faces obstacles that mainly take the form of conflicts between the cultural powers federally entrusted to the Ministry and those entrusted by local authorities to their institutions active in culture, heritage and arts. Such conflicts take the form of more than one such institution participating in the same activities undertaken by the Ministry, the non-participation of intellectuals in the events held by the Ministry, the absence of a clear and efficient advanced announcement of those events, or non-compatibility of the events organized by the Ministry with the local participation, the non-relevancy of such events to local audiences or their poor planning that reduces their relevance and weaken the Ministry’s presence.
One other important obstacle relates to the restrictions of the budget allocated to the Ministry resulting in limiting its options and its ability to shoulder its required cultural role, which need more financial resources than those available at that particular time. This inevitably affects the ability of the Ministry to attract and retain the services of the cultural and creative staff qualified to deal with its vital and important role.
| What are the Ministry's initiatives targeting Emirati intellectuals?The Ministry's launches many initiatives that target Emirati intellectuals, the most important of which are the cultural weeks held both in the UAE and overseas. Those initiatives include the Emirates Appreciation Award that celebrates Emirati talented Emiratis in literature, arts and sciences. They also include the National Cultural Encyclopedia, which is a monumental achievement to be published soon, and highlights Emirati cultural achievements as individual and institutional ones. Those initiatives further include the launch of the “Isdarat” and “Turathiat” series, which publish and republish Emirati creative works that focus on the dissemination of the values of the national heritage and related studies, in addition to the “Ibdaat Shabbah” series that focus on encouraging and publishing the works of talented young Emiratis.
The Ministry also encourages talented Emirati writers, poets and artists, by purchasing their works through the Gifting program that presents such works as gifts to official foreign delegations visiting the country.
| What are the Ministry's plans for promoting and translating local creative works?The Ministry is promoting and translating local creative works by publishing scores of books in various intellectual and literary fields through the department of publishing and editing, which also translates the books of Emirati writers into various foreign languages. The Ministry invites writers and authors to sign off their books for the members of the local community at exhibitions, cultural and recreational centres and cultural institutions and bookshops. It further organizes cultural weeks in the UAE and overseas and invites talented Emiratis to overseas cultural exhibitions and festivals.
The Ministry aims to provide material and moral support to the works of Emirati translators by publishing their works, and hopes to publish the translation of Emirati works by Arab translators, in order to have those works on display at major book fairs throughout the world.
| Why cultural institutions are not invited to take part to the selection of those participating in the Ministry’s programs overseas?The Ministry is keen to involve creative cultural talents from different literary schools and trends, most of whom are members of cultural institutions, in such programs. If the names of some participants are repeatedly involved, this is done in order to establish those names in the media, highlight their experiences and help them attain fame, before moving to other deserving candidates. This system aims at enshrining the names of highly creative Emiratis in the memory of the people.
| How does the Ministry encourage the participation of intellectuals and artists to its activities? The Ministry seeks to encourage the participation of talented Emirati intellectuals in its activities and events, by inviting them to participate to them, each in his own competency (poetry, stories, thoughts and research). It also seeks to encourage them to exhibit their books, paintings and designs in all fields, in line with the relevant event. The Ministry believes that this approach encourages talented Emiratis to take part to its activities and events, so that it may reward their research, creative experiments and achievements.
| What are the Ministry's priorities when representing Emirati culture overseas?The Ministry strives to introduce the UAE’s culture and heritage overseas by publishing and highlighting Emirati creativity, through books, personalities, institutions and creative works, and inviting them to represent the UAE at regional, Arab and foreign exhibitions, seminars and conferences. The Ministry also strives to convey the serious determination of the country’s leadership and government to transform the UAE into a cultural center that acts as an incubator of Arab and global creativity, and a beacon that exports Emirati creativity to the world. This includes the Ministry’s efforts to translate and publish the works of talented Emiratis and display them at International book fairs.
| Why the Archeology law has not been passed yet, and what were the effects of its absence so far?The Ministry is awaiting the promulgation of the federal law establishing the National Council of Antiquities and Tourism, so that it may undertake the final reading of the draft law before referring it to the competent authorities for its promulgation. | How does the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, define culture and cultural activities?The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development is the main authority governing, sponsoring and coordinating cultural activities in general. The Ministry defines culture as the cognitive effort to frame the UAE's creative achievements in the areas of creative writing in both its prose (article, short story and novel) and poetry (poem classical and folk poetry) forms, arts in their pantomime and performance (singing, theatre) forms, graphic forms (sculpture and photography), plastic arts, and folkloric heritage (traditional folkloric dances such as Al Ayyalah, Al Harbiyyah, Lah Allah, Al Layoolah and others).
More comprehensive notions are linked to this academic definition, related to the accumulated knowledge and cultural legacy attached to the Emirati homeland, such as the corporeal heritage, crafts, handicrafts, proverbs and community customs and traditions.
The Ministry defines cultural activities as the official activities it undertakes together with the local cultural organizations, to incentivize creative achievements and enrich them through actions aimed at highlighting and activating creative energies.
| How does the Ministry evaluate its role in the cultural field in the UAE and overseas?The Ministry evaluates its role in the cultural field by measuring the level of satisfaction of the intellectual segment of its customers, by publishing periodic questionnaires about their views on its services and the level of their satisfaction in newspapers and other media organs and through the feedback it receives from intellectuals, all those interested in culture as well as the Ministry’s customers. The Ministry also organizes dedicated meetings and conferences on culture and the national identity such as the National Cultural Forum and the Forum on National Identity, either directly or through public authorities such as the Federal National Council, local culture and heritage organizations and associations, the Union of the Emirates Writers and the UAE Cultural and Scientific Forum.
Furthermore, the Ministry organizes partnership and coordination meetings with delegations and diplomatic missions of foreign countries within a framework of cooperation to highlight the advanced level of culture in the UAE and the constituents of creativity, and benefit from the cultures of those countries.
| What are the obstacles undermining the Ministry’s communication with Emirati intellectuals and talented Emiratis?The lack of effective channels of communication and the presence of some officials who are not interested in the interaction between the Ministry, intellectuals and talented Emiratis, are some of the most important obstacles that continue to undermine the Ministry’s communication with such talented people. Moreover, many of those intellectuals and talented Emiratis do not communicate with the Ministry, either because they lack confidence in its projects and initiatives, because their preoccupation with earning their living prevents them from establishing such communication or because of the lack of events attracting and integrating them with the Ministry’s activities.
The material aspect also directly affects the Ministry’s communication capability with Emirati intellectuals and talented Emiratis, who consider the Ministry as an official establishment that has full power and absolute authority to deal with their urgent demands and secure the necessary material and moral support they need. This is added to the weak presence of the media and advertising agencies, which are themselves subject to the same material restrictions.
The rarity of culture and heritage specialist staff on the other hand, helps reduce the Ministry’s chances for keeping its staff or attracting new ones, due to the temptations of higher paying local cultural institutions.
| What are the mechanisms applied by the Ministry to support local creativity and culture? The Ministry helps in creating a national environment encouraging culture, stimulating creativity, dedicating all its efforts to achieve this in a way that highlights the noble goals of each activity it launches, sponsors, organizes or co-organizes in cooperation with other authorities and associations.
One of the support mechanisms applied by the Ministry, consists of the allocation of the bulk of its budget to support arts, theatre and plastic artists associations, promotional purchase of and publishing of books, as well as field research and surveys indicating the needs of Emirati intellectuals and talented Emiratis, designing and funding new projects that can accommodate talented Emiratis and their creations, publishing targeted ads addressing those Emiratis and attracting them to participate in events that are in line with their talents and concluding agreements with the cultural institutions that support and sponsor them.
| What are the most important constituents of the Ministry’s cultural message?The Ministry adopts three constituents in its cultural message, the first of which considers creativity as a cultural phenomenon and an essential foundation for individual excellence in the arts, writing and performance activities. While the second constituent considers the national identity and authenticity as a platform for the establishment of a comprehensive national culture encompassing all the constituents of the UAE’s community, and maintaining its distinct features and uniqueness, the third constituent consists of adopting quality cultural services that best express the depth of the strategic vision of the leadership and consequently select the most effective high quality means to deliver those services to the intellectuals who most deserve them. |
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