Abu Dhabi on Wednesday announced plans to focus on growing its creative industry.
In his capacity as ruler of Abu Dhabi, President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a law establishing the Creative Media Authority, as part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi.
The authority aims to enhance the growth of the emirate’s creative sector and will act as a regulatory and supervisory body.
It will ensure that infrastructure is in place for creative domains to expand and thrive, and developing initiatives to attract, incentivise and develop SMEs and professional talent within the sector, a statement said.
It added that the authority will nurture the burgeoning gaming and esports sector in the emirate, and support and launch prizes that contribute to the development of media production and interactive media.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said that with the launch of the Creative Media Authority, various sectors are being unified into a single sustainable ecosystem that will enable creative individuals and businesses to express themselves and reach new levels of commercial success.
The establishment of the Creative Media Authority is part of an AED30+ billion, 10-year investment strategy across Abu Dhabi by both the public and private sectors to develop the emirate’s culture and creative infrastructure, with AED8.5 billion invested over the past five years and a further AED22 billion being rolled out in the next five years.
The move brings the industry under one umbrella, as DCT Abu Dhabi now consolidates Abu Dhabi’s multidisciplinary domains such as film and TV production, popular music, gaming and esports with cultural fields such as heritage, crafts and design, publishing, performing arts, and visual arts, as well as the Arabic Language Centre.
The move comes as the first phase of Yas Creative Hub, to be built over three phases, is due to open this year.
Once all three are complete, Yas Creative Hub will be home to some 16,000 creative professionals – three times as many as twofour54’s existing campus at Khalifa Park.
The move comes five months after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched an initiative to make Dubai a major player of the global creative economy.
Under the Dubai Creative Economy Strategy, Dubai aims to increase the number of creative firms from 8,000 to 15,000 over the next five years.
The number of creative professionals working in Dubai will jump from 70,000 to 150,000 in the same period, he said.
Dubai also aims to increase the contribution of the creative economy to the country’s GDP from 2.6 percent to 5 percent and launch new creative zones in content, design and arts.
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