Dubai Culture Celebrates a Decade of Success with Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate's dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, will be celebrating a decade of success with the 10th edition of the Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre. The upcoming festival, which will run for 10 days from the 22nd to 31st of October, is expected to attract a significant number of budding and established performing arts specialists, individuals interested in drama, and the general public from across the GCC.

Director, Projects & Events at Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, Moza Suwaidan said: “Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre is in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to create a city of happy, creative and empowered people. The Festival will also provide an ideal platform for theatre groups in the country to showcase their skills to the public in a series of new and creative ways. Furthermore, the festival will provide the perfect opportunity for audiences to discover locally-based talent, and a structure to develop and support this talent throughout their artistic career. Ultimately the festival aims to promote the Emirate’s cultural and artistic fabric, to ensure future generations continue to benefit from the Dubai cultural and artistic scene.”

The festival seeks to highlight performing arts talents based in the UAE, by encouraging local theatre groups in the country to produce plays and showcase them during the festival, as well as awarding the best performances and participants during the festival’s closing ceremony. Seminars will also be held each day to keep track of the development of participants’ skills, and to raise their profiles by promoting their work across a number of media channels.  

Suwaidan added: “All of us here at Dubai Culture are truly proud of the festival’s success over the past nine years. Each year it attracts an ever-greater number of individuals and theatre groups, all of which has culminated in the festival reaching its 10th edition. One of the most important achievements over the past decade of the festival is placing Dubai at the forefront of the youth theatre scene in the Arab world, realised through providing both fresh talent and established professionals a number of valuable opportunities to interact and exchange views, as well as honouring creativity in this sector.” 

A decade of success with Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre has shown an increase in the number of young artists entering the theatre sector; the festival has demonstrated its ability to attract new talent and new theatre groups and to provide a platform to present work across all areas of performing arts. 

This year, a new awards format will be introduced including the new ‘Personality of the Year’ honour, which will award an outstanding individual from the event that sets a positive example for others.

Fatima Al Jallaf, Head of Dubai Festival for Youth Theatre, Senior Specialist Cultural & Arts Support of Dubai Culture & Arts Authority commented on the event saying: “One of the most important goals that we seek to achieve in each edition of the festival is attracting young talent - providing them with all the necessary support they need to establish themselves in this sector and supplying them with valuable opportunities to develop their abilities and introduce them to other theatre groups. We also work with all of our stakeholders to prepare a unique series of programmes for audiences following the festival.” 

A number of events will feature at this year’s festival, including an open youth forum for university students to discuss the most important challenges they face in this field, as well as a showcase of a number of short plays in different languages under the Short Plays Festival. In addition, students from the Ajman University of Science and Technology media department will participate by showcasing a series of short plays, as well as a display of folk dances during the opening and closing ceremonies. 

Furthermore, a reading corner initiated by Dubai Public Libraries will feature at the event, in order to highlight October’s Month of Reading in the UAE. Dubai Culture will also organise a number of activities on the side-lines of the event including the Creativity and Happiness Theatre, which will work together with those who have disabilities and special needs in order to enhance the environment of the festival with happiness and positive energy.

An opening ceremony will be presented by Dubai Culture at this year’s event, which will display the evolution of the festival from its inception to the place it has reached now, using modern acting methods, in addition to employing cutting-edge techniques inspired by international films. 

The festival will provide an ideal platform for ambitious directors, writers, young actors, stage technicians, designers of clothing and accessories, technicians, lighting, and make-up artists.