Arts Center at NYUAD focuses on ideals of UAE National Day

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will commemorate the ideals of UAE National Day by hosting the ninth edition of Hekayah | The Story on Monday, November 27 at 7:30pm, in The Black Box. Poets, spoken word artists, musicians, and storytellers from diverse backgrounds will come together to explore the meaning of ‘home’, sharing their heritage and cultures, and asking how country, city, and family fit within these concepts. Reem Almenhali. 

Emcee Reem Almenhali, an NYUAD alumnus, co-creator of Al Raheel, and ADMAF Creativity Award winner, will lead a memorable evening of performances that showcase the beautiful diversity of the UAE. This year’s lineup includes music by the pan-Arab Basma Choir, Jad Al Kareem Tatou (Syria), and WYWY (Philippines). Spoken word poetry is performed by Pulitzer Prize winning poet and NYUAD faculty Gregory Pardlo (USA), along with Richard Mille Prize winning artist Rand Abdul Jabbar (Iraq / Canada), Rasha Alduwaisan (Kuwait), Rawad Raidan (Lebanon), Salha Obaid Hassan, Samar Abdel Jaber and Ali Zain (Palestine), and Shahad Alsaqqaf (UAE).

The lineup of performers was selected through a collaborative curatorial process, by key players in the cultural, poetry, arts, and writing communities across the UAE, including Bill Bragin, Executive Artistic Director of The Arts Center; Dorian Paul Rogers, poet, producer of Rooftop Rhythms, in residence monthly at NYUAD; Osama Mootassem, marketeer and founder of both cl-u and the brand nvr frgttn; Farah Chamma, Palestinian poet and performer; and Safeya Alblooshi, sound artist and Research Assistant with the Music and Sound Cultures Research Group at NYUAD under the Kawader Research Fellowship Programme.

Executive Artistic Director of The Arts Center Bill Bragin commented: "Hekayah was one of the first events we created when The Arts Center was founded, as an important opportunity for UAE residents of many backgrounds to share their art and cultural perspectives on the occasion of UAE National Day. It’s a place for deep consideration of the many meanings of home, family, and place, in all their complexity, expressed through word and song. Each year, Hekayah is curated collaboratively to allow for a collective sensibility that includes global award-winning artists and local community based artists sharing the same stage.”