Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts, heritage, and literature, announced the signing of a memorandum of understating (MoU) with Global Village for the hosting of the ninth edition of the ‘Live Our Heritage’ ‘festival. The agreement was signed by His Excellency Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director General at Dubai Culture, and Bader Anwahi, CEO of Global Village.

As part of the agreement, Dubai Culture will hold the ninth festival, in its biggest and most comprehensive version, at Global Village for more than five months with the aim to promote UAE national heritage among all segments of society — citizens, residents and tourists — in order to preserve and strengthen UAE values and traditions and transfer them to future generations.

His Excellency Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director General at Dubai Culture commented: “We are proud to cooperate with our partners at Global Village with whom we have a close collaboration with, especially in light of last year’s tremendous success of the eighth edition which also took place at Global Village. We see the Village as an ideal destination to interact with different nationalities and introduce them to our culture and heritage, in line with our vision to position Dubai as a global, creative, and sustainable city for culture, heritage, arts, and literature.”

Al Nabouda, added: “We at Dubai Culture always work to support the heritage sector in the UAE by forming partnerships and launching various initiatives and projects to preserve the local heritage, support local craftsmen, and preserve and develop traditional handicrafts. This aligns with the ‘Year of Zayed 2018’ initiative and celebrates the values of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who instilled us all with love and respect for our nation’s heritage and traditions, as well as with the will to share them with future generations.”

“We, at Global Village, are always keen to present our Emirati culture with all its rich heritage and to present it in a way that reflects its authenticity to the millions of our guests from residents and tourists. We believe that our strategic collaboration with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority for hosting the “Live Our Heritage Festival” at Global Village will provide our guests with a comprehensive overview of the most important traditional handicrafts, as well as highlight our traditions handed down through generations with interactive workshops and festive events.  This season, as one of the most distinctive Emirati brands that celebrate world cultures, we are offering a series of diverse cultural events with an innovative touch that reflects both the present and the authenticity of the past as part of our celebrations for the Year of Zayed,” said Bader Anwahi, CEO of Global Village.

Dubai Culture celebrates traditional handicrafts as products of a civilization and as inspiring means of expressing a culture’s originality. Handicrafts are an authentic component of UAE life and history, and the Authority is committed to preserving and developing them to strengthen national identity and provide UAE citizens and residents with a distinctive source of pride in their own culture.

Global Village is the first family destination for culture, entertainment, and shopping in the region. Since its inception, it has embodied different aspects of the world and put a smile on the faces of millions of guests every season. Global Village is preparing to launch its 23^rd season starting 30 October, 2018 and lasting until 7 April, 2019.

Dubai Culture aims to enhance Dubai’s cultural scene and draw attention to the UAE’s rich heritage. The Authority’s mandate is to build bridges of constructive dialogue between different civilizations and cultures to enhance Dubai’s position as a creative and sustainable global city for culture, heritage, arts, and literature, with the aim to empower these sectors by developing creative and innovative projects and initiatives locally, regionally, and globally.