The 11^th Sikka Art and Design Festival is presenting exceptional cultural experiences at Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood via several entertainment activities, musical rhythms and masterpieces of cinema within an inspiring creative atmosphere, revealing the diversity and richness of the local arts scene, offering artists an innovative platform to develop and hone their skills and present their creativity publicly, in line with the commitments of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture)for supporting and promoting the emirate’s cultural and creative industries.

For the first time, the2023 edition of the festival, which will continue until 5 March, presents its initiative ‘Sikka Speaks,’ through which it opens the eyes of artists, creative talent, and visitors to the future of the sector and its global trends.The initiative’s programme includes 8 talks hosting a group of artists and art and architecture experts, including Firas Saffieddine, Chief Architect Officer at Gamium.World who will present a talk titled ‘The Spatial Internet – How it redefines identity, architecture, urbanism, and interaction,’ while director Nahla AlFahd, ToniElMassih, Managing Director of Majid AlFuttaim Cinemas, and journalist Abdullah AlKaabi present their visions of independent cinema in a talk moderated by Vikas Punjabi.Professor of Architecture Dr George Kachaamy, Director of the Center for Research, Innovation, and Design (CRID)at the American University in Dubai, delivers a talk titled ‘IMMERSIA: The Impact of Immersive Technology on Architecture & Design.’

Festival visitors can also enjoy over 100 diverse workshops, offered by several artists and professionals, including Abdulla Lutfi, Asma Baker, Anoud Abdulla, Mahra AlMulla and Lina Younis, among others, organised by a group of cultural and artistic centres in Dubai including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for Cultural Understanding, The Architectural Heritage and Antiquities Department (AHAD) of Dubai Municipality, Tashkeel and Project You. The workshops aim to develop and hone the skills of visitors, discover talent, and introduce them to the techniques of sculpting and forming gypsum, the arts of photography using Nikon cameras,methods of designing jewellery, making ceramics and pottery, in addition to other workshops to teach traditional drawing techniques, introducing virtual reality art, and many others.

Sikka Art & Design Festival, which falls under the umbrella of Dubai Art Season, lights up its screens with a series of short and feature films that express the visions of filmmakers, offering visitors 10 days full of cinematic performances, including the musical Sing 2, directed by Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet, the animated film WALL-E,directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, and the sports drama film Secretariat, directed by Randall Wallace, in addition to a group of short films that reflect the creativity of university students, such as the movie ‘Labyrinth’ by Latifa Alhassan from Zayed University, ‘To Eat Bread’madeby Mohamed Rabie from the Warsaw Film School – Poland, and ‘The Last Tones’ directed by Doaa Salah Farid from the Kamal Adham Centre at the American University in Cairo, among others. Sikka is also providing its audience with a special overview of the ‘Masterpieces’ initiative launched by the Ministry of Education with the aim of introducing students to masterpieces of art, cinema, theatre and poetry.

With over 80 live performers, the festival lights up the alleyways of Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood, giving artists a wide space to express their creativity and talents in music, poetry, comedy and entertainment.In this context, the nights at Sikka Arts and Design Festival are transformed into an outdoor heritage-rooted concert with a group of musicians who present eclectic music, such as rock, classical music, rap, alternative rock, fusion, pop and more, including Jordanian Kamal Musallam accompanied by RedOne, Emirati singer, composer and oud player Saif Al Ali, and the guitarist Abdulkareem Haikal, Arabic raï /pop musician Mehdi Bahmed, the band DUBAFRIQUE that specialise in African drumming, and singer Fadi Rifaai, as well as a few more. The festival is also dedicating a special segment to Emiratis Abdullah AlQassab, research engineer and a psychologist in the making, TV presenter, stage artist, stand-up comedian and author, plus Sarah Abdullah, Arabic poetess and passionate writer.

In addition to musical, cinematic and entertainment shows, visitors can also enjoy a wide variety of traditional Emirati and international flavours offered by many homegrown F&B concepts in collaboration with Brand Dubai, fuelled by members of the ‘Proudly from Dubai’ initiative that sheds light on the entrepreneurs and owners of these projects, in celebration of the local culture and the rich tastes that characterise Dubai.