Universal Music Group has established a partnership with Dubai Global Music City (DGMC) to begin building a music city in the Middle East. This ‘Music City’ will be based somewhere in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Several major corporations have expressed excitement about ‘the Middle East’s first-ever Music City’.
So you’re thinking of working in the UAE but don’t know whether it’s right for you? It can be hard to get a clear picture of what it’s really like before you go. This is partly because there are laws against criticising the government and people don’t want to say anything that could possibly be interpreted as negative.
The world is getting ready to converge on the luxurious desert oasis of Dubai. With its world-renowned architecture, forward thinking business practices and year-round sunny weather, Dubai has become a major world player in less than a generation. This once sleepy trading port for the Middle East has evolved into a worldly hub of culture, tourism, trade and entertainment. Despite the current pandemic, Dubai is still liberalizing policies to entice more international business and growing because of it. Entertainment jobs are springing up all around Dubai. Working in Dubai can be lucrative for many freelancers, with high wages and low taxes, it is a mecca for anyone wanting to earn top dollar. However, Dubai is still an Arab city, situated within a Muslim country. With both tradition and law held in high regard, it is important for anyone living or working in Dubai to know exactly what they can expect and what will be expected of them.
So you’re thinking of working in the UAE but don’t know whether it’s right for you? It can be hard to get a clear picture of what it’s really like before you go. This is partly because there are laws against criticising the government and people don’t want to say anything that could possibly be interpreted as negative. You might also find conflicting advice as laws can change very quickly and there are some confusing grey areas. Most sources in English about life in the UAE are written by well-off, ex-pat women and travel bloggers, and your experience as an event professional will have little in common with them (sorry!). Plus going for a few months, as is common in live events, is different from being a long-term resident.
I spent just over a year living in Dubai, UAE in 2017 for work. With that, I thought I could perhaps impart some non-theatrical experiences I had there as a solo female expat. So if you’re thinking about moving there someday, planning a long vacation (not anytime soon of course since the country is still […]
I was once asked by a friend to tell me something about myself that he would not expect. I confessed to him that I secretly suffered from occasionally extreme bouts of social anxiety. He laughed. “You? Of all people! Yeah right.” To this day, I don’t believe he ever realized I was serious.
I have been living and working in Dubai for nearly a month. In a country ranked by the UN in the bottom 5 as “not free”, I am a young, foreign, female stage manager leading a team of male technicians, surrounded by men on all sides. The only American in a sea of expats from the UK and the Middle East.
As a stage manager who relocated overseas last year for a startup, I was surprised at the many different ways that people used email. Sure, we were placed together from all parts of the world from different cultures, backgrounds and languages, but I thought that email etiquette was understood globally……. I was wrong. In an effort to corral the online craziness and misinterpretation across the internet channels in an already stressful theatre opening, I went online to gather a few rules to send to the team.
The season was over and not a moment too soon. Dubai’s ‘event season’ is roughly October – May. Anything outside of that is just too damn hot so the country goes completely quiet and the expats of the events and entertainment industry all tend to flock to cooler climates or home to see loved ones.
Following up my article on NYC, I thought I would give some recommendations for Dubai. I lived there on and off for a few years. I haven’t been back for a while, but I made sure to double check all of the links to make sure the places still exist!
On Thursday the 31st of August, La Perle welcomed its first ever paying audience and on Wednesday the 13th of September celebrated its premiere gala. It was the culmination of years of planning, months of rehearsing, and weeks of working long, long days. There are still many more hours of work to put in to make it a well-oiled, circadian show.
I hate them. I hate them a lot. They’re either those plastic moulded varieties and they’re cheap and they snap or they’re the thin wire kind that bow at the first sign of a heavy jacket or they don’t bow but don’t leave your clothes hanging in the best shape. I hate coat hangers.
Greetings from the Middle East where in the past week we’ve had Eid – the end of Ramadan celebration. I decided this year, being my first in the Middle East, to adopt a tone of part intrigue, part education and part solidarity to try and learn as much as I could about Islam and the holy month of Ramadan.
During a creation period, Dave Ball is one of the calmest people in the theatre. It’s a good thing too, considering the lives of aerialists are under his control, flying around at the direction of his automation programming. This is the guy you want on your team when you create a large scale automated show. He is behind the programming of some of the biggest resident shows in the world. He took a moment out of his latest gig in Dubai, to give TheatreArtLife an insight into his career.
Touring the world is undoubtedly cool, or hot, depending on where you will be going. If you end up taking a tour contract, it’s always best to be prepared for the cities or countries you will be travelling to. If you’re not sure where’s next on the itinerary ask the production company, or at the very least, research online.
Remember the first day of school, all the feels? Excited to see old friends and start something new. Nervous energy as to what challenges lay ahead. Curious of the lessons in store and who we would be so lucky to receive those lessons from. Same goes for any new job to some degree or another.
It was 18:05 on a Thursday and I walked out into the floral air of the concert hall foyer. Filled with gold bannisters and plush carpets, the room was starting to fill. Tribes of classical music fans filled the foyer sipping champagne and pensively flicking through programs as they discuss the affairs of the day with each other.
The sun is shining, the weather is sweet here…
Truer words have never been spoken. Thanks to Bob Marley, I have an epitaph to my recent run of shows here in Dubai. For the past three months, I’ve worked on a near constant run of outdoor events and concerts and it got me thinking; how great is being outside?
Tara Young has worked as an Artistic Director and Associate on over a dozen Broadway Shows and National Tours. In addition to creating musical productions and working with notable groups such as the New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, LA Opera, the Boston Pops Orchestra, Tara lends her vast experience and knowledge of Broadway by leading workshops and appearing as a guest lecturer. Tara’s skills have also been used with Cirque du Soleil on the Michael Jackson’s “The Immortal World Tour” and Dragone on “The Han Show” in Wuhan, China.
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