Alserkal Arts Foundation and Alserkal Cultural Foundation join forces to expand the Alserkal family's commitment to the arts

Dubai, UAE – The Alserkal family today announced that Alserkal Cultural Foundation, founded by Ahmad Bin Eisa Alserkal in 2007, and Alserkal Arts Foundation, formed by Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal in 2019, will join forces under the umbrella of the Alserkal Arts Foundation. The announcement reaffirms the family’s longstanding commitment to arts and culture in the region and beyond.

In a joint statement, brothers Ahmad and Abdelmonem Alserkal said: “Inspired by our father’s pioneering efforts in cultural patronage, we are strengthening the Alserkal family’s commitment to supporting the arts in the region. With this consolidation, we will welcome the next generation of our family into the heart of our non-profit initiatives. We hope our collective efforts will not only amplify our impact and add to the cultural wealth of the UAE in a meaningful way, they will hopefully inspire young people and act as a catalyst for the further development and growth of the region’s contemporary cultural sectors. Through our mandate, we will continue to support research, artistic production, and scholarship.”

Continuing the Alserkal family’s commitment to patronage of the arts, the internal committee of Alserkal Arts Foundation will grow to include eight younger members of the Alserkal family: Latifa Bint Eisa Bin Nasser Alserkal, Yagub Bin Yousef Bin Yagub Alserkal, Sheikha Bint Abdullah Bin Eisa Alserkal, Nasser Bin Tareq Khansaheb, Athija Bint Abdullah Bin Eisa Bin Nasser Alserkal, Eisa Bin Ahmad Bin Eisa Bin Nasser Alserkal, Afra Bint Abdullah Bin Eisa Bin Nasser Alserkal, and Athija Bint Tareq Khansaheb.

Abdelmonem Alserkal announced the formation of Alserkal Arts Foundation in March 2019, formalising almost a decade of the Alserkal family’s support for artistic development in the region and beyond. The Foundation offers opportunities for research, scholarship, and artistic production to cultural practitioners and researchers —either based in Dubai—or whose practice critically investigates themes pertinent to the region's artistic community. Alserkal Arts Foundation is based in Alserkal Avenue, with an active public programme of alternative learning, year-round residencies, and recently awarded its inaugural Research Grants to three multi-disciplinary practitioners.

The Foundation has realised almost 30 artistic interventions through art commissions and exhibition programmes globally, including collaborations with Victoria & Albert Museum London (V&A), Hayward Gallery, Atassi Foundation, Samdani Art Foundation, and others. More recently, the Foundation collaborated with Zamân Books & Curating, The Mosaic Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, and the Museum of Contemporary African Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) on its latest exhibition, New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives, on show in Concrete until 21 November 2020.

Alserkal Cultural Foundation was founded by Ahmad Alserkal to support emerging artists through its educational outreach programme with local cultural and educational institutions. The Alserkal Cultural Foundation worked with over 149 artists and designers through exhibitions and workshops, set up the Heritage Art Programme, focused on broadening knowledge about UAE arts and culture, and completed artwork installation projects across the UAE. From 2007 to 2020, Alserkal Cultural Foundation thrived at the heart of Dubai’s historic Al Fahidi District where it welcomed over 400,000 visitors; its mandate will continue to live on through Alserkal Arts Foundation.

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Editor’s Notes

About Alserkal Arts Foundation
The Alserkal Arts Foundation is a non-profit that extends Alserkal’s mission to support cultural production. The Foundation offers opportunities for research and artistic production to cultural practitioners and researchers with strong regional or contemporary relevance who challenge conventional disciplinary boundaries. Through its initiatives, which include support for artistic projects, research grants, alternative learning, and artist residencies at purpose-built studios located in the heart of Alserkal Avenue, the Foundation seeks to incubate creative thinking that contributes to the region’s cultural sphere, leading to new forms of knowledge. Alserkal Arts Foundation is supported by Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Ahmad Bin Eisa Alserkal and the Alserkal family.

About Alserkal
Alserkal is a socially responsible and forward-thinking cultural enterprise dedicated to developing sustainable models for homegrown initiatives and to supporting narratives and research emerging from the Global South. Founded in 2007 by Emirati businessman and patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Alserkal is renowned for its ground-breaking artistic productions, experimental approach and for the creation of culturally meaningful spaces that inspire and shape communities. Alserkal has three primary areas of activity: cultivating a creative economy in Dubai and building a collaborative network of civic cultural institutions through its renowned cultural district, Alserkal Avenue; providing advisory services to public and private sector entities; and, supporting public artist commissions, residencies, research grants and educational programmes through its non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation.

Alserkal has transformed the cultural landscape of Dubai and the UAE through the creation of a thriving, region-specific community of over 70 contemporary art galleries, visual and performing arts organisations, designers and entrepreneur-led businesses at Alserkal Avenue, providing an essential platform for the development of creative industries in the region.

Alserkal utilizes its collective expertise in arts initiatives and cultural production, heritage creation, community building and engagement, as well as urbanism and planning for creative industries, to guide public and private sector entities in developing sustainable and responsive business models.

About Alserkal Avenue
Alserkal Avenue is a vibrant cultural district in the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai, and is home to a community of over 70 contemporary art galleries, visual and performing arts organisations, designers, home-grown and entrepreneur-led businesses, and community spaces across 500,000sqft and 90 warehouses. Alserkal Avenue provides an essential platform for the development of the creative industries in the United Arab Emirates. As one of the region’s foremost destinations for contemporary art, and home to Dubai’s risk-takers, makers and wide-ranging creative communities, Alserkal Avenue provides cultural experiences for local, regional and international audiences through its extensive year-round programming. Alserkal Avenue is home to Concrete, a multi-disciplinary exhibitions space conceptualised and programmed by Alserkal, as well as the artist residency program of Alserkal’s non-profit, Alserkal Arts Foundation. Alserkal Avenue was established in 2007 by Alserkal following the visionary thinking of its founder, Emirati businessman and cultural patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, who sought to cultivate a vibrant creative community and support cultural production in Dubai.