Alserkal Unveils New Brand Direction with Launch of Alserkal Advisory and New Digital Platform

Today, 5 April 2021, Alserkal announces an organisation-wide restructure that furthers its commitment to shaping diverse communities and supporting the creation of culturally meaningful spaces. Underscored by a rebrand exercise which has evolved the brand’s iconic logo and assets, the new brand direction reaffirms Alserkal’s position as a socially responsible, forward-thinking cultural enterprise with the announcement of three key initiatives:

• Alserkal Advisory - to guide public and private sector entities in developing sustainable and responsive business models;

• a robust sustainability plan that includes infrastructure projects in addition to an epistemic approach to revisit our models to focus on economies of repair for the creative sector; and,

• alserkal.online, an experimental digital platform led by the creative community as a forum for cultural discourse, digital art commissions, multi-disciplinary editorial content that addresses diverse contemporary subjects.

Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Founder of Alserkal, reflecting on his organisation’s mission and impact over the past decade, said: “A thriving cultural scene is the backbone of integrated societies, engendering a sense of belonging and prosperity. Our vision has been not only to help create the infrastructure within which the sector can thrive, but to ensure that, as we make strides in growing the impact of arts and culture, we remain mindful of our relationship with the environment and the legacy that we are building for generations to come.”

Speaking about the launch of Alserkal’s new initiatives, Vilma Jurkute, who has been named the new Executive Director of Alserkal following a long tenure with the organisation, said: “Now more than ever, it is imperative to take a forward-thinking stance in imagining new cultural paradigms and to consciously reconfigure our learned practices and process of creative production, while acting on our civic responsibility and measuring our impact on society, the environment and local economies. Alserkal’s mission—which extends across both our own activities and our guidance of like-minded initiatives globally through Alserkal Advisory—is to look beyond tokenized solutions; we create projects with longevity that are progressive and context-specific.”

Advisory Services

Alserkal Advisory is a multidisciplinary practice comprised of Alserkal’s founding team in addition to thinkers, researchers, practitioners, and specialists in diverse fields from multiple geographies. The organisation takes a sustainable approach to cultural advisory, challenging conventional business practices and consciously re-imagining cultural destinations and public programmes that connect with and inspire communities.

Collaborating with its extensive global network of civic-cultural institutions, academics and cultural practitioners, Alserkal applies a research-based, co-operative and participatory methodology, making room for critical thinking and social agency in:

• Cultural production, including audience-specific programming for conferences and symposia, flagship events, and public art commissions;

• Heritage-creation, including the feasibilities and strategic planning and development of meaningful places and cultural destinations that inspire and shape communities.

The newly launched Alserkal Advisory will be led by Vilma Jurkute. Further details can be found on alserkal.online/alserkal-advisory

Sustainability plan

Alserkal reinvigorates and advances its commitment to more sustainable and eco-conscious practices through the launch of a robust sustainability agenda. As a socially responsible and forward-thinking cultural enterprise, Alserkal is making proactive efforts to reduce environmental impact in the midst of ongoing growth and development of creative practices in Alserkal Avenue, Alserkal’s curated cultural district. In response to the global shift towards re-imagining new paradigms, Alserkal is taking an epistemological approach to sustainability to encourage behavioural change.

Alserkal’s infrastructural advances will focus on offsetting and reducing carbon emissions: the installation of solar panels across part of the Avenue’s roofs will reduce more than 1.5 metric tonnes of carbon emissions per year. Best practices in waste management are already in place to help support reduction in landfill waste, as well as promote recycling and composting of waste where feasible.

As part of its sustainability roadmap, Alserkal is also working on: an annual tree-planting

initiative, rallying the Alserkal Avenue community to pledge to plant trees; a campaign to

eliminate single-use plastics in the Avenue by January 2022; and, a pedestrianisation campaign to make the Avenue more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly as part of a long-term initiative to revisit the creative sector’s collective impact on the environment.

Alserkal.online

A digital manifestation of Alserkal’s commitment to supporting diverse contemporary narratives, alserkal.online is a pioneering digital community for arts, culture and opinion from the region; it also provides a repository for all of the cultural events and programming that take place in Alserkal Avenue and its many community concepts.

The new platform features content on culture, style, expression, and opinion, propelling thoughtful discourse in the areas of food, music, cinema, art, and social responsibility. The platform will be a space for digital art commissions to come to life, in keeping with Alserkal’s wider commitment to supporting creative practice, experiences, and commentary.

Alserkal celebrates its new digital presence with the online ‘Look Closer’ campaign, highlighting the vibrant spaces and concepts that capture the soul of Alserkal. The
campaign is informed by Alserkal’s shift to a stronger visual presence through the evolution of its brand mark.

The platform will be updated with compelling new content on a regular basis, and can be accessed from today at www.alserkal.online

For press enquiries:

Charlotte York
charlotte@alserkal.online

Ruth Bradley
ruth@ruthbradley.ae

Meg Huckaby
mhuckaby@fitzandco.com


EDITOR’S NOTES

Alserkal is a socially responsible and forward-thinking cultural enterprise dedicated to developing sustainable models for homegrown initiatives. 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 utilises 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.