Art Basel’s recent announcement of a new edition in Qatar, alongside the launches of Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the region this year, has made it clear that the Gulf is swiftly positioning itself as one of the global art world’s potential driving forces. This explosion of cultural resources reflects the tidal wave of institutional and private capital now reshaping its arts infrastructure. The launch of New Perspectives Art Partners—a consultancy founded by market heavyweights Ed Dolman, Philip Hoffman, Brett Gorvy and Patti Wong—reinforces the shift. Aimed at advising collectors and estates, particularly in the Gulf, the group’s mission to support “broader and more structured visions” speaks to the fact that the region is no longer just a satellite but its own destination.
In the rapidly evolving U.A.E. art scene, the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) has emerged as a cornerstone of the capital’s ascent. At its helm is H.E. Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, a formidable patron of the arts who founded the organization in 1996 and now serves as its artistic director and is the driving force behind the Abu Dhabi Festival. “When I founded ADMAF, my purpose was simple yet radical: to be of service. That remains our role today,” Alkhamis-Kanoo tells Observer during our recent visit to the fast-growing capital, where she’s scripting the playbook for a new cultural order.
Determined to contribute in this fertile ground, Alkhamis-Kanoo envisioned ADMAF not just as an organization that would serve but one that would have a lasting impact. “In a nation rising as rapidly as the U.A.E., I understood that the concept of ‘being of service’ would evolve over the years,” she explains. “That meant the organization had to be both agile and self-effacing. I didn’t build an institution around our own ambitions but to grow with the needs of the people.”
Alkhamis-Kanoo envisioned ADMAF’s role as a responsive partner to the local community, which meant being receptive to new ideas was crucial. “We began by listening and identifying where we could step in to deliver real, sustainable change within the cultural ecosystem,” she says. “Only then did we take action.”
At the time, opportunities for music appreciation in the Emirates were scarce. She started by hosting performances that would eventually lay the groundwork for the Abu Dhabi Festival. Soon after, ADMAF brought the arts directly to communities, partnering with schools across all seven Emirates to offer music and art education to young people. “We knew we were making a difference when more young Emiratis began pursuing higher education in the performing arts,” she says. “As the needs evolved, so did we, supporting promising young talent with scholarships and advocating for them.”
Cultural growth demands curiosity and cross-pollination
Since its founding, ADMAF has embraced a wide-ranging approach to culture and creativity in a broad spectrum of disciplines, from visual art and music to theater and other expressive forms. “Creativity doesn’t happen in silos,” Alkhamis-Kanoo says, adding that she believes true innovation emerges at the intersections between disciplines, between modernity and tradition. A composer might draw inspiration from myth or literature. A filmmaker may spark their imagination through painting. Scientists and coders often look to the arts for new directions, just as artists increasingly find new questions to explore in technology. “ADMAF’s approach is deliberately wide-ranging because that is how cultures grow, through cross-pollination.”
Another reason she champions interdisciplinarity is that she doesn’t believe in staying too long in one’s comfort zone. For ADMAF, that zone has always been the performing arts—particularly music. “This organization was born in music. The Abu Dhabi Festival earned its recognition from the world’s leading cultural institutions—Opéra National de Paris, Carnegie Hall, the Royal Opera House—through music first,” she says. As proud as she is of that legacy, Alkhamis-Kanoo remains wary of creative stasis. “I believe we must follow the example of the great artists we admire, by imitating their curiosity and their ability to explore. Interdisciplinary exploration is our way of staying engaged with the cultural world and the global artistic conversation and of avoiding repetition.”
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ADMAF’s recent co-production of Pelléas et Mélisande with the Opéra National de Paris exemplifies that ethos. The production, directed by Lebanese-Canadian playwright and theater director Wajdi Mouawad, brought an unconventional rhythm and narrative sensibility to the world of opera. “Both the performers and the director came out of this experience empowered, having had the opportunity to push the boundaries of their art,” Alkhamis-Kanoo notes.
She also cites the Riwaq Al Fikr series, a curated program of talks that puts scientists, musicians, philosophers and artists into dialogue. “Mixing disciplines and creating conversations beyond the confines of each field offers a valuable contribution to the wider public,” she says. Through these exchanges, the foundation provides local audiences with context, fresh perspectives and tools to connect seemingly unrelated domains—art to science, design to culture and beyond.
A new generation of internationally connected audiences is reshaping the conversation
Over the past three decades, both ADMAF and the wider cultural audience in the U.A.E. have evolved—and continue to do so. “The audience is younger now,” says Alkhamis-Kanoo when asked to describe today’s cultural landscape and the emerging trends shaping its future. “We’ve moved beyond a primarily mature audience—those who engaged with culture out of deep, informed interest or, at times, for social prestige.” Today’s younger cohort may be less seasoned, but their curiosity is just as sincere. “They’re often new to the arts, but they’re guided by a genuine desire to learn.”
This new audience is also far more connected—digitally, socially and globally—and that connectivity is fueling an openness to experimentation that didn’t always come naturally to earlier generations. “They seek authenticity and relevance. They want to see themselves reflected in the art they engage with. They’re drawn to the same layered mix of rootedness and modernity, of the local and the global, that defines their own identity. They expect the stories, music and artists they encounter to mirror their world.”
ADMAF’s programming strikes a deliberate balance between celebrating heritage and championing innovation. “We are a bridge. A bridge between cultures, but also between heritage and innovation,” says Alkhamis-Kanoo, explaining how the organization’s focus on past, present and future helps anchor the local cultural scene while positioning it to engage meaningfully with global discourse. As she notes, this ability to connect tradition and modernity is not just ADMAF’s mission—it reflects the very identity of the U.A.E. “Look at Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of a nation that engages with the world through diplomacy, business, philanthropy and increasingly, through culture. People from more than 200 nationalities call Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E. home.”
Today, the Abu Dhabi in which ADMAF operates is a global hub for trade, finance and travel. It’s also unmistakably a place with deep cultural roots. “When you speak to an Emirati, they will understand your cultural references with ease—but they’ll also take pride in their heritage, their language and their traditions,” she says.
Shaping the U.A.E.’s cultural future while rooted in tradition
Mrs. Alkhamis-Kanoo calls the U.A.E. a young country with an old soul. “We have the energy and appetite for innovation that come with youth, but we are also grounded in deep tradition. Some may see this duality as a contradiction, but I see it as a strength. You cannot leap into the future if you don’t know where your feet stand.”
As a private organization, ADMAF uses its interdisciplinary agility to introduce new ideas and create platforms that are forward-looking. “We encourage Emirati youth—whether young artists or schoolchildren—to embrace both forces that shape their identity: tradition and modernity,” Alkhamis-Kanoo says. Her belief is that if they do this long enough, something interesting happens. Traditional calligraphy inspires modern design. The mirwas or rahmani drum gets sampled in a rap track. “Whether innovation challenges tradition or builds on it doesn’t matter. What matters is that whatever Emirati artists choose to explore comes from something real and genuine.”
Alkhamis-Kanoo has long envisioned ADMAF as occupying a front-row seat in observing and encouraging the growing embrace of the arts within Emirati families. For this reason, the organization works to build programming that speaks to all generations, but especially to the younger ones who will shape the country’s cultural future. “This generation is critical not only as an audience but as a gateway to the future,” she reflects. “They will help us shape a new space for Emirati and international artists.”
Making art part of the everyday vocabulary of young people begins with access. That means not just creating family-friendly programming across age groups but also making sure young people feel welcomed and encouraged to participate. “I do not underestimate the challenge of meeting this generation’s expectations, but I also find them very exciting.”
ADMAF launched its Young Media Leaders program last year to nurture a new generation of cultural journalists and storytellers. These are Emiratis making, for example, podcasts about Arab hip-hop and creating TikToks on Nabati poetry while staying deeply plugged into global culture.
Where public funding meets grassroots vision
Alkhamis-Kanoo acknowledges that the public sector is also playing a pivotal role in expanding the U.A.E.’s cultural ecosystem and its audience. Over the past decade, the country has made culture and the arts part of its economic diversification strategy to position the country as a global cultural hub. As a consequence, the cultural landscape is shifting rapidly.
One clear example is Saadiyat Cultural District, which is quickly filling in. It began with the Louvre Abu Dhabi, was followed this year by the arrival of TeamLab, and will soon include the long-anticipated Guggenheim, set to open in 2027. Another promising site is Yas Island—more entertainment-leaning, perhaps, but still contributing to the cultural conversation in its own way.
Today, NYU and Berklee College of Music have Abu Dhabi outposts—and some of the children who once took part in ADMAF’s early programs are now studying at the latter university in a testament to the organization’s long-term impact on the country’s cultural and artistic development.
These public institutions—alongside the major players in Saadiyat—provide a structural foundation that allows visions like Alkhamis-Kanoo’s to take root and grow. “We feed the local cultural scene with something that comes from within,” she says. “We do not fossilize it but rather allow the U.A.E.’s cultural conversation to live and flow.”
At the same time, a visit to the museums in Saadiyat Cultural District makes it clear that placing culture at the heart of the national agenda is also driving tourism. According to recent impact studies, every dollar spent by nonprofit arts and culture organizations generates more than two dollars in related audience spending. In some cases, the multiplier effect is even higher.
Still, as Alkhamis-Kanoo emphasizes, the real transformation runs deeper. An entirely new group of artists, cultural leaders, collectors and audiences is emerging. This shift is especially visible during Abu Dhabi Art, the capital’s annual contemporary art fair. “The conversations moving through the galleries, the diversity of attendees, the energy—all indicate that art is here to stay and is taking root.”
As this process gives rise to authentic artistic voices and nurtures a new generation of collectors and enthusiasts, it positions the U.A.E.’s cultural scene to engage meaningfully on the global stage. Despite its ancient roots, U.A.E.’s artists, musicians and cultural producers still need guidance to engage on an international level. “They need opportunities to showcase their work or support to professionalize, and we provide that,” says Alkhamis-Kanoo.
ADMAF also plays a key role as a cultural engine for diplomacy, linking the local scene with the international one. “Much of what we do brings our story—that of Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E.—to the world, while inviting the world to Abu Dhabi,” she explains. “Of course, ADMAF doesn’t shape foreign policy, but we build on the conversations our country has with the rest of the world, and create spaces where cultural exchange can flourish in meaningful ways.”
At the end of June, ADMAF closed “Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits,” a collaborative exhibition with SeMA (the Seoul Museum of Art), showcasing a rare model of co-curation and co-creation between the two countries and institutions. “Our creativity and responsiveness build on the strength of the U.A.E.’s diplomacy,” she reflects, “offering cultural pathways that traditional diplomacy alone cannot achieve.”
At every level, culture anchors the U.A.E.’s vision
According to Alkhamis-Kanoo, sustained investment in culture—both public and private—is transforming how people in the U.A.E. perceive the future. Culture and the arts have become deeply integrated into the national agenda. “Our national horizon is no longer defined by oil or finance. We are shifting to a knowledge-based economy.”
“Steve Jobs, for example, didn’t spend his weekends coding—he read, visited galleries and watched films. That elevation of art inspired breakthroughs like the iPhone and the iPad. Today, it’s widely accepted that you can’t build the next A.I. unicorn without culture. Twenty years ago, making that case was an uphill battle. Now, it’s a given.”
Alkhamis-Kanoo sees the U.A.E. becoming more attuned to curiosity, exploration and discovery. The result is not only a strong return on cultural and educational investment but also new forms of social cohesion. “It is no small challenge to build a harmonious society made up of so many cultures,” she says. “The same diversity that drives our economy could easily have led to friction. But by making culture accessible, we’ve fostered inter-cultural dialogue that creates empathy, mutual understanding and social harmony.”
Contributing to the Gulf’s broader cultural transformation
As the Middle East rises as a cultural powerhouse, Alkhamis-Kanoo says ADMAF’s next decade will be devoted to safeguarding and amplifying the region’s artistic legacy. While high-profile projects are sometimes dismissed as mere ambition, she insists the foundation approaches culture as a duty to the present and to future generations. “We must tell our own stories, or others will tell them for us.”
She believes ADMAF’s mission must expand to create new opportunities by weaving a stronger pan-Arab ecosystem of artistic voices beyond Abu Dhabi and in major international and regional institutions. “The future lies in collaboration,” she says. “Just as we’ve partnered with global institutions, we will now work hand-in-hand with our nearest neighbors, because the world is turning to the Middle East not just to invest but to cooperate, learn and create possibilities together.”
In that spirit, ADMAF recently signed an MOU with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, forging a strategic alliance to advance artistic excellence across the Arab world. “Two respected organizations have chosen cooperation over competition and pollination over duplication,” she says, adding that the organization will keep growing regional collaborations as more cultural institutions—both long-standing and newly emerging—take root. “The Arab world has an incredible story to share, and I can’t wait to see ADMAF work alongside our partners to bring that story to the world.”
