This week we’re pleased to introduce Creative Director, Robert Doherty, who takes us to drier climate of Abu Dhabi – a desert of opportunity?

When working in the Arab Nations is mentioned, inevitably the one of the first places that springs to mind is the United Arab Emirates and in particular, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. To most people in the west it conjures up images of self-satisfied ex-pats, working in the banking industry and living the kind of lifestyle not seen in Britain since the hey-days of Maggie’s 1980s. That image may persist in some quarters, but in others, another reality exists, and for me, its taking part in the cultural and media revolution here.

I’ve been over here for the past 4 months consulting and post-producing a CGI animated series and so far its been a blast, as well as an eye-opener.

The region has long term plans for making it a media hub of the Middle East and leading the way is Abu Dhabi’s Vision 2030, an ambitious plan, put in place to build an infrastructure of industries before the petro-carbon resources inevitably run dry and ensure a modern, thriving place to live and work for the near 3 million population of the UAE’s capital. Not so much making hay while the sun shines, as building a future while the oil flows.

Knowing that a successful outcome to this plan depends on building this framework for the future from the ground up it’s not surprising to see almost every major industry represented in some form, and that of course, includes culture and media.

This may seem a little surprising at first but not when you realise that part of Abu Dhabi’s vision for the future is to become the cultural centre of the Arab nations. A place where people come not just to work and play but to learn and create. That’s why a whole island just off the shores of Abu Dhabi is ear marked for the construction of a Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Gehry and an outpost of Paris’s Musee du Louvre. Welcome to Art Island.

That’s also the ethos behind twofour54 an all-encompassing media company charged with building a media industry in Abu Dhabi for now and the future. So named for it’s global positioning, twofour54 is on course to be the Arab world’s premiere centre dedicated to Arabic content creation. Content made by the Arab people for the Arab people.

And it’s content across the board – television, animation, radio, gaming, online and publishing, governed by the three key pillars within twofour54 of tadreeb (the training academy), ibtikar (innovation and support) and intaj (state-of-the-art production facilities) all supported by business enabler, tawasol. This is about building a media industry for the Arab world by the Arab world. And doing it in accordance with the over-riding plan: the right way, building brick by creative brick, with every element in place to ensure that it lasts.

But to get there they know they need help from outside the Arab world. Los Angeles, Berlin, London; all of these places have a history dating back decades in the media industry and it’s this expertise that companies like TwoFour54 are looking to tap into to teach and nurture the Arab directors, producers, cameramen, editors, voice artists, actors, sound engineers and make-up artists of tomorrow.

The opportunities in the UAE for media people are boundless, but only if you come with the right mindset. The energy and “can do” attitude is here in spades, it’s the experience and technical know-how that is lacking and that is where a company like twofour54 and the British media talent they harbour come into their own right.

This country and the people they in turn have brought in to help them build a brighter future has challenged and shattered my preconceptions of an area we really know very little about in the west. It is a country extremely proud of it’s heritage and it’s achievements but it is also looking to the future and to what it can create for future generations of Arabs and the world.

In my view there has never been a more exciting time to look to the Middle East and become part of their future especially with the region looking increasingly to Britain and it’s exceptional pool of media talent to take them into that new and exciting future.

Maybe one day in the not too distant future you’ll be taking your work experience along with your flip-flops when thinking of a trip out here.