Rubu’ Qarn Arts Season: 40 Young Artists Present Nine Works at Sharjah Walkway

Forty young artists from four Sharjah institutions gathered at Sharjah Walkway to present nine projects that merged Emirati heritage with contemporary practice. The Rubu’ Qarn Arts Season served as the foundation’s annual demonstration of what happens when young people are given permission to think visually, to express themselves through form and colour, and to reimagine their own cultural inheritance.

The members came from Sharjah Children, Sharjah Youth, Sajaya Young Ladies of Sharjah and Sharjah Capability Development (Tatweer). Each brought work shaped by practical artistic experience throughout the year: visual, performative, conceptual. The exhibition was conceived not as spectacle but as conversation. Sheikha Jawaher bint Abdullah Al Qasimi, Director-General of the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators, framed the season as evidence of a single conviction. The arts are not decoration in a young person’s development. They teach thinking. They build self-confidence. They develop the capacity to experiment and solve problems. Each project drew from Emirati tradition yet reinterpreted those elements through a contemporary lens shaped by the ideas of the artists themselves.

The foundation builds its programmes around exchange and experiential learning. The arts season brought members together not only to display finished work but to explore the different approaches each had taken to heritage and innovation, a conversation made visible through the projects themselves. Sheikha Jawaher emphasised the foundation’s dual commitment: to preserve national identity while encouraging young people to reinterpret tradition through their own lens, creating work that honours where they come from while speaking to who they are becoming.

This is the work of the foundation’s annual cycle. As we reported in recent coverage of the theatre ensemble’s engagement with Gulf performance culture at the Bahrain Theatre Festival, the foundation builds its programmes around exchange and experiential learning. The arts season brought members together not only to display finished work but to exchange experiences and explore the different approaches each had taken—a conversation made visible. Sheikha Jawaher emphasised the foundation’s dual commitment: to preserve national identity and Emirati heritage while encouraging young people to reinterpret tradition through their own lens, creating work that honours where they come from while speaking to who they are becoming.

The foundation’s approach, rooted in experiential learning and the marriage of tradition with contemporary practice, strengthens the cultural infrastructure of the wider UAE. By bringing together members from four institutions and showcasing nine projects, the foundation makes visible a simple proposition: that artistic development is not the preserve of the exceptionally talented few but a transformative tool available to many. For young people across Sharjah, the season represents an accessible pathway into serious artistic practice.

What it means for Abu Dhabi

The season strengthens the cultural infrastructure of the wider UAE by demonstrating how institutions grounded in Sharjah can develop young people’s capacity to think innovatively while remaining connected to their heritage. The foundation’s approach—rooted in experiential learning, regional exchange and the marriage of tradition with contemporary practice—offers a model for how cultural institutions can serve both preservation and creative innovation simultaneously.

For young people across the emirate, the season represents an accessible pathway into serious artistic practice. By bringing together members from four different institutions and showcasing nine projects, the foundation makes visible the possibility that artistic development is not the preserve of the exceptionally talented few but a transformative tool available to many. The emphasis on character-building, self-expression and problem-solving through the arts reflects the broader educational values that support the UAE’s vision of developing leaders equipped to navigate an increasingly complex world.

Source: WAM (Emirates News Agency)