Dubai a cultural desert? Get real!

An article in 7(-1)Days, here, raised a regularly-heard complaint. And to its credit went on to basically debunk the complaints.

We’ve all heard the whinges many times haven’t we. As is so often the case, the whingers don’t think before they spout off.

Of course, first you have to define ‘culture’ – most people think it means importing shows from their own country – and you need to compare apples with apples.

In my opinion, for the size of the population we’re well-served.

A follow-up letter in 7(-1)Days identified the problem without realising it.

Alexander Kent from Dubai wrote that: “I’m one of those people who lament that ‘culture is lacking’ in Dubai but I would never go so far as to say it’s ‘soulless’. I feel I am ‘looking hard enough’ and that’s precisely the problem – it’s the looking hard that’s so tiresome here!”

He goes on to say:

“There’s no opportunity to pick and choose cultural events, merely that you have to be grateful for all cultural goings on in Dubai because events are so few and far between. Yes, ‘Chicago’ was recently a huge hit in Dubai but sorry to say, I may like musicals but I don’t like that particular one and I wasn’t going to see Chicago just for the sake of seeing a musical! Dubai needs variety, we need to be able to choose how we enjoy our culture and we should be able to enjoy more of this culture for free!”

Think about the population for a moment. I would have thought it’s stating the obvious to say that by-and-large people from different parts of the world will be attracted to different types of events. How many westerners would go to an Indian concert, for example? So first take away from our total 1.3-ish million population all the people who don’t find the type of event attractive. You actually have a very small number, like a small provincial western town. And how much choice of cultural activities do those towns have? That’s the apples to apples comparison.

But it goes further. Remember that a huge percentage of us can’t afford to go to shows - and not only the labourers, maids, waiters and all the other badly-paid people we rely on, many people struggle to find several hundred spare dirhams.

So take a show such as Chicago – how many people do we have who would find this type of entertainment attractive? And then as Alexander says “I may like musicals but I don’t like that particular one.” That would be true of many others, so they have to be deducted from the total available audience too. Then how many of those left can afford to pay for the night out? Now how many of the few who are left have time on the particular evenings it’s showing?

You end up with just about enough to pay for the show to be staged.

Echoing what so many others say, Alexander says:

“…you have to be grateful for all cultural goings on in Dubai because events are so few and far between. Dubai needs variety, we need to be able to choose how we enjoy our culture and we should be able to enjoy more of this culture for free!”

Would they expect variety & choice all the time in a small provincial town in Europe or America? Would they expect artists & promoters to stage events for nothing?

No?

Then why expect it of Dubai?

By the way, a thumbs-up to Alexander for actually signing his letter with a full name - most unusual on the letters pages.