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60 free workshops to be held at Sikka Art and Design Festival 2022
Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) prepared a variety of free interactive workshops for the 10th edition of Sikka Art and Design Festival 2022 that launched on March 15 and will continue until March 24. This year’s theme is ‘Celebrating Art, Celebrating Growth’. The authority is inviting adults and children to participate in these innovative workshops, providing them with an ideal opportunity to hone their skills and discover their creativity.
Over the course of 10 days, Sikka Art and Design Festival 2022 will include a programme of 60 workshops curated by Art Dubai, covering all artistic fields within three categories, visual art, design and new media, with the participation of local and international talents. Through these workshops, Dubai Culture seeks to meet the technical knowledge needs of aspiring young artists and contribute to discovering the talents of young citizens and residents of the UAE for their development.
It also seeks to highlight Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood as a cultural tourist destination and encourage tourists to visit it in line with the ‘Dubai Destinations – Dubai Art Season’ campaign launched under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Media Council.
The series of visual arts workshops include various types of artworks, most notably making models using cardboard, drawing, soap making, Islamic decorations, natural dyes, collage, pottery, origami, and colouring. The design workshops include drawing as well as digital and video collages, in addition to typographical methods, 3D digital design, animation, digital jewellery design and Arabic letter design.
The workshop programme also keeps pace with contemporary media techniques used in the design and production of artworks. It includes sessions on augmented reality in art, design in virtual reality, artistic NFTs, creative coding, Sisyphus robot shaping, video compositing, visual music creation, and interactive media software.
The festival will also host a set of workshops for children to help them explore the worlds of doll manufacturing, pottery, and the making of Emirati paper dolls, in addition to skills relating to designing and preserving animal shapes, making animals using origami, drawing and colouring, designing Arabic letter stickers, designing and building robots, and drawing in virtual reality.
This year’s programme also includes a series of workshops organised by Dubai Culture in cooperation with its partners LinkedIn and Zoho to support creative entrepreneurs in the emirate and help them understand and develop the skills necessary to launch and manage their businesses, within the framework of the creatives’ journey launched by the Authority in cooperation with the Department of Economy and Tourism to facilitate the establishment of creative businesses.
LinkedIn is also presenting two workshops on the importance of LinkedIn for independent creative freelancers and the e-learning initiative launched by Dubai Culture in partnership with LinkedIn to empower creative businesses with the skills necessary for their businesses to thrive.
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Crackdown on Illegal paying guests: Dubai’s new shared housing law takes effect with fines up to Dh1m
Dubai’s new legislation governing shared accommodation officially came into effect on August 26. Applying across the entire emirate, including free zones and special development zones, the comprehensive framework is designed to eliminate dangerous, overcrowded, and unauthorised partition rentals while establishing formal licensing standards for communal living.
What qualifies as shared housing?
Under the law, shared housing is defined as any residential property where individuals or families occupy private designated living spaces while sharing common facilities like kitchens, bathrooms, and dining areas.
Who is permitted to rent out shared units?
The new framework strictly bans unauthorised subletting by tenants. A primary tenant can no longer rent out individual bedrooms, partitioned spaces, or bed spaces directly to roommates or third parties.
Only the following entities can legally offer shared housing:
- Registered Property Owners: Leasing spaces directly to occupants under formal contracts.
- Licensed Management Companies: Authorised operators contracted by the owner to run and lease the property.
- Licensed Operators Subletting Master Leases: Approved commercial entities leasing an entire property from the owner to sublet authorised units to tenants.
Penalties for violations
Authorities have introduced strict financial and operational consequences for non-compliance:
- Initial Fines: Dh500 up to Dh500,000, depending on the severity of the violation.
- Repeat Violations: Fines double for repeat offences committed within one year, capped at Dh1,000,000.
- Operational Sanctions: Authorities may suspend operations for up to 6 months, revoke commercial licenses, cancel permits, disconnect utilities, seize equipment, or order the direct evacuation of non-compliant properties.
Grace period & tenant protection
- Compliance deadline: Existing shared housing operators and property owners have until August 26, 2027, to obtain permits and bring their properties into full compliance.
- Protection from sudden eviction: If an operator’s permit is suspended or cancelled, authorities can grant occupants an interim stay period to secure alternative accommodation rather than facing immediate eviction.
Approved property/resident categories
The regulation permits shared accommodation across six distinct property types:
- Residential apartments
- Detached/standalone houses
- Residential complexes
- Mixed-use buildings
- Attached / adjoining houses
- Multi-storey buildings
Permitted occupant groups include families, single men, single women, university students, government personnel, and private sector corporate employees. Corporate and student housing provided directly by employers or educational institutions does not require individual tenancy contracts.
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