Culture Summit Abu Dhabi Announces New Theme

The summit will examine opportunities to renew the cultural and creative industries in a post-COVID environment and explore how the creative economy can be a positive force for societies and economies - WAM
The summit will examine opportunities to renew the cultural and creative industries in a post-COVID environment and explore how the creative economy can be a positive force for societies and economies - WAM
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Culture Summit Abu Dhabi Announces New Theme

The summit will examine opportunities to renew the cultural and creative industries in a post-COVID environment and explore how the creative economy can be a positive force for societies and economies - WAM
The summit will examine opportunities to renew the cultural and creative industries in a post-COVID environment and explore how the creative economy can be a positive force for societies and economies - WAM

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has announced that the next edition of Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, a global forum which explores creative cultural solutions to the most pressing issues affecting the world today, will take place virtually from 8th to 10th March, and explore the theme of ‘The Cultural Economy and the Economy of Culture’.

The fourth edition of the forum will bring together cultural leaders, practitioners and experts from the fields of art, heritage, museums, media and technology to generate new strategies and thinking, and identify ways in which culture can transform societies and communities worldwide, state news agency (WAM) reported.

"The global challenges of the past year have truly demonstrated the vital power of culture to improve our personal and collective wellbeing. Yet, cultural institutions worldwide continue to struggle to achieve funding structures to continue operating. It is now more important than ever to shed light on the critical role that the culture sector plays as an essential driver of sustainable economic and social development," said Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi.

"We are proud to collaborate with top global cultural partners to convene renowned professionals from a variety of fields, ensuring the level and breadth of expertise needed for fruitful discussions and effective, goal-oriented outcomes." he noted.

"This year’s theme strongly reflects the focus on culture and creative industries as a major driver of growth."

For his part, Saood Al Hosani, Under-Secretary of DCT Abu Dhabi, said the Culture Summit’s annual convening of world-class experts and professionals from interrelated fields consistently puts forward innovative solutions in response to critical cultural and economic issues.

"Following a year of truly unprecedented challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to the dialogue and innovations sparked by our esteemed global partners and participants at the event’s virtual fourth edition, as we discuss ways to support the continuity of the cultural sector, both locally and worldwide."

The summit will examine opportunities to renew the cultural and creative industries in a post-COVID environment and explore how the creative economy can be a positive force for societies and economies.

Existing partners include UNESCO, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, the Economist Events, and Google.

New partners for 2021 include the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Design Museum London, and the participation of UAE institutions such as Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Berklee Abu Dhabi, Institut Français, Image Nation Abu Dhabi, twofour54, and Abu Dhabi Film Commission.



Engineers Seek to Save 150-year-old Lighthouse from Crumbling into Hudson River

The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP
The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP
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Engineers Seek to Save 150-year-old Lighthouse from Crumbling into Hudson River

The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP
The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats. AP

Federal engineers will begin the process of preserving a functioning 150-year-old lighthouse that sits precariously on a mudflat in the middle of the Hudson River in New York, officials announced this week.
US Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Army Corps of Engineers said that $50,000 has been allocated to study how to protect the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, which began operating in 1874 and was this year placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the country’s 11 most endangered historic places.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he believes the development is the next step to securing all the money needed to save the structure, which is only years away from starting to crumble into the river due to ongoing erosion, according to preliminary studies by a historic preservation group.
“This is a landmark, it’s sort of like the Statue of Liberty in a certain sense, of the Hudson River,” Schumer told The Associated Press by phone after announcing the new funding at a riverfront park in Athens, New York, which has a view of the lighthouse. “When people see the lighthouse and learn its history, they learn the history of the country."
The Corps of Engineers will now meet with the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society, which owns the building and maintains it as a museum, and agree on a plan to fix the property, Schumer said.
He said the millions of dollars needed to ultimately rebuild the small island and preserve it are “virtually certain” because it has been listed as a top priority for preservation.
The lighthouse was built in the river 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Manhattan to keep boats from running aground on mud flats between Athens, on the west side of the Hudson River, and the city of Hudson, on the east side. The lighthouse is still in use, though now with an automated LED beacon.
It sits on roughly 200 wood pilings packed in mud beneath the water. Turbulence from passing commercial ships is washing away that mud and exposing the pilings to river water, accelerating decay.
The society has proposed expanding the foundation the lighthouse is built on so that events can be held there and more visitors can walk on the island at once. It has been raising money to build a ring of corrugated steel designed to shield the structure from river turbulence.