Being Creative in Dubai

Photo Credit: Lavinia Marin

I had to search forever when I moved here to discover art resources in Dubai. So here is a list of everything creativity related that I know about for those newbies or newly interested in the arts in Dubai.

Classes

DUCTAC – Located in Mall of the Emirates, this center offers dance, music, visual arts, drama and other courses. (Note: this can be hard to find at first, it is near the upstairs entrance/exit of Magic Planet and you must exit the mall to reach the center, which has its own separate entrance!)
Tashkeel – Located in Nad Al Sheba, Tashkeel is a gallery and arts center that also offers classes that have included jewelry making and Adobe Photoshop.
Dubai International Arts Center – Located in Jumeriah, DIAC is a gallery and arts center that offers assorted visual arts courses. This sometimes includes Arabic Calligraphy!

Al Funoon in Dubai Ladies Club also offers classes. It is on Beach Road.
The Centre for Musical Arts is located in both the DUCTAC Center in Mall of the Emirates and in the Gold and Diamond Park just the next exit from Mall of Emirates on Sheik Zayed Road. They offer all sorts of instrumental classes, which can be group or private. They also have ensemble opportunities.

Craftland offers quilting and sewing classes and is in Jumeriah Town Centre on Beach Road.

Gulf Photo Plus offers photography classes in Al Quoz.

JamJar offers art classes in Al Quoz.

Art Supplies

DUCTAC at Mall of the Emirates has an art store in the same location, across from the public library. Remember that the entrance to DUCTAC is outside the mall from the 3rd floor parking lot.

Emirates Trading has assorted supplies for artists and is located on Sheikh Zayed Road. It is a larger version of the store offerings in DUCTAC.

Hathboor is where my school has once sourced artist materials. It is located on the main Street behind the Central post Office in Karama (heading towards the airport from MOE).

White Star has both teaching and artist materials. It is located in the blue building with Burger King infront on Beach Road, there is a craft based store on the ground floor and a large store of fine art supplies on the first floor. White Star also has a sister store called Creative Minds that is on Umm Suqueim Road headed towards Al Khail Road.

A Music Store (name unknown) is in the same building as White Star and Zaks student clothing store. (I may be confused on this. It is either in that one of the one that Craftland is in below).

CraftLand has sewing machines and they sell fabric and embroidery materials as well. They are on beach road in Jumeriah Town Centre, a pink building with underground parking, which has a sushi place in building. There is also a cool paper store kitty corner from this store.

Dragon Mart may be a special drive to get there and seriously overwhelming the first 2-3 times you go, but as you acclimate you realize there is a treasure trove of resources, especially for jewelers (beads, pearls, stringing materials, etc.).

BE COURAGEOUSLY CREATIVE: Are there other creative Dubai resources I’ve missed? Share below.