• ElectroFest

    The Arts Center @ NYUAD NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    The NYUAD Arts Center's mini festival of electronic music, now in its fourth edition, is getting more substantial: it's still a one-day event "tailored for those with an ear for experimental and electronic genres, as well as those with a [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • Visualizing Palestine: Gaza in Context

    Jameel Arts Centre Al Jaddaf, Dubai

    Aline Batarseh, Executive Director of Visualizing Palestine talks about her organisation's most recent work contextualising the crisis in Gaza — from infographics to videos to interactive platforms – while also providing insight into Visualizing Palestine’s process for data collection and [ ... ]

    Free
  • Alterations: Aylen Pritchin & Lukas Geniušas

    Theatre of Digital Arts Souk Madinat Jumeriah, Dubai

    Aylen Pritchin (violin) and Lukas Geniušas (piano) combine with the immersive 360° visuals of TODA (digital art by Ferran Belmon, "carefully curated to mirror the emotional flow of your journey"). The programme: Ravel Violin Sonata No. 1 Desyatnikov Wie Der [ ... ]

    Price tbc
  • La Scala Theatre Ballet Academy

    Dubai Opera

    A gala programme by some of ballet's future stars. La Scala Theatre Ballet School is recognised as one of the world's leading classical ballet schools and benefits from being associated with the professional company of Teatro alla Scala Ballet. This [ ... ]

    From AED 300
  • Mohit Takalkar: Hunkaro

    Sharjah Art Foundation -- Calligraphy Square Sharjah

    In modern society, where listening to others is often replaced with the consumption of visual media, Hunkaro – meaning ‘verbal affirmation’ in Marathi – is an important counterweight. This performance piece, co-presented by Ishara Art Foundation, invites the audience to [ ... ]

    Free
  • Laughter Factory: ‘Irrelevant But Hilarious!’

    Dukes The Palm Palm Dubai, Dubai

    The final gig for this Laughter Factory tour. The comics: Steven Biggs Netflix and HBO alumnus making his Middle East debut. Signing him is described as "a huge comedy coup for the Selfdrive Laughter Factory" Conor Drum London-based Irish comedian, [ ... ]

    AED 160
  • Candlelight: Valentine’s Day Special

    Anantara Eastern Mangroves Al Salam Street, Al Kheeran, Abu Dhabi

    A romantic evening of popular tunes, played by a string quartet and lit by candlelight. An evening stroll along the edge of the mangroves should help the mood, too. The programme lasts about an hour; there are performances at 6pm [ ... ]

    From AED AED 150
  • Past Lives: dir Celine Song (2023)

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Celine Song's first feature has been nominated in two of this year's Oscar categories (Best Motion Picture category and Best Original Screenplay – but criminally not Best Director). It's the story of a modern romance; Na Young’s family emigrated from [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Holdovers: dir Alexander Payne (2023)

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    A warm-hearted and thoughtful holiday story of three lonely, shipwrecked people who find support in the most unlikely of places. A curmudgeonly teacher (Paul Giamatti) is forced to remain on campus at a New England prep school over Christmas to [ ... ]

    Free
  • 1 Minute to Krushit

    Melrose Paramount Midtown, Al Mustaqbal Street, Dubai

    A Dubomedy comedy night with alumni of its stand-up courses, at least 18 of them – they each get just one minute to make you laugh, there will be prizes, and it's free with no minimum spend (you need to [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Jazz Solo

    Theatre of Digital Arts Souk Madinat Jumeriah, Dubai

    "Soft and classy" – an evening with pianist/singer Ryann Gibb, accompanied by ToDA's 360° visuals ...        

    From AED 170
  • La Scala Theatre Ballet Academy

    Dubai Opera

    A second chance to see this gala programme by some of ballet's future stars. La Scala Theatre Ballet School is recognised as one of the world's leading classical ballet schools in the world and benefits from being associated with the [ ... ]

    From AED 300
  • Mohit Takalkar: Hunkaro

    Sharjah Art Foundation -- Calligraphy Square Sharjah

    A second show for this performance piece, co-presented by Ishara Art Foundation, which invites the audience to practise the precious gift of attention through active, participatory listening. It interweaves three stories of human trials and tribulations, tied together by the [ ... ]

    Free
  • Lucas and Arthur Jussen

    The Arts Center @ NYUAD NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    The Dutch brothers have both been performing in public since early childhood, typically as a piano duo. For this Abu Dhabi Festival recital their programme includes works by Mozart, Schumann, Widmann, Debussy and Rachmaninov. Programme: Mozart Sonata in C Major [ ... ]

    AED 100
  • Xposure International Photography Festival 2025

    Aljada Sharjah

    The ninth edition of the region's largest, broadest and generally most impressive festival of photography. It is based around a the exhibitions, solo and group, but importantly incudes a very full programme of authoritative talks and useful workshops; portfolio reviews [ ... ]

    Free
  • Le Dîner de Cons

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The first of three more performances of the culture Emulsion production of Francis Veber's highly successful modern French farce. Pierre Brochant is one of the Parisian businessmen who have a weekly 'idiots' dinner', where guests bring along a dimwit who [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • Wednesday Night Impro: Maestro

    Courtyard Playhouse Street 4B, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with the lowest score is eliminated. Eventually only [ ... ]

    Free but donations welcome
  • Kristel Bechara: A Symphony of Shadows & Light

    kanvas Dubai Unit 1, Al Khayat Art Avenue, 19th Street Al Quoz 1, Dubai

    A retrospective for Kristel Bechara’s 15 years in the Emirates, curated by Astrid Lesuisse. kanvas described as "groundbreaking" the way Bechara’s art has been blended with cutting-edge technology – works animated by motion designer Viktor Lukacs are set against a [ ... ]

    Free
  • Hussein Sharif: Re-framing Reality

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    The Culture Foundation's big summer show is a major survey of four decades of work showcasing the multidisciplinary practice across painting, drawing, collage and sculpture of an artist acknoweldged as one of the UAE’s key postmodernists (he was one of [ ... ]

    Free
  • Native: Plants in the UAE

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    An exhibition that explores the plants indigenous to the UAE, looking at the surrounding atmosphere that affects its growth and gives it its unique variations of colour, texture, size and behaviour. "From the iconic Ghaf tree to the resilient desert [ ... ]

    Free
  • Through the Seasons with Eric Carle

    Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

    For the first time in the region, the work of the noted illustrator and children’s book author (more than 70 titles to his name, including of course The Very Hungry Caterpillar) is celebrated through Carle’s brilliant imagery of the seasons, [ ... ]

    Free
  • In Real Time

    NYUAD Art Gallery Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery is celebrating its ten-year anniversary with a characteristically interesting exhibition. In Real Time is a dynamic show – over the course of three months the curators will be adding artists, and the artists and performers [ ... ]

    Free
  • Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois: Concert for Peace

    Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi Reem Island, Abu Dhabi

    The famous French a cappella boys' choir – made up of boys between 9 and 15 years old, and for some reason styled in English as The Little Singers of Paris – is coming to the Sorbonne for a free [ ... ]

    Free, but pre-register
  • The Eternal Memory (La memoria infinita): dir Maite Alberdi (2023)

    Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    This critically acclaimed Chilean documentary film follows the relationship of Chilean journalist Augusto Góngora, one of Chile's most prominent cultural journalists and TV presenters, and actress Paulina Urrutia (who served as Minister of Culture and the Arts of the country [ ... ]

    Free
  • Le Dîner de Cons

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The penultimate performances of the culture Emulsion production of Francis Veber's highly successful modern French farce. Pierre Brochant is one of the Parisian businessmen who have a weekly 'idiots' dinner', where guests bring along a dimwit who can be ridiculed. [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • The Phantom of the Opera

    The Phantom of the Opera
    Dubai Opera

    Continuing its policy of attracting established blue-chip touring performances, Dubai Opera is running Broadway Entertainment Group's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed musical for a three-week run. The story is based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel of a musical [ ... ]

    From AED 350
  • Listening for Traces: Conflict, Sound & Memory

    The brand new Rizq Art Initiative in Abu Dhabi continues to impress. Its second exhibition is an experimental examination of the enduring impact of conflict on people, places, language, and relationships through the medium of sound; it's curated by Cathy [ ... ]

  • Aya Haidar: Battlegrounds

    Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

    The inaugural exhibition of the Lebanese-British artist at this gallery, where she has recently joined the roster. Aya Haidar’s practice addresses themes related to womanhood, invisible labour, forced displacement, Homeland and territory, social constructs and inequalities; positioned at the intersection [ ... ]

    Free
  • Mandy El-Sayegh : A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

    Lawrie Shabibi Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

    The inaugural solo exhibition at Lawrie Shabibi for London-based artist Mandy El-Sayegh is a combination of painting, installation, video, sound, and performance that showcases her characteristic ‘bricolage’ approach, connecting disparate visual cultural knowledge to create new meanings. Says the gallery: [ ... ]

    Free
  • Between Fiction and Dreams

    Andakulova Gallery Unit 18, P4 Level Damac Park Towers, DIFC , Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    A group show by three artists from Karakalpakstan, an autonomous area of Uzbekistan: Bakhtiyar Serekeyev, Timur Shardimetov and Salomat Babajanov. "They introduced the rebellious spirit of expressionism and uninhibited painting into local art, which was very traditional in themes and [ ... ]

    Free
  • Sikka Art and Design Festival 2024

    Al Shindagha Dubai Creek, Dubai

    The 12th edition of Sikka runs from 23 February to 3 March 2024 at the Al Shindagha Historic Neighbourhood (it’s moved from Al Fahidi to simplify access and increase the range and number of exhibits and event spaces – all [ ... ]

    Free
  • All the Wild Things

    421 Arts Campus Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    A weekend of regional films that explore the climate crisis, cureated for 421 by Cinema Akil. As well as . This expansive program includes film screenings, talks, workshops, activations, and family-friendly screenings too. The mini festival includes screening of feature-length [ ... ]

    Free. but pre-register for individual screenings
  • The Jazz Night with Lady J

    Theatre of Digital Arts Souk Madinat Jumeriah, Dubai

    ToDA transforms into a jazz venue for live performance accompanied by a 360° immersive show: this time it's Lady J & her trio in a 90-minute set. "Expect a sparkling arrangement of the Grooviest Classics together with jazzed-up Radio Hits [ ... ]

    From AED 140
  • The UAE Classical Talents: A Night of Eastern and Western Echoes – Jelena Matvejevskaja (piano) and Nicolas Mann (violin)

    Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The latest in this fourth Alliance Française series of concerts highlighting locally-based classical musicians features two returnees in an East-meets-West programme – works by Bach, Bloch, Sarasate, Pärt, Lecuona, Berliner and Tchaikovsky. (The price here is for non-members; AF members [ ... ]

    AED 130
  • Le Dîner de Cons

    The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    The fifth and final performances of the culture Emulsion production of Francis Veber's highly successful modern French farce. Pierre Brochant is one of the Parisian businessmen who have a weekly 'idiots' dinner', where guests bring along a dimwit who can [ ... ]

    AED 150
  • The Phantom of the Opera

    The Phantom of the Opera
    Dubai Opera

    Continuing its policy of attracting established blue-chip touring performances, Dubai Opera is running Broadway Entertainment Group's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed musical for a three-week run. The story is based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel of a musical [ ... ]

    From AED 350
  • Politically Incorrect Comedy

    The Clavichord Signature Hotel, Barsha Heights, Dubai

    A Mad Cat Comedy gig: local standups "with a few international dropins". The ticket price includes a free drink.  

    AED 70
  • Lala Rukh: In the Round

    Al Mureijah Art Spaces Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    The first major survey of the late artist, feminist organiser and pedagogue Lala Rukh brings together more than 50 drawings, prints, photographs, videos and animation works from across her three-decade practice. The artist captured the diverse rhythms of lunar movements, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Henok Melkamzer: Telsem Symbols and Imagery

    Sharjah Art Museum Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    With more than 100 works, many on view for the first time, this exhibition is the largest solo presentation by telsem artist Henok Melkamzer. Traditionally termed a healing or talisman art, telsem is a distinctive Ethiopian art form that incorporates [ ... ]

    Free
  • Olivier Souffrant: In Plain Sight

    Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery 796 Jumeirah Street, Dubai

    In his work, the NY-based Haitian artist references both African American masters such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Jean-Michel Basquiat and European painters like Botticelli, Van Gogh, and Picasso. Souffrant uses everyday materials such as magazines, online publications, computers, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Ahmad Moualla: Combustions

    Fann à Porter The Workshop, Villa 45, St. 23b, off Al Wasl Road (opposite Box Park), Jumeirah 2, Dubai

    The Syrian artist's first solo exhibition with this gallery (and his first show in eight years) is a series of new works on paper created in 2023. Considered one of the pioneers of modernism and expressionism in Syria, Moualla was [ ... ]

    Free
  • Echoes of Infinite: Poetry’s Visual Symphony

    Farjam Foundation Unit GF-97 Gate Avenue, DIFC, Dubai

    The Farjam Foundation isn’t a particularly activity gallery, but it does have access to an excellent private collection that spans early Islam to present-day artistic practice across regional geographies and beyond. So when it puts on a show of selected [ ... ]

    Free
  • Zhivago Duncan: The Rare But Known Phenomenon

    Meem Gallery Umm Suqeim Rd, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    It's a pleasure to find an artist who is prepared to expand on their principles, and to do with Zhivago Duncan's level of articulation. "Within this new collection," writes Duncan, "I have endeavoured to distill the complexity of ideas and [ ... ]

  • Global Notes: Marcos Madrigal

    Dubai Opera Studio Downtown Dubai, Dubai

    The Global Notes series of recitals from Encore Performing Arts, Dubai Opera and the Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai continues with Marcos Madrigal, an outstanding young pianist from Havana. One recent review said "he plays with taste, musicality, lyricism and [ ... ]

    AED 265
  • The Phantom of the Opera

    The Phantom of the Opera
    Dubai Opera

    Continuing its policy of attracting established blue-chip touring performances, Dubai Opera is running Broadway Entertainment Group's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed musical for a three-week run. The story is based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel of a musical [ ... ]

    From AED 350
  • Politically Incorrect Comedy

    Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef Al Seef Street, Umm Hurair 1, Dubai

    "Dubai's wildest comedy nigt", courtesy of Mad Cat Comedy. The ticket price includes two drinks.  

    AED 100
  • James Blunt: The Who We Used To Be Tour

    Coca-Cola Arena City Walk, Dubai

    The hip may find him unredeemably uncool, and his voice is definitely a bit of an acquired taste, but James Blunt's songs are well-crafted, articulate, often accessibly personal, and speak to a broad audience of wildly enthusiastic fans. It helps [ ... ]

    From AED 150
  • Nalini Malani: Can You Hear Me?

    Concrete

    This show looks like something of a coup for Alerkal Avenue. Widely considered the pioneer of video art in India, and embodying the role of the artist as social activist, Malani has a 50-year multimedia practice that includes photography, painting, [ ... ]

    Free
  • Aref Montazeri: Immortal Mirror

    Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Montazeri's solo show emphasises the mirror's role as a time capsule, capturing time layer by layer – "with a single gaze, time halts, letting the audience see themselves in the present, amid past moments and a myriad of images within [ ... ]

    Free