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The Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) announces the return of the Gulf Capital – ADMAF Visual Arts and Creativity Awards, dedicated to discovering and celebrating young talent across art forms in the UAE. Since their launch in 2013, the Awards have provided a vital platform to nurture artistic excellence, offering recognition, visibility and access to development opportunities that support the growth of emerging artists.

Her Excellency Huda AlKhamis-Kanoo, Founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), said: “Since their establishment in 2013, the Creativity Award and the Visual Arts Award, presented by the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) and Gulf Capital, continue to recognise artistic excellence and original creative thinking among young creatives and artists from the UAE. These awards work to develop their skills and enhance their experiences, encouraging them to refine their creative practices in the fields of performing and visual arts and literary expression. The two awards also promote the sharing of the winners’ works with a broader audience at the Abu Dhabi Festival in the capital and abroad, enabling them to actively contribute to the cultural landscape and creative industries in the UAE and the world.”

Dr. Karim El Solh, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital, said:
“We are proud to be a long-standing partner of ADMAF, supporting and celebrating the creativity and ambition of young UAE artists. These awards provide an important platform for emerging talent to showcase their skills, share their stories and gain recognition both locally and internationally. Championing the next generation of creative leaders lies at the heart of our commitment to empowering communities and building a thriving arts and culture landscape in the UAE.”

Gulf Capital – ADMAF Creativity Award

Submission open until 8 November 2025

Winner announcement in December 2025

Showcase at the Abu Dhabi Festival 2026

The Gulf Capital – ADMAF Creativity Award invites emerging talents in music, theatre, dance and spoken word to inspire audiences through innovative expression. The award encourages young performers to develop their craft, refine their artistic voice and present their work to wider audiences.

Entries may be submitted individually by emerging Emirati artists, aged 18 to 35, or in groups of two to five participants, provided the group includes at least one Emirati member.Submissions will be judged on artistic merit, originality, creativity, technical skill, presentation, storytelling and professionalism. The winner will receive a grand prize of AED 20,000, and their work will be showcased at the Abu Dhabi Festival 2026.

For more information and to apply, please visit : admaf.org/award/gulf-capital-admaf-creativity-award/

Gulf Capital – ADMAF Visual Arts Award

Submission open until 8 November 2025

Winner announcement in December 2025

Showcase at the Abu Dhabi Festival 2026

The Gulf Capital – ADMAF Visual Arts Award celebrates emerging UAE artists who demonstrate exceptional creativity across visual art forms. The award highlights the importance of experimentation, dialogue and visual storytelling within the UAE’s contemporary art landscape.

Entries may be submitted individually by emerging Emirati artists, aged 18 to 35, or in groups of two to four participants, provided the group includes at least one Emirati member.Eligible disciplines include video, film, animation, photography, painting, sculpture and installation. Submissions will be evaluated for artistic merit, originality, creativity, technical skill, and emotional impact. The winner will receive a grand prize of AED 10,000, and their work will be showcased at the Abu Dhabi Festival 2026.

For more information and to apply please visit:admaf.org/award/gulf-capital-admaf-visual-arts-award/

In partnership with Gulf Capital, the Awards underscore ADMAF’s commitment to nurturing young Emirati talent, supporting artistic growth and empowering new voices to shape the regional and international arts scene.

Emerging artists are invited to submit their entries by 8 November 2025 for the chance to be recognised and celebrated as part of the UAE’s next generation of creative leaders.

In a milestone for global content creators representation, the 71st Cannes Lions festival in France has featured Arab digital content creators in its official programme for the first time since adding the content creators track. This regional recognition; strategically facilitated by regional consultancy Creator North; showcases creators whose platforms, voices, and communities are authentically rooted in the Arab world, signaling a fundamental shift in recognising the region’s narrative influence.

During the festival, three pioneering voices claimed the spotlight in an independent capacity and featured, Ahmed El Ghandour (Egypt), the science communicator who engages 7.8 million YouTube followers; Ahmed Al Basheer (Iraq), the political satirist behind The Albasheer Show with 22.5 million followers globally; and Haifa Bsessio (Palestine), the empowerment-focused storyteller featured at the Forbes 30/50 Summit and Nobel Peace Prize concert. Their presence reflects the strategic rise of the creator economy, which now encompasses over 1.5 million creators generating $300 million annually in the GCC alone.

Creator North’s blueprint for Arab content creators representation

This milestone resulted from a strategic partnership between Cannes Lions and Creator North; the pioneering consultancy helping to facilitate the Arab creator economy’s global ascent. As the region’s first agency dedicated exclusively to creator strategy and brand partnerships, Creator North designs culturally intelligent opportunities where authentic voices drive measurable impact and regional sectoral growth.

Commenting on the occasion, Waleed Laham, Founder and CEO of Creator North stated: “What we witnessed at Cannes Lions was not a symbolic presence, but a defining moment that confirms Arab content creators are now partners in shaping the global creative economy—not just because of their wide reach, but through the intellectual and creative value they bring to the global stage.”

Arab voices lead Cannes conversations as regional creator economy accelerates

During the Festival, the creators hosted two defining sessions with Ahmed El Ghandour engaging the ‘Terrace Stage’ audience with “The Future of Friendship,” a timely exploration of human connection in our digital age. Simultaneously, Haifa Bsessio and Ahmed Al Basheer commanded the ‘Creator Roof’ stage with “Stories That Survive: Creating Amid Crisis”; a resonant dialogue on transforming perspective into power through content born in challenging contexts.

This landmark participation mirrors the Arab creator economy’s impressive trajectory. Well established channels across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt now deliver consistent 15%+ annual growth according to YouTube/Redseer, fueling a sector that is generating both GDP input and opportunity for creators and associated industries. This growth also reflects a fundamental shift in creators’ role; once viewed primarily as cultural connectors, they’ve quickly become essential components of the macro-economy. Global audiences and brands no longer treat them as intermediaries but as primary partners and destinations for insight. Anchored by the UAE’s advanced digital infrastructure, strategic investments, and progressive regulation, the country has cemented its status as a creative and global hub.

The world’s most influential creative gathering

Cannes Lions serves as the world’s most influential gathering for the creative communications industry, and the annual festival; which took place from 16-20 June 2025; convenes global brands, agencies, tech innovators, and creators to recognise boundary-pushing work, forecast industry trends, and shape the future of creative excellence through its curated stages and awards programmes.

Beyond visibility, this Cannes Lions milestone fundamentally recalibrates creative influence. Arab narratives; with their distinctive depth and resilience; are now essential architects of global creativity’s future, positioning the region’s voices at the very heart of progress.

Cyber-attacks occur on a regular basis, and they can significantly disrupt your business. These attacks will not just lead to the loss of your data; they can also damage your reputation and brand. This will eat into your bottom line. Cyber-attacks occur in different ways, and wesh all discuss the different types in this guide.

Before we get into the types of cybersecurity threats, you need to know how you can defend yourself from such attacks. Without adequate protection, your networks will be an irresistible target for cybercriminals. One thing you need to do is to get the necessary IT security infrastructure. You should make sure you install a firewall on your devices as this will monitor incoming and outgoing traffic. The software can decide whether it should block or allow specific traffic depending on a set of rules.

You should note that firewalls come in different forms. These include-proxy firewalls, stateful inspection firewalls, unified threat management firewalls, and next-generation firewalls. In addition to keeping your network secure, the software will help to reduce the bounce rate on your website.

Four Types of Cybersecurity Threats

Malware

Malware is short for malicious software, and it is a code or file that steals, explores, or infects files. The creator of the code can use it to send spam from the infected machine, steal sensitive data, or investigate the local network of the user. These cybersecurity threats come in different forms, and they include:

• Botnets
• Cryptojacking
• Malvertizing
• Polymorphic malware

Denial of Service (DoS)

A denial-of-service attack is meant to block a network or computer, making it inaccessible to the intended users. To accomplish this, cybercriminals flood the target with traffic. The criminals can also send information to the network in order to trigger a crash. DoS attacks don’t usually result in the loss of data, but they can come with huge costs. Also, they can take a long time to fix, and this can eat into the profits of the business.

Phishing

This is a form of social engineering that attempts to get sensitive details from the victims. With this form of cybercrime, you can end up losing your credit card information or login details. Phishing occurs when attackers masquerade as trusted entities such as financial institutions. The victim is then tricked into clicking a malicious link that will install malware to their devices. The link can also lead to a website that resembles a legitimate one, and adding login details or credit card data on the site will give the criminals access to your information.

SQL Injection

In this type of cyberattack, the criminal uses a code to manipulate a database so that they gain access to potentially valuable information. This attack can be used on any website or application that uses SQL-based databases. Notable companies like Microsoft and Sony Pictures have been victims of SQL injection attacks.

Conclusion

Cybersecurityshouldn’tbetakenlightlyasitcanbeextremelydamagingtoyourbusiness. Tomakesureyournetworkissecure, you should consider installing a firewall Also, teach your team how to avoid scams like phishing.

Starting today, we’re combining IGTV and feed videos into one format – Instagram Video. We’re also introducing a new Video tab on your profile, where this combined video format will live, to make it easier for people to discover new video content. We love that our creator community has embraced video as a key format to tell their stories, entertain, and connect with their audiences, and that’s why we want to make it even simpler to create and discover videos on Instagram.

Making It Easier to Upload and Discover Videos

IGTV and feed videos will now be one format. You can still upload videos in the same way from the camera roll by clicking on the + sign in the top right corner of the Instagram home page and selecting Post.

We’re also introducing new features like trimming, filters and people and location tagging.

Creators can continue to cross-post their videos through Stories and share via direct message. Using all our surfaces provides multiple ways for creators to tell their stories and engage with their communities. Video previews in feed will now be 60 seconds long, unless the video is eligible for ads — in which case, the preview will still be 15 seconds.

“As a creator, I think there shouldn’t be a divide between video formats on Instagram; feed video and IGTV should be just video. When a person is looking for content to watch online they’re never specifically looking for long format or short format, they’re just looking to watch videos and be entertained. I’m glad I now won’t need to navigate to so many different surfaces to watch things on Instagram.” – @henrytado

New Ways to View and Analyze Videos

The new Video tab will be the home for this combined video format, making it easier for people to find content from creators they love. When watching videos on Instagram, viewers can tap anywhere on the video to enter fullscreen. They will also have the option to keep scrolling to discover new video content from creators that may interest them.

To make it easier to understand how videos are performing, we’re merging feed post insights and video insights into one combined metric for businesses and creators.

Reach New Audiences with Video Ads

With Instagram Video,IGTV Ads are now called Instagram In-Stream video ads. Eligible creators can still monetize their long-form content, and brands can reach audiences engaging with long-form video. For businesses interested in boosting their videos to reach more people, videos must be no longer than 60 seconds in length.

Video is the home for visual storytelling. We’re excited to see how creators on Instagram continue to make standout content that inspires people to create themselves.

There comes a time when medium to large businesses need to transform their existing in-house operations in order to cater to an evolving digital landscape. This is a perfectly natural stage of evolution and if carried out effectively, success will certainly follow. While many articles focus upon the advantages associated with e-commerce platforms, it is important to remember that database management is equally critical to address.

However, collating and interpreting vast amounts of data is no easy task. IT teams will often be stretched to their limits and as a result, other core competencies such as sales and client relations can suffer. This is why many businesses are choosing to work with Oracle database management. Let us examine some notable features of this product in order to appreciate what is in store.

The Ability to Work in Tandem with Third-Party SLM Systems

Oracle is quite unique in the fact that it can be integrated with other software platforms. This is ideal when referring to a fast-paced business environment when any downtime could otherwise lead to profound issues. One notable example can be seen in software license management.

As companies are rightfully concerned with compliance and legal issues, it is only logical that a centralised means to monitor software assets should be adopted. For instance, the license management software offered on this website ensures that organisations are kept abreast of any changes as they may occur. This is also an excellent way to identify which packages may be redundant or entirely outdated. Oracle is therefore an excellent option in regards to its hands-on nature.

Offering A Mobile-Responsive Edge

More than half of all Internet users are now employing smartphones and tablets to access the online community. This is why Oracle has been optimised to recognise well over 20 networking protocols. Integration is therefore no longer a concern. Another windfall here involves the number of employees who may be telecommuting on a regular basis. Authorised personnel can access important data even while out and about. Companies will therefore remain one step ahead of the digital curve. This mobile-responsive design is already beginning to transform how businesses conduct their operations.

Second-to-None Levels of Customer Satisfaction and Flexibility

Many professionals will argue that Oracle is the leader in terms of client satisfaction. This is partially due to the presence of knowledgeable customer service representatives who make it a point to become familiar with the end user. However, another metric should be highlighted. Oracle is known as a “headless” database management solution. In other words, it is both forward- and backward-compatible. This signifies that changes can be made on the backend without needing to overhaul the entire system.

Finally, Oracle appreciates that the learning curve associated with database management can be steep on occasion. This is why updates include the most popular features that were associated with older iterations. Employee training and onboarding will therefore take much less time; enabling a business to quickly return to its ongoing in-house operations.

High-Level Functionality

Were you aware that ten of the largest banks in the world have chosen to use Oracle as their database management software? This arises from the agile nature of the software itself. Oracle can be easily integrated into most systems and above all, it is capable of storing truly massive amounts of information.

As the online business community becomes even more competitive, it is likely that Oracle will represent one of the most logical database management solutions.

Social media is developing to be much more critical than ever. To meet and attract more clients in 2021, we have collated the top 6 social media patterns for you.

For advertisers to gain and engage consumers, social media is a preferred channel. Social media marketing, known for an agile model, allows marketing teams to stay up to speed with the new changes in social and technical innovations to ensure that they take advantage of all the opportunities available.

It’s no surprise that this year has seen an unprecedented change in social media usage, alongside a whole host of other customer behavioral factors. Within this opportunity, there are challenges:

How do I keep my social media audience engaged?

What content is appropriate for today’s environment?

From rising platforms to worthy causes, utilizing social media for shopping, live events, or forming relationships, it’s time to dive into the 2021 social media trends.

1. THE ORGANIC SOCIAL MEDIA RELATIONSHIP FUNNEL

With rising concerns over privacy and fake-news, forming a trust relationship with your customers in 2021 is going to be harder than ever.

With studies showing that 75% of people don’t accept advertisements as truth, there is a lot to be said for a relationship marketing approach to building trust with your social media audience.

Social media platforms need to grow in their relationships with staff, clients, and bloggers to cut through in 2021, to ensure that our main brand campaigns are backed up by the voices that our clients trust most.

2. PEOPLE-FIRST SOCIAL MEDIA FIRST

Two-way communication is the key to lift your organic posts to the top of the social media of your audience. As we know, in addition to targeted paid advertising,’ the role of algorithms is to share specific content to users.

So, via a platform that your customers trust, an active online community that engages with your content through likes, comments, and shares will help you out by amplifying your content.

3. DIVERSIFICATION

Without recognizing the massive shake-up of social networks we’ve seen this year; we can’t talk about 2021 social media patterns. A modern approach to social interaction has been pioneered by TikTok, peaking in March 2020 with nearly 76 million downloads.

Tiktok is a common social network for short-form video sharing where celebrities and aspiring creators share content from dance, cooking demonstrations, and makeovers to animal videos and social media challenges created by users! This content proves to be highly successful with Tiktok’s fan base, of which 41% are aged 16-24.

4. LIVE SOCIAL MEDIA

Live social media has soared in terms of its uptake this year, and it’s not difficult to pinpoint that growth to a particular period earlier this year. Using live streaming to fill the physical void had become the new normal for so many consumers, but how are marketers using this opportunity to meet their customers live online? Many marketers who previously relied on events marketing have gone back to the drawing board this year. Embracing live social media innovation has enabled them to achieve their goals in a completely different way.

5. SOCIAL CONTENT FOR GOOD

A growing focus on political, environmental, and social issues throughout the year means increased social media conversations about the issues close to your customers’ hearts.

Reaching the tipping point, Merkle’s Q4 2020 Media Insights Report found that 56% of consumers say they have no respect for businesses that remain silent on important issues. So now’s the time to leverage your social platform to inform and reassure your customers.

6. SOCIAL COMMERCE

87% of e-commerce shoppers believe social media helps them make a shopping decision and with half the world’s population on social media, social commerce is the next logical step for online shopping.

Data from the US Department of Commerce, shared by Sprout Social, demonstrates social media’s share of total US retail sales rocketing up in 2020, and this trend is set to continue.

“Social commerce is not a new concept, but with the development of Pinterest catalogs, Facebook and Instagram shops alongside increasing online shopping behavior during the Pandemic, 2021 is the perfect time for social e-commerce to flourish. It’s easy, functional, and streamlined.

Infiltrating social media, where consumers spend a large chunk of their day, improves the shopping experience, and shortens the process. As humans, we’re always looking for simpler ways to get what we want.

Brands want to convert customers as soon as possible, therefore why waste time sending them to your website, for them to potentially leave because of user experience issues. Reduce drop-offs by selling directly from your social media posts. Marketers will want to focus more on their social media reach, engagement, and effectiveness; evolution is necessary if you want to survive in 2021.