The soul in the machine

In a world rushing toward automation, one city's cultural celebration reminds us that connection, spirit and story are still our most vital technologies

- Kibo Ngowi

I didn't know much about Abu Dhabi when I stepped off the plane at Zayed International Airport. I knew that it was both the capital of the emirate with which it shares its name and of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a whole.

But what I discovered was how much serious money Abu Dhabi is investing in positioning itself as a global centre of arts and culture.

While I was in the city, I visited the Louvre Abu Dhabi, named after the famous museum in Paris, and made possible through an agreement between the UAE and France.

The summit took place in a precinct shared by Berklee Abu Dhabi, the first Middle Eastern outpost of the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the US, the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world.

The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, named after the famed New York art museum, is under construction.

The Culture Summit is just one event on the Abu Dhabi arts calendar. The city was chosen by Unesco to host International Jazz Day this year, a celebration of music and artistic freedom, which is held annually on 30 April.

Multiple Grammy-winning jazz icon Herbie Hancock led an all-star line-up of some of the most celebrated figures in jazz music for a special concert at Etihad Arena.

The Abu Dhabi Culture Summit — running since 2017 and on its seventh edition — is one aspect of that effort. It's a way to bring together an exceptional collective of creative thinkers, decision-makers, artists, designers, change-makers and leaders from the cultural and creative sectors.

Organised by the UAE's department of culture and tourism, the goal of the annual event is to identify ways in which culture can transform societies and communities worldwide — and turn these ideas into actions and solutions.