UAE: New media festival announced to educate, increase employability of youth

The media council continues to invest in developing knowledge and skills, striving to provide opportunities for talented people in the country

by

Nandini Sircar

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

 

Published: Mon 25 Sep 2023, 2:26 PM

A Dubai Media Tech Festival will be organized next year bringing in the latest technology closer to the Arab youth who are interested in the field of media.

This was announced at the Youth media forum that kicked off on Monday, as part of the Arab media forum that will be held on September 26 and 27.


The inaugural Youth forum is aimed to bring together young bright Arab minds to discuss their dreams and shape a better future for their countries and the Arab world together.

Elias Bou Saab, Executive Vice President of the American University in Dubai said, “The Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Communication, the American University of Dubai and Dubai Press Club are jointly launching the Dubai Media Tech Festival next year. It’s a platform that brings together the latest technology related to media, students, and media personalities and puts them in a place where everyone can use the latest technologies and see how best they can be used."


"So, this tech festival will act as a bridge for technologies and media persons and understand how it impacts people. This international forum will see exhibitions, conferences, and stalls.”

Media workshops

The youth media forum is also targeted at distinguished senior-year students or those at the start of their professional careers.

On the sidelines of the forum, workshops were conducted that focused on developing students’ practical skills, building their capacities, and enriching their experiments in order to increase their competitiveness in the labour market, particularly in the field of media.

Through the forum, the media council continues to invest in developing knowledge and skills and strives to provide opportunities for all talented people in the country and the wider region.

Hamdaa Najjar who is from the Dubai Media Council’s Project Management Team said, “We organized a brainstorming workshop for the youth in collaboration with the Dubai design lab. We invited around 30 members of the youth, university students, girls, and boys to attend this workshop.”

Aiming to identify gaps and seek solutions, the council has come up with three initiatives.

“One of which is the creation of Arab Youth awards targeted for the Youth, which we’ll have every year aimed to encourage greater drive for students, internships between the private and public sector. Second, we noticed a lack of adequate internship opportunities, particularly in the media. We also want to do some school engagement programmes. We want to go around public schools and engage students with the media (sector) because it’s not a subject that children learn in schools. We want them to be more informed about the media. So, we will be working with the private and the public sector.”

“Third, there is a lack of collaboration when it comes to working with global organisations. We want to have an internship with Netflix, Disney, Pixar,” she added.

ALSO READ:


More news from UAE