Interested in an online course on calligraphy by the celebrated Tunisian artist El Seed? How about learning creative writing from the award-winning American novelist G Willow Wilson?
These are just a few of the options available from the new e-learning website Creative Ummah.
Launched last week in Dubai as part of MOCAfest (an arts festival held each year alongside the World Islamic Economic Forum), Creative Ummah aims to connect knowledge seekers with some of the leading arts, culture and business personalities from the Muslim world through affordable online courses.
Connecting People
The idea for the project came from Creative Ummah’s co-founder and full-time designer Peter Gould who was inspired by his extensive business travels.
Since converting to Islam more than a decade ago, the Aussie has frequently visited the Arab world and worked with Muslim communities in the West. Through these interactions, he came to realise the vast untapped potential of creative Muslim talent.
“It really came about organically and it really took a journey around the world,” he says. “Wherever I went, I was observing these creative and energetic people doing artistic things with passion. The more I saw this, I realised how great it would be to connect us all together as opposed to us working in our own separate pockets.”
Last year, Gould began putting the idea into practice. Inspired by the growth of online-learning portals – particularly the success of the market leader, Udemy – he and his co-founders, the Australian journalist Reuben Brand and the Malaysian internet entrepreneur Irfan Khairi, began laying the foundations for Creative Ummah after a successful crowd-funding campaign.
How it works
The website is colourful and easy to use. Users have a choice of six languages to pick from, including Arabic, French, Bahasa Indonesia and Urdu. After clicking on the courses page, there’s a list of available subjects, the name and a photo of the teacher and the price in United States dollars.
After choosing the desired course, users are invited to watch a short trailer that describes its aims, and read a thorough course description. The course content is also listed, including the number of modules and the duration of related videos.
The course can then be purchased and paid for using a credit card or PayPal. After signing up, users are invited to a closed Facebook group, where fellow students can discuss the course and ask the instructor questions.
With a select few exceptions, most of the courses are at the beginner or intermediary level and cost about US$30 (Dh110). Gould says they are designed to be fun.
“Each of the modules is five minutes or less and there is the associated activities that come with them,” says Gould. “Everyone can do them at their own pace and it can be done relatively quickly.”
Choosing subjects
Creative Ummah launched with five courses already available and a further 36 on the way. There is a conversational Arabic course from the Australia-based Imran Lum for US$29. For the same price, you can take a personal-training course from the French athlete Daoud Coulibaly, where students can learn physical exercises to use at home. There is also a Famenco guitar course from the Indonesian virtuoso Mas Dhimas.
Coming soon are courses on video-game art by the Moroccan 3-D artist Ouafae Taame, and fashion consulting by the American blogger Iman Salam.
Creative Ummah wants you
With such an array of talent in the region, Gould is also calling on the country’s creatives to design and film their own courses for Creative Ummah.
“You don’t always need all these cameras, lighting and all that technical gear,” says Gould. “A lot of the courses are simply shot and presented. It doesn’t matter how it looks, as long as it is effective and you connect with the people enrolled.”
With the price of each course set by the instructor and the fee split equally with Creative Ummah, a popular course could turn into a real money-spinner.
“The cool thing about it is that once you make the content, then it will always be there for those to enrol,” says Gould. “Then all you have to do is continue interacting online and helping the students.
“Also, think about it – there are 244 million people in Indonesia alone. You don’t think a few thousand people will be interested in sharing your passion and learning from you in order for them to develop? It is a great opportunity.”
• For details on how to enrol or develop a course, visit www.creativeummah.com
sasaeed@thenational.ae
England squads for Test and T20 series against New Zealand
Test squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes
T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, James Vince
The Two Popes
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
Four out of five stars
Stamp duty timeline
December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
Credits
Produced by: Colour Yellow Productions and Eros Now
Director: Mudassar Aziz
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jassi Gill, Piyush Mishra, Diana Penty, Aparshakti Khurrana
Star rating: 2.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
World Cup final
Who: France v Croatia
When: Sunday, July 15, 7pm (UAE)
TV: Game will be shown live on BeIN Sports for viewers in the Mena region
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 112-4 (10 ovs)
Banton 53 no
Northern Warriors 46 all out (9 ovs)
Kumara 3-10, Garton 3-10, Jordan 2-2, Prasanna 2-7
Qalandars win by six wickets
ARM%20IPO%20DETAILS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EShare%20price%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ETarget%20raise%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%248%20billion%20to%20%2410%20billion%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EProjected%20valuation%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2460%20billion%20to%20%2470%20billion%20(Source%3A%20Bloomberg)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ELead%20underwriters%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Barclays%2C%20Goldman%20Sachs%20Group%2C%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20and%20Mizuho%20Financial%20Group%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Thanksgiving meals to try
World Cut Steakhouse, Habtoor Palace Hotel, Dubai. On Thursday evening, head chef Diego Solis will be serving a high-end sounding four-course meal that features chestnut veloute with smoked duck breast, turkey roulade accompanied by winter vegetables and foie gras and pecan pie, cranberry compote and popcorn ice cream.
Jones the Grocer, various locations across the UAE. Jones’s take-home holiday menu delivers on the favourites: whole roast turkeys, an array of accompaniments (duck fat roast potatoes, sausages wrapped in beef bacon, honey-glazed parsnips and carrots) and more, as well as festive food platters, canapes and both apple and pumpkin pies.
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, The Address Hotel, Dubai. This New Orleans-style restaurant is keen to take the stress out of entertaining, so until December 25 you can order a full seasonal meal from its Takeaway Turkey Feast menu, which features turkey, homemade gravy and a selection of sides – think green beans with almond flakes, roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole and bread stuffing – to pick up and eat at home.
The Mattar Farm Kitchen, Dubai. From now until Christmas, Hattem Mattar and his team will be producing game- changing smoked turkeys that you can enjoy at home over the festive period.
Nolu’s, The Galleria Mall, Maryah Island Abu Dhabi. With much of the menu focused on a California inspired “farm to table” approach (with Afghani influence), it only seems right that Nolu’s will be serving their take on the Thanksgiving spread, with a brunch at the Downtown location from 12pm to 4pm on Friday.
THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
Results
1. New Zealand Daniel Meech – Fine (name of horse), Richard Gardner – Calisto, Bruce Goodin - Backatorps Danny V, Samantha McIntosh – Check In. Team total First round: 200.22; Second round: 201.75 – Penalties 12 (jump-off 40.16 seconds) Prize €64,000
2. Ireland Cameron Hanley – Aiyetoro, David Simpson – Keoki, Paul Kennedy – Cartown Danger Mouse, Shane Breen – Laith. Team total 200.25/202.84 – P 12 (jump-off 51.79 – P17) Prize €40,000
3. Italy Luca Maria Moneta – Connery, Luca Coata – Crandessa, Simone Coata – Dardonge, Natale Chiaudani – Almero. Team total 130.82/198.-4 – P20. Prize €32,000
Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
