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Between the artist and the audience: A look at NYUAD Arts Centre's spring programme

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The National

May 29, 2021

What is the audience’s role in live performances? When Bill Bragin, executive director of the NYUAD Arts Centre, arrived in Abu Dhabi in 2014, he was on a mission to bring performance art to the city. Not just any performance art, however – performance art that challenged its audience, excelled in its field and pushed the boundaries of the genre itself. This season’s performances at NYUAD Arts Centre are no different.

The programme consists of an eclectic mix of artists, all of whom have built their careers by making engaging art that encourages audience participation. Bragin says the local community is primed to embrace the unknown, something which he wanted to reflect in the centre’s programming.

"The Emirati community has embraced this incredibly dynamic pace of change," Bragin tells The National. "Everybody who's here who is an expat has come from somewhere else. And they've taken that chance to leave their home and come to the UAE for whatever the opportunity that's in front of them."

Host Razmig Bedirian, culture writer at The National, is joined by Bragin to talk about the upcoming events in the Arts Centre spring programme. The duo are joined by Kid Koala, one of the artists in the 2020 programme. Kid Koala first gained recognition as a scratch DJ in the early 2000s working with bands like The Gorillaz and making scores for Hollywood movies. In this episode, he talks about The Storyville Mosquito, a live puppet show he is bringing to Abu Dhabi.

Another musician to make the season's cut is Kaki King. Described by Rolling Stone magazine as a genre unto herself, she joins the podcast to talk about her ever-evolving creative process.

Later on in the episode, Kaneza Schaal and Christopher Myers join to talk about their show, Cartography. Inspired by stories of migrant youth in Munich, Germany, Cartography aims to bring the experience of migration to a wider audience.

Finally, we take a look at art that challenges preconceptions within society. Hailing from a small town in Ethiopia, Bichu runs the Circus Abyssinia company with his brother. He joins the show to talk about the journey into circus life.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Tomorrow 2021

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