Dubai’s first festival for eco-citizens: ‘together&now” – Alliance for the future’

• Residence can bring their electronic waste on Saturday 6th March, collect keyboards, screens, printers, telephones; to recycle to create other devices that work.

• Sponsor a plant: Bring your own plant or buy one on the spot and plant it yourself. Later, on each of your visits, you will see your plant growing or you may even harvest some fruit.

For enthusiastic gardeners, eco-conscious families, and all of you who think that it is possible to act now for the future of our children, Alliance Française Dubai holds its first festival for eco-citizens ‘together&now’. An effort to be tolerance with nature and eco-system.

Art exhibition, documentary films, talks, workshops, markets, meditation: ‘together&now’ is a programme full of activities and encounters at the Oud Metha cultural centre to support eco-citizenship and the ecological transition in the Emirates.

​Get inspired with discussions and meditations around inspiring films, conferences, an art exhibition, markets, workshops. Find out more about the actions implemented in the UAE by citizens, associations & companies. Connect with people willing to take action & implement the ecological transition in easy ways. It is going on from February 22 to March 7, 2021 at Alliance Française Dubai

Melanie Martini-Mareel, Alliance Française Dubai Director and brainchild of ‘together&now’ festival says: “This festival will seek inspiration from the 4 corners of the world, but will, above all, focus on exchanges around solutions related to food, energy, housing, collaborative economy, responsible consumption here in Dubai. With our special guests, we invite you to tackle the latest environmental issues and to exchange on new ways of living to help you take action at your level in favor of the transition.”

What – ‘together&now – Alliance for the future’

Where – Alliance Française Dubai Theatre, Oud Metha (in the vicinity of Healthcare City)

When – from Feb 22 to Mar 7 with pick of activities on March 4, 5, 6 and 7

Free entrance for all screenings, talks. Most workshops are free too. Although workshops and talks will be mostly held outdoors, booking mandatory as places are limited to ensure sanitary rules https://www.afdubai.org/festival  

Full programme is on the website https://www.afdubai.org/festival

This first eco-citizen festival in Dubai will culminate from 4 to 7 March but it has already started this week with the collective exhibition “The World is Too Much with Us”, in partnership with The Sustainable City. The title is also that of a poem written by the poet William Wordsworth, who at the end of the 19th century observed the distance between Man and Nature. This exhibition, curated by Anna Seaman, presents the work of 6 artists living in the UAE who, echoing with the poem, call for the protection of the ecosystem.

‘together&now – Alliance for the future’ offers a selection of 15 feature and medium-length films screened on March 4, 5, 6 and 7 at Alliance Française Dubai Theatre. Movies for all ages that will leave you moved and amazed, that will make you want to react, bounce back and get involved.

Take part! Bring in your waste, plant in the vegetable garden.

Residence can bring their electronic waste on Saturday 6th March, collect keyboards, screens, printers, telephones; to recycle to create other devices that work.

For everyone: Planting Challenge, Friday and Saturday. Sponsor a plant in the Alliance’s new vegetable garden. Bring your own plant or buy one on the spot from Big Farm Brothers and plant it yourself. Later, on each of your visits, you will see your plant growing or you may even harvest some fruit, who knows?

A flea market offering products that respect environment and sustainable development. We buy local, made in Dubai!

Animated movies for little ones, documentaries for families – and there is a plethora of activities for kids: land art, fresco, djembe.

For teenagers, young and old: a sewing workshop to create your own recyclable wipes; and for 16 lucky ones (and yes, places are limited), a collective intelligence workshop. Alex Misseri https://climatecollage.org/) will accompany the participants to better understand the stakes of climate change and create a climate fresco.

That’s not all: transforming plastics into fashion accessories, composting workshop, creating artworks from waste, creating your own perfume, discovering the magical world of beehives and actress Paola Balbi will tell stories of the 4 elements of the mythical tales of humanity: earth, wind, water, fire!

The festival will end on Sunday 7 March to open up to the future, with the meeting of the artists of the collective exhibition, the projection of the film “Apres-demain” and a talk on tomorrow’s energies in the Middle East.

About Alliance Française Dubai

Founded in 1983, Alliance Française Dubai’s mission is to promote French and Francophone culture and language in the United Arab Emirates and to bring French and Emirati cultural actors closer together, to create a tolerance and balance between both cultures. Alliance Française Dubai provides French courses for all levels and offers all international certifications.

Alliance Française Dubai headquarters are located in Oud Metha district with La Galerie, 12 classrooms, a 108-seat theatre and an entirely renovated multimedia library with more than 20,000 books, DVDs and video games. Alliance Française Dubai has two branches: at Knowledge Park and a new one at Ajman University in order to better meet the growing demand for French courses in the UAE.