It is all systems go for this year’s edition of Art Connects Women, which will gather 115 women artists from 115 countries in Dubai from November 12 to 15, as ZeeArts Gallery stages the ninth edition of its exhibition under the patronage of UNESCO and in collaboration with Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.
The theme, “Educate to Empower”, pushes for arts and culture to take a central place in education, social inclusion and economic development. The initiative started in 2017 with 20 artists from 20 countries and now counts more than 700 female artists from 120 countries among its network.
Last year’s eighth edition, held at the Dubai International Financial Centre in April, brought together 112 artists from 112 countries, which organisers described as the largest edition at that point.
Founder Zaahirah Muthy, a Mauritian artist who arrived in Dubai in 2011 and built ZeeArts into an art incubator headquartered in the emirate with a presence in Mauritius, said the programme aims to turn exhibitions into opportunity.
“When women are given access to education, opportunities and platforms for expression, they become powerful catalysts for change,” she said.
This year’s theme draws on the UNESCO World Conference on Culture and Arts Education in Abu Dhabi, where member states adopted a global framework for culture and arts education in 2024, and on MONDIACULT 2025. The participating artists will explore identity, heritage, equality and resilience, and organisers say they want women recognised as cultural leaders, entrepreneurs and decision-makers rather than only as exhibitors.
The programme opens on the evening of November 12 at DIFC with the exhibition inauguration, and a conference follows on November 13 at DIFC on cultural investment, sustainable finance and artificial intelligence. Leaders from finance, entrepreneurship and the creative industries will discuss how culture can attract financing beyond traditional patronage, how the private sector can build a sustainable creative economy, and how artists can protect intellectual property and authorship as AI reshapes creative work.
On November 14, participants travel to Al Ain for a cultural tour supported by Abu Dhabi Culture & Tourism, and the programme lists a meeting with Sheikha Shamma bint Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan.
The edition closes on November 15 at Atlantis The Palm with an international award gala honouring achievement in art, culture, women’s empowerment and social impact, alongside a sustainable fashion show. Partners listed on the programme include DIFC, the European Union Delegation to the UAE and Alliance Française Dubai.
For African creatives, the gathering offers a link to Gulf institutions and investors at a time when the UAE and Africa are deepening cultural and commercial ties.
ZeeArts has worked with African artists before, among them Nigeria’s Akporode Collins Abinoro, who built an Ajman public artwork from more than 3,000 used spoons for the group’s United for Climate project at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.
Africa Global News publication.