“When we began to imagine New York University in Abu Dhabi, the city was on the cusp of a new era of cultural flowering, with plans to build the Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,” revealed Vice Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi, marietwestermann, in her essay The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery as Idea and Place in the 2021 publication The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery 2014-2020. “We realised that the arts at NYU, as a global university, would be greatly enriched by artists, curators and art organisations we would get to know in this dynamic crossroads of the world.” Ten years on , thanks to the determination of all those involved in the planning that the arts would be central to their mission, The @nyuadartgallery and The @nyuadartscenter at NYU Abu Dhabi have succeeded in bringing this dream to life. Having celebrated ten years of NYU Abu Dhabi in September 2021, and with the 50th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates in December, according to her opening remarks introducing Now and Into the Future, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi’s seventh season, Mariët declared, “It is a time to look both at where we stand now, thanks to the pioneering vision of great leaders, and to think about our future trajectory. For my part, I am excited to see what the future will hold for NYU Abu Dhabi and for the UAE as a whole.” Street artist, musician and b-boy Adbulla Al Hayaki AKA DUST. in It Ain’t Where You From, directed by @soultrotter, edited and subtitled by Maitha Alawadi. 2021 forms part of The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi rich cultural programming and patronage as featured in ART BOOK Abu Dhabi Exhibition 002