District1795 Launches MENA’s First Digital Arts & Culture Learning Hub

Editorial Team

Last updated 21-01-2026

3 min

District1795 launches from Abu Dhabi as the MENA region’s first arts-focused digital learning platform.

It connects artists and cultural professionals with learners, aiming to make creativity economically viable.

The woman-founded platform aligns with the UAE’s push to grow cultural and creative industries.

Classes span 16 disciplines in Arabic and English, blending on-demand learning with community experiences.

District1795 also hosts exhibitions, a marketplace and podcasts within a subscription-based creative ecosystem.

District1795 has quietly gone live from Abu Dhabi, positioning itself as the MENA region’s first digital learning platform built entirely around arts, culture and the creative economy. At its core, the idea is simple but bold: connect artists, curators and cultural professionals directly with learners, wherever they are, and do it in a way that actually makes economic sense for creatives. No small feat, and certainly not a walk in the park.

The platform is woman-founded and independently set up, arriving at a time when the UAE is doubling down on culture and creative industries as part of its long-term economic plans. Anchored in Abu Dhabi’s fast-growing cultural scene, District1795 lines up neatly with the country’s National Strategy for Cultural and Creative Industries, which aims to grow the sector, attract global talent and open the door to more sustainable creative careers. That wider context matters, because timing, as founders know all too well, is everything.

District1795 offers expert-led classes across more than 16 disciplines, from visual and performing arts to architecture, heritage practice and even emerging fields like artificial intelligence. Content is delivered in both Arabic and English, combining on-demand learning with podcasts, original cultural programming and community-based experiences. It’s a broad mix, and believe it or not, that breadth could be its secret sauce at a moment when creatives are tired of being boxed into neat categories.

Founder and patron Kawthar Bin Sulayem has said the platform was created to make cultural knowledge in the region more visible and accessible, arguing that too much of it remains fragmented or locked inside institutions. She also points to Abu Dhabi’s growing role as a global cultural hub, suggesting District1795 extends that momentum into the digital space, where education, technology and community collide. I reckon that framing will resonate with creatives who’ve felt stuck between passion and payslips, well… you know?

Beyond classes, the platform is structured as a wider ecosystem. Gather1795 is a digital community for collaboration, DistrictShowcase allows for immersive virtual exhibitions, and DistrictBoutique serves as a curated marketplace for limited-edition cultural products. There’s also a podcast, Inside Arts and Culture, which aims to preserve the voices of creatives across the region. It’s all tied together through a subscription model that promises fair revenue sharing for contributors and flexible access for members, which sounds spot on on paper, though execution will be key.

Covering startups for Arageek over the years, I’ve seen plenty of platforms promise the world, only to fade when things get tough. That said, there’s something refreshing here: a clear focus on the full creative lifecycle, not just learning for learning’s sake. I’m not a fan of buzzwords, and this space has plenty of them, but District1795 feels like it could definately become a bridge between local cultural knowledge and global creative exchange, if it keeps its footing and listens closely to its community.

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