As gulf news celebrates its 30th anniversary, we find out what the prominent people in the UAE think about the progress the nation and the newspaper has made
It was an ‘incredibly grey' time of deep recession and miners' strikes in England when Majlis Gallery founder, Alison Collins headed for the Dubai landscape of opportunity.
"I stepped off the plane and was met with sunshine, smiles and people doing wonderful things. It was hard work but it was the land of opportunity," said Collins of her arrival in Dubai in 1976.
In the more than 30 years she has been in the country, she has committed herself to promoting the arts and assisting artists to pursue and exhibit their works. Collins came to Dubai as a design consultant to be close to her husband who got a job as a veterinarian in Saudi Arabia.
She and her family came to live in what is now the Majlis Gallery after spotting it in 1976.
"I often took the delightful abra, walking through the Bastakiya and old souq areas, which had stunning houses. I then decided this was where I'd like to live.
"Little did I realise as I entered through the carved wooden door, how significant the house would become for me and my family and countless artists and art lovers who would cross its threshold."
Collins' family, including three small children, moved into the house in 1978 and lived there for ten years. During those ten years she used to hold informal exhibitions of painters and visiting professional artists, who happened to be friends, at her home.
"The name ‘Majlis' came out of the fact that we threw the furniture out of the room (the Majlis) and hung the paintings."
The birth of an idea
In 1988 the municipality served an eviction order due to the building's rundown condition, and the family moved out.
"My six-year-old son was responsible for what followed after. A week after we moved he got onto my lap and said ‘don't let our house die, Mummy' - a rather strange thing for a little boy to say.
"In a way I knew what he meant and what I had to do. The house had a life of its own, a spirit it shared with us, giving us much happiness. It now seemed to say that it was time to be shared and enjoyed with many more people."
Collins approached the authorities with a business proposal for converting the house into an art gallery and preserving a part of history, which led to its restoration and the official opening of the Majlis Gallery.
Centre of art and culture
Today the gallery hosts exhibitions emphasising the art, culture, heritage and landscape of the Arab world. An artists-in-residence programme allows artists to immmerse themselves in the gallery's creative environment, Collins said.
She describes Dubai's current art scene as "absolutely fantastic. It was a little parochial in earlier years, but now we feel we're an international standard gallery, which still has its roots in the landscape of the Middle East."
Like Gulf News the Majlis Gallery celebrates its unofficial 30th anniversary - although the gallery is officially 20-years-old - this year. "There'll be a very big celebration and we are coming out with a hard-backed book as a memento."
Collins said the anniversary is a reflective moment and reconnects them with people who have been part of the gallery.
The patron of the arts said Gulf News has always been supportive of the gallery.
"There was a wonderful article in Gulf News written by Penny Berry when we first opened in 1988. I was there when the first edition came out and there weren't any news stations on radio or TV. To be in contact with the rest of world was amazing."
Collins hopes to take a second house in the Bastakiya to host more artists-in-residence.
"I have a commitment to the country in many ways. Dubai has made my family and me very welcome. We have formed friendships with so many people and there is never a question that we would leave. We've grown with Dubai and we've changed with it."
