A.R.M. Holding Children's Programme

The A.R.M. Holding Children’s Programme, now in its fifth year, is the largest cultural education programme in the UAE, having reached more than 30,000 children to date. Since 2021, the programme has brought together artists and designers to collaborate closely with local schools through bespoke workshops, providing UAE-based schoolchildren with opportunities to develop their interest in the arts and engage with a diverse range of artistic and design practices.

For 2025, the programme adopts the theme Future of Water, inviting children to explore the vital role water plays in their lives, and how our relationship with this essential resource continues to evolve. This year will also mark the first collaboration between two artists: internationally acclaimed artist Peju Alatise and Emirati artist and educator Alia Hussain Lootah. Together, they will guide participants through creative explorations of ecosystems, environmental change, and the cultural significance of water across the UAE’s unique landscapes.

Through creative workshops, children will be encouraged to reflect on sustainability, imagine future ecologies, and express their ideas through innovative artistic processes. The programme continues its commitment to nurturing creativity, curiosity, and environmental awareness among young learners.

The A.R.M. Holding Children’s programme began in UAE schools on Monday 21 April, coinciding with World Creativity and Innovation Day. The programme is set to expand to all seven Emirates to 80 schools, reaching over 6,400 students who will take part in more than 320 creative workshops until June.

The A.R.M. Holding Children’s Programme, now in its fifth year, is the largest cultural education programme in the UAE, having reached more than 30,000 children to date. Since 2021, the A.R.M. Holding Children’s Programme has been bringing together artists and designers to closely collaborate with local schools through bespoke workshops. The programme provides UAE-based school children with opportunities to grow and develop their interest and understanding of the arts by interacting with a roster of international artists and familiarising them with a wide range of art and design practices.

This year’s programme will, for the first time, feature a unique collaboration between two artists: Peju Alatise, an internationally renowned artist, and Alia Hussain Lootah, an Emirati artist and educator. Together, the artists will guide children on a journey through the world of water, celebrating local ecosystems and exploring ecologies. The programme will celebrate the cultural significance of water in the UAE’s landscapes, and will guide children to examine our essential connection with this crucial resource through different artistic lenses.

Following its launch at Art Dubai, the A.R.M. Holding Children’s Programme will expand to schools across all seven Emirates, empowering the next generation through its innovative cultural initiatives.

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Artists Biographies

Alia Hussain Lootah

Alia Hussain Lootah (b. Dubai, 1987) is an Emirati artist whose current work explores the interpersonal relationship between mother and child in today’s modern world, addressing themes of uncertainty rooted in both external and internal unrest.

Alia held a solo presentation at Art Dubai 2024 and Abu Dhabi Art 2022, Aisha Alabbar Gallery. She has also participated in numerous exhibitions, including Dubai Calligraphy Biennale (2023); The Quest at Aisha Alabbar Gallery (2022) and the Sikka Art Fair (2011, 2012, and 2013). Further exhibitions include Mawtini and Metamorphosis, Tashkeel (2013) and 40 Poems from the Desert, The Ara Gallery (2011). A graduate of the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellowship Program (SEAF) in 2014, her thesis explored motherhood through different forms of sculptures. In 2017, Alia co-founded the Medaf Studio in Dubai, an art centre dedicated to fostering self-expression and creativity in children and adults.

Peju Alatise

Peju Alatise (b. Lagos, 1975) lives and works between Lagos, Nigeria and Glasgow, UK. She is an interdisciplinary artist, architect and author of two novels. Alatise began her professional career as an architect, studying at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria, while managing a private art studio. She produces works across a variety of mediums, techniques and materials, including paintings, film, installations and sculptures.

Alatise’s work has been exhibited in New York, Florence, Morocco, and London. At the 2017 Venice Biennale, her striking life-sized installation Flying Girls was featured in the Nigeria Pavilion. Among her many accolades are a fellowship from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and the FNB Art Prize in Johannesburg. Alatise’s evolving subject matter explores broader themes of universal consciousness and change. She is also the founder of Alter Native Artists Initiative (ANAI), a nonprofit artist incubator and collective dedicated to the development of visual arts in Nigeria.

PAST PROGRAMMES

2024: Worlds in a Box by Sahil Naik

Indian artist Sahil Naik guided students in creating through dioramas, memory and the built environment. He prompted children to explore the question: “How do younger generations imagine future cities and what they will comprise?”

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2023: The Flag Project with Jacob Dahlgren

The third edition was developed by Swedish artist Jacob Dahlgren. Entitled The Flag Project, children were invited to think creatively about their environment, collaging together designs that will later be transformed into flags in an extension of the artist’s ongoing project Signs of Abstraction.

2022: Art of Recycle with Cyrus Kabiru

With a focus on sustainability, the programme was conceived by Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru, who worked with participants to retrieve and repurpose everyday materials from their homes, transforming them into works of art.

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2021: Noom Project by Studio Sain

The 2021 edition featured the design studio Studio Sain and gathered 1,800+ children from 70 schools in the UAE for a week-long Noom Project, which allowed children to create an alternative living habitat on a fictitious version of the moon.

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