Abu Dhabi Councils is participating in the Sheikh Zayed Festival 2025-2026, held in the Al-Wathba area, with a rich program of daily and weekly events, as well as traditional competitions and artistic performances. This participation enhances the role of the Emirati council as a platform for dialogue, communication, and reinforcing national identity.
Abu Dhabi Councils presents at the festival a live experience of the Emirati council, as a symbol of national identity and a mirror of society's values, customs, and traditions. The councils open their doors to visitors to ask pivotal questions, encourage discussion, and exchange views on social, cultural, and national issues, contributing to raising awareness of Emirati heritage and fostering a sense of belonging and pride in identity among community members.
Abu Dhabi hosts a wide network of councils that contribute to supporting economic activity, enhancing communication between the public and private sectors, reinforcing social values, and providing spaces for dialogue and interaction between citizens, residents, visitors, as well as community leaders, businessmen, women, and artists. Business councils serve as a platform to strengthen relationships between companies and exchange experience between local and international institutions. Meanwhile, social and cultural councils are an integral part of Emirati life, working to document bonds within society and solidify common customs, traditions, and values.
Historical councils, such as the Hisn Fort Council and the Sheikh Zayed Council, preserve the nation's memory and narrate the story of the emirate's development, while sports-themed councils provide a space for exchanging experiences between teams and clubs and supporting sports activities.
As part of the festival, Abu Dhabi Councils offers a diverse schedule of dialogue sessions and interactive activities, including posing questions to visitors about concepts of identity, heritage, and community cohesion values, and encouraging them to share their personal experiences and stories related to the council and Emirati customs.
These programs target various age groups, with a special focus on the youth to introduce them to the council's role in social life, both past and present.
During the festival days, the councils organize traditional competitions in national history, folk vocabulary, and customs, with incentive prizes for winners, making the council both an educational and entertainment platform at once.
The councils also feature performances of songs and authentic Emirati arts that express the cultural and civilizational identity of the country's people and introduce visitors to an important aspect of folk art related to the council and daily life in Emirati society.
Abu Dhabi Councils at the Sheikh Zayed Festival form a comprehensive family destination, where visitors find an atmosphere steeped in Emirati hospitality and spaces for getting acquainted and exchanging dialogue among community members.
Through the integration of dialogue, heritage, and artistic events, the councils reinforce the values of compassion and social cohesion, supporting the festival's mission of preserving Emirati heritage and passing it down from generation to generation within a contemporary framework that combines authenticity and modernity.
«Councils» strengthen the values of social cohesion and support the «festival's» mission of preserving heritage.
They organize traditional competitions in national history, folk vocabulary, and customs.
