Abu Dhabi, Feb 1st, 2011 (WAM) — Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Public Works and Chairman of the National Media Council (NMC), on Monday visited twofour54 and was briefed on progress being made on establishing Abu Dhabi as a regional centre of excellence for the Arabic media and entertainment content creation industry.
Sheikh Hamdan also met the Chief Executive Officer of twofour54, Tony Orsten, and his senior management team. He was accompanied by Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of twofour54.
The minister was particularly interested in the employment and training initiatives run by twofour54 to encourage and facilitate young UAE Nationals to enter the media industry and take advantage of the diverse and sophisticated career opportunities the industry offers.
“Media industry forms an important part of our economic diversification plans for the UAE,” Sheikh Hamdan commented and added: “For this to be successful in the long term it is essential that we not only provide jobs for our talented young UAE Nationals, but that we highlight to the whole country the opportunity the industry presents.
The employment and training initiatives were highlighted during a tour of the twofour54 facilities. These included the internships programme, which links UAE colleges and universities with the partner community at twofour54 giving UAE Nationals the chance to gain work experience across any number of industry disciplines.
Sheikh Hamdan was also briefed on the intaji programme, a 12 month, paid employment and traineeship programme developed especially for UAE Nationals that are interested in building a career in the television production and broadcasting industry.
While at the twofour54 tadreeb media training academy, NMC Chairman was introduced to the students at the Cartoon Network Animation Academy. The first of its kind in the world, the course has been designed in conjunction with the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) at Bournemouth University in the UK to deliver proven techniques and practices to train high-quality animators from the MENA region and prepare them for a career producing a range of animation from TV shows and commercials to corporate videos and computer gaming.
“twofour54 is a long term initiative whose success will be measured in years to come by the size of the industry here in Abu Dhabi and by the number of UAE Nationals it employs,” added Sheikh Hamdan. “A lot of progress has been made in a relatively short amount of time but the industry is going to need 10,000-12,000 people in the next four to five years if Abu Dhabi is to achieve its vision for the future so I call upon the local community to consider the media industry when planning their careers”.