Pay it forward: Alserkal Avenue waives rent for three months

The move comes as part of the ‘Pay It Forward’ programme…

A haven of art galleries, museums, and much more, Alserkal Avenue was the place you to be in Dubai if you needed a culture fix. Even now, as the city of Dubai retreats indoors, the creatives at Alserkal Avenue are pulling out all the stops and have gone online to help keep the arts and culture scene alive.

And their passion and determination has not gone unnoticed by Alserkal Avenue founder, Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal who, in a bid to help the creative community during this difficult time, has waived rent for the next three months for the art galleries and businesses.

Abdelmonem Bin Eisa stated in an Instagram post that he was “touched by the strength and resilience of our creative community, and the formidable force, individually and collectively, that they have demonstrated in the face of this unprecedented challenge”

The decision is a part of the ‘Pay It Forward’ programme, which Abdelmonem Bin Eisa hopes that in keeping with other public initiatives will “enable us to rise together, to thrive, and most importantly, to be stronger together through this time”

If you are unfamiliar with the pay it forward expression, its passing on the kindness and good deed someone has done for you, on to someone else. In the same way, this person will go on to do something good for another person and so on – thus creating a ripple effect.

This means that those owning art galleries and businesses in Alserkal Avenue will have to pay forward the art of kindness from the rent waiver, to someone else in the art community be it a charitable donation, or barter service.

In an interview with The National, Alserkal Avenue Director, Vilma Jurkute stated the move was… “a collective agreement. We understand the importance of sharing success and sharing the loss, too. We are looking at this from a community aspect,”

She went on to say that the Pay It Forward programme will continue in the coming months and stated “If we are going to survive this, we’re going to do it as a community. Dubai will remain our home for the artistic ecosystem that we have collectively built for years.”

Images: Getty/social