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The grassroots movement uniting Abu Dhabi’s creative talent

Through hang-w/me, Osama Mutasem turned a personal search for community into a space for Abu Dhabi’s next generation of creatives to connect across the region.

NEED TO KNOW:

  • Abu Dhabi connects independent talent within a growing creative ecosystem

  • Osama Mutasem founded hang-w/me after seeking a closer-knit creative community

  • In-person events and experiences spotlight multi-disciplinary regional creatives

  • Creative hubs and national investment are positioning Abu Dhabi as a destination for culture and entrepreneurship

Finding your people

Osama Mutasem never planned to become a community builder, but after following a traditional career path into mechanical engineering, he soon realized he was yearning for something different. “Growing up in Abu Dhabi, I felt like I was missing my people,“ Mutasem reflects. “I was craving a big, close-knit creative community.“

Mutasem’s personal search coincided with a broader cultural transformation in Abu Dhabi, one where government leadership began prioritizing creative industries as vital engines for economic diversification, culminating in an AED 30 billion commitment to create a unified ecosystem. It was at this juncture, as the city rapidly expanded its cultural footprint, that Mutasem saw an opportunity to connect top-down investment with the kind of grassroots community he had long been searching for. 

“There was this one youth hub where a lot of people would work from,” he explains. “Then one day, I reached out to the venue, asked to book an outdoor space, and invited people to meet other creators. That’s how hang-w/me was born.”

From meet-up to media platform

Hang-w/me has evolved into a community and culture platform connecting a plethora of creatives across the region, using both digital and in-person events.

“We curate experiences, like friends & family, an 80’s style late-night talk show where I interview different high-profile members of the community,” Mutasem says. “Then we have other events too, like dining experiences.”

The result is rooms full of some of the most dynamic talent within Abu Dhabi’s increasingly diverse creative industries. Artists, filmmakers, and designers rub shoulders with chefs, founders, and content creators – or even people still figuring out where they belong. It’s a place where people can discover themselves, their next collaborator or even a mentor.

“It’s self-funded and makeshift,” Mutasem says. “But we support each other to bring it to life, a bit like a village.”

That village mentality reflects something he sees increasingly in Abu Dhabi itself. As new creative spaces spring up in neighborhoods across the city, Mutasem sees hang-w/me as part of a broader community movement. “There’s a hunger for collaboration,” he says. “Even from when I started hang-w/me back in 2021, Abu Dhabi’s creative scene has grown, and there are so many more spaces to connect.”

Creating space for connection

Hang-w/me is growing in lockstep with a creative infrastructure that’s rapidly expanding around it.

At a policy level, the UAE’s National Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries aims to increase the sector’s contribution to 5% of national GDP by 2031, while The Ministry of Culture’s National Grant Program for Culture and Creativity offers support across creation, production, promotion, skills development, and mobility.

Meanwhile Abu Dhabi’s Creative Media Authority also supports the sector through training and development initiatives such as Creative Lab, alongside financial support and a streamlined regulatory environment.

Government commitments have also resulted in brick-and-mortar development, providing vital physical space for creation. Yas Creative Hub, a 2.9 million sq ft campus on Yas Island, is designed as a home for media and gaming, with plans to house more than 16,000 professionals by 2031. Elsewhere, 421 Arts Campus supports emerging artists and creative practitioners through experimentation and capacity-building programs.

But for Mutasem, the strongest string of Abu Dhabi’s creative bow will always be the people. “It’s a big city but it’s small in the sense that everyone knows everyone, and everyone’s connected some way or another,” he says. “Where there’s this supportive nature and you just want to see each other grow, there’s no gatekeeping needed.”

As hang-w/me grows with the city around it, so too do Mutasem’s ambitions. “I want hang-w/me to become a media network that’s a first-of-its-kind in the region in terms of being community-led and producing its own shows and IP.” In Abu Dhabi, that’s an ambition that will be well supported, as part of the city’s promise to give people the space, tools, and networks they need to create.
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