Creators HQ wants to bring 10,000 content creators to live in Dubai

Last month, 15,000 content creators, 420 speakers, and 125 executives and creator industry experts gathered at Dubai‘s Emirates Towers, the Dubai International Financial Centre, and the Museum of the Future for the third annual 1 Billion Followers Summit.

As part of that event, the organizers behind it unveiled Creators HQ, which Forbes reports is “a full-service institution designed to address every aspect of a content creator’s professional journey.”

Creators HQ is backed by the $40.8 million fund Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, announced around this time last year. Dubai has been open about the fact that it wants more creators to move there and make content. Creators HQ is aimed at facilitating that, with a goal of bringing 10,000 new creators to the city.

The initiative will provide creators from outside Dubai with applications for UAE Golden Visas–a type of long-term residential visa that, unlike most, doesn’t require applicants to have a sponsor, and offers benefits like allowing family members and employees to travel and stay with the applicant for the duration of the visa.

Creators HQ also plans to provide relocation support and advice for how creators can set up and register their companies within the UAE, it told Forbes.

As for what programming creators can expect once they’re in Dubai, Creators HQ will host over 300 workshops and events per year on skills like branding, video production, storytelling, audience engagement, monetization strategies, and sponsorships. There will also be creator camps for local youth, plus funding support for up-and-coming creators.

That won’t be the first time Creators HQ has disbursed money to help creators grow; at the 1 Billion Followers Summit, it gave a first-of-its-kind $1 million award to U.K. creator Simon Squibb.

Creators HQ said it has already formed a strategic partnership with Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta, and together they’ll launch the “Creators for Purpose” program. The program will ask creators to produce upbeat content for distribution across Instagram and Facebook.

While Creators HQ’s main focus is, of course, bringing content creators to Dubai, organizers said they intend to tap more than video-makers. Creators HQ will also look to bring in podcasters, visual artists, marketing firms, media and music producers, animation studios, and fashion and lifestyle brands.

It hopes to expand its portfolio of partnerships beyond Meta, too. Organizers said they want to partner with more tech companies, including streaming platforms, gaming and esports companies, VR and AR developers, and AI startups.

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