Here’s what YouTubers like Supercar Blondie, Dhar Mann, and Yes Theory get from joining Dubai’s Creators HQ

The United Arab Emirates’ $40.8 million initiative to get 10,000 content creators (and other creative professionals) living and working in Dubai is kick-starting with Creators HQ, a makerspace in the Emirates Towers that offers community, technical, legal, and production support for creators willing to relocate to the city.

One hundred of those creative professionals have already been accepted to Creators HQ as Founding Members. While all Creators HQ members get perks like help securing a Golden Visa, relocation support, and access to 300+ biz dev events per year, Founding Members get additional exclusive pluses, like 24/7 concierge services, a guaranteed speaking slot at the annual 1 Billion Followers Summit, and priority access to participate in the Dubai government’s influencer marketing campaigns.

Some of the creators accepted as Founding Members are Dhar Mann (25 million subscribers on YouTube), Yes Theory (9.5M), The Anazala Family (10M), Supercar Blondie (21.5M), Germán Garmendia (1.7M), and Surthany Hejeij (14M, Instagram).

For these pros, Creators HQ offers things like community-building, help getting local government permission for filming, and a creativity-centered environment that inspires them to keep working on content, they said in interviews.

Australian supercar enthusiast Blondie, who’s been making content in Dubai for years (understandably, as it sees a lot of traffic from top supercar brands), said she used to feel “a little bit lonely” in the city before this initiative.

“There weren’t too many of us based out of here creating content every single day, so I’m really actually very excited that they’re putting an emphasis on supporting creators and coming up with this whole headquarters,” she said. “I think it’s going to be so amazing for people who don’t have that support network or even somewhere to go every single day. They can now come to the headquarters, have somewhere to sit, have access to other creators, so they can all help each other now.”

As for her personally, Creators HQ’s concierge has helped her speed up the time it takes to get filming permission from Dubai officials. Before the headquarters, “it was tough to get filming permissions,” she says. “With content creation, we can come up with an idea now and we want to film it tomorrow, but that’s not how quickly government processes work. You need to apply for something, you might get permission within a week or two. Content creation moves very quickly, but permissions usually go quite slowly.”

So, when she started working with Creators HQ, she was relieved that its staff told her, “‘When you want to film something, we’re going to expedite that process, so you can literally be out there tomorrow,'” she says.

Chilean YouTuber Garmendia says being a member with Creators HQ means having a permanent place where he feels motivated.

“As a content creator, you’re always looking for places to be surrounded with the same mindset you have,” he says. “People will always have their ideas, and you get inspired just being here in this area. You get introduced, they show you their channel, and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I didn’t know that could be done.’ It’s a good way to connect, to get inspired.”

Like Supercar Blondie, he also gives a nod to Creators HQ for its logistical support. “To have a home in Dubai, it’s great,” he said. “It’s a good way to not feel like you have an idea but can’t do it. It stops that technical part. It’s like, ‘I’m creative. I don’t have to stop creativity.’ It’s a tool to never stop creating.”

Lebanese foodfluencer Hejeij (aka Surthy Cooks) is most excited about Creators HQ’s social support and how finding community there will help her level up her content.

“I feel like no one from my family understands what I do, so it’s good now to have the support and the tools to do all these things, to feel we are not alone,” she says. “We have a community that will help us and share with us what they do, what they don’t do, what goes good. It’s nice that now we’re going to have help to improve.”

While all of Creators HQ’s Founding Members have been selected, membership to the makerspace is still open for creators around the world who want to make content in Dubai. You can see more information here.

Creators HQ is a Tubefilter partner.