Page 114 - Protec PR Book Volume 2

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TECH PROFILE
Building from the success of the 2016 Mother of the Nation Festival, Abu Dhabi’s Tourism and Cultural Authority (TCA) commissioned FLASH Entertainment to conceptualise, design, produce and deliver the second festival on a 123,000sqm area at the Abu Dhabi Corniche. The event, which honours Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, had more than 4,000 staff working long days and nights to develop this interactive festival and brought to life its diverse elements including the engaging zones with more than 100 workshops and activities. The festival, which aims to celebrate the progressive vision of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, showcased the nation’s inspirational values and efforts towards conservation and sustainability, while encouraging future generations to pursue a legacy of empowerment and responsibility.
“The Mother of the Nation Festival is one of Abu Dhabi’s most important annual celebrations,” commented Sultan Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director Tourism at the TCA while explaining the gravitas of the event. “It was incumbent on us to deliver an experience that residents and visitors to the UAE could engage with which reflects the progressive vision of the nation’s most influential female role model.”
Al Dhaheri went on to compliment the hard work of the FLASH team throughout the festivities: “The diligence and professionalism
displayed by FLASH Entertainment to create a compelling programme of performances and highly engaging activities has guaranteed visitors the opportunity to enjoy the festival’s wide-ranging attractions has been phenomenal. The diversity of the festival programme and lifestyle experiences clearly resonated with visitors, and are a fitting tribute the values of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima.”
FLASH updated its footprint from the previous year’s festivals with the new site stretched 1km along the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Bringing something for everyone, the themes of conservation and sustainability were demonstrated throughout the different zones, as visitors were encouraged to follow an interactive Walk of Progress.
The blend of community and culturally diverse activities throughout the festival was testament to FLASH’s dedication to create a celebration of modern accomplishments and forward-thinking innovation.
For many years, the company has been committed to support the Abu Dhabi Government in showcasing and preserving the nation’s strong heritage and history through events such as Mother of the Nation, Yasalam and UAE National Day Celebration.
With a multitude of different areas on the festival site, required FLASH to think individually about each zone. Haidar Shukry, Senior Operations Manager at FLASH Entertainment within each zone including the Happiness and Progress zones,
Souk and F&B areas and created a custom solution respectively. Some of the site lighting included Even2’s desk lamps and palm trees, eclipse’s X-profile truss towers, SLS truss totems and sky trackers from AO Lighting. Additionally, we had 2,000m of festoon lighting and over 300 LED Batten lights. This variation made for an interactive and engaging festival site which could be seen from many vantage points within Abu Dhabi.” Protec handled the entire production of the main stage which included many music acts throughout with MEI supplying a large assortment of backline. Meanwhile, PRG Gearhouse provided the production for the Happiness and Progress stages which held a continuous rotation of varying content and the speakers Majlis which was a forum for many great talks.
The sheer scale and high profile event provided a great challenge for FLASH as the technical scope alone was immense. Shukry, discussed some of the challenges that cropped up. “Shortly after the opening day launch, we experienced 30m per second winds and rain,” explained Shukry. However, he complemented the selection of supplied that FLASH had commissioned to work the show which were more than prepared. “All of our suppliers understood the nature of the site and had prepared for adverse weather conditions in addition to having equipment and crew on standby.
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