twofour54’s Creative Youth Community Ensuring The Inspirational Stories Of Special Olympics World Games Continue To Be Heard

Young content creators from across Abu Dhabi are helping to ensure the compelling stories that have come out of the Special Olympics World Games continue to inspire people around the globe long after it ends, thanks to a programme being run by twofour54.

The media zone was an official supporter of the Games, which took place last week in Abu Dhabi – the first time the event has been held in the Middle East and North Africa region in its 50-year history.

Guided by its mission to develop a thriving creative ecosystem that inspires world-class content, twofour54 handpicked 20 young content creators from its creative lab members to produce and publish stories from behind the scenes at the World Games.

Equipped with their creativity and passion to innovate, collaborate and create, the talented young team captured inspiring stories of Special Olympics athletes from the 200 nations participating. The team interviewed more than 20 athletes, highlighting the challenges they overcame and celebrating their achievements. Through their work, the team aims to promote a greater understanding of the event, as well as raise awareness around intellectual disability. In total, the team spent 660 hours covering the event.

Additionally, to increase awareness among the future leaders of the UAE, creative lab, which is in charge of youth initiatives at twofour54, also hosted a two-day programme for students aged 9-14 from its annual twofour54 Summer Camp. The students attended the World Games with the twofour54 team and interacted with the athletes, spending almost 130 hours capturing their own content for twofour54’s social media channels.

H.E. Maryam Eid AlMheiri, CEO of Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi and twofour54, Vice Chairwoman of UAE Board of Special Olympics and member of the Higher Committee for the 2019 Special Olympics World Games, said: “The Special Olympics World Games 2019 is an incredible moment for Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole, reinforcing our position as a global capital for tolerance. I am proud that so many members of our creative industries in Abu Dhabi have supported the event and are helping to tell the incredible stories coming out of it to the world.

“One of the top priorities of our media sector is developing the pool of young creative talent we have in Abu Dhabi. They are the future of our industry and will have the responsibility of sharing our values and achievements with the world for generations to come. This is why it is so important for them to gain invaluable experience of an international event on the scale of the World Games and to see first-hand the importance of inclusion and integration and its impact on society.

“The resounding success of the Games is testament to Abu Dhabi’s ability to host world-class events that put a spotlight on our beautiful Emirate, its values and its people.”

These initiatives complement the support for the Games by various partners at twofour54, which is home to a mix of more than 470 leading international brands plus more than 450 freelancers.

The Special Olympics World Games 2019 finished last week with the closing ceremony at Zayed Sports City on March 21. The Games have been held under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, whose leadership and vision have been instrumental in bringing together public and private sector partners to be a part of the event. More than 7,500 athletes from some 200 nations competed in a series of sports, and a variety of initiatives and activities were held across the seven Emirates.

About twofour54
twofour54, home to Abu Dhabi’s media and entertainment industry, aims to cultivate Abu Dhabi’s media free zone and provide products and services to attract local, regional and international media businesses to the Emirate. Tasked with enabling a new generation of creative leaders and building Abu Dhabi as the Middle East’s leading hub for content creation, twofour54 provides world-class production facilities, talent development initiatives and training, and business support services for media companies.

Named after the geographical coordinates of Abu Dhabi, twofour54 is now home to more than 450 media companies – including Sky News Arabia, Image Nation, Ubisoft, CNN, Fox, Flash Entertainment and M&C Saatchi – as well as a bi-lingual freelancer pool and a community of aspiring media talents.