There is a certain fantasy that continues to haunt creative industries: that talent and commitment might, just occasionally, be enough. No expensive degree, no relentless networking, no carefully performed “creative journey” over flat whites. Just actual interest, actual work, and the hope that someone might let you in before you have turned it into a personal brand.

In mildly surprising news, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is offering exactly that, or something close to it.

Applications are now open for Contemporary Makers, a new practice-based programme for 18 to 25-year-olds living in the UAE. Millennials, regrettably, this isn't your casting call.

Developed in collaboration with MAKE Abu Dhabi and SWALIF Collective, the programme is designed for young people who want to explore art, culture, and their social impact without needing to arrive pre-packaged as artists already. No formal background in art is required. No portfolio panic. No need to explain your “multidisciplinary practice” before you have even had one.

Instead, the programme offers mentorship, collaboration, and hands-on learning across a series of weekly sessions that ask larger questions about how museums, art, and society connect now. Which is useful, considering those things tend to be discussed either very earnestly or not nearly enough.

There is, of course, a condition.

You have to commit.

Only applicants able to attend all sessions will be considered, which makes this less of a vibe and more of an actual programme.

Contemporary Makers runs across three cohorts — Spring, Summer, and Fall — each shaped around a central question and a different thematic focus. The point isn't simply to observe contemporary culture from a safe distance, but to engage with it, question it, and possibly make something in response.

And while this is very much about emerging creatives, it is also about timing. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi isn't a minor addition to the local cultural landscape. As part of Saadiyat Cultural District, the museum is set to become a major platform for modern and contemporary art, with a particular focus on work from West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia, alongside international artistic practices more broadly.

In other words, this isn't a side project. It is an opening into a larger conversation.

So yes, if you are between 18 and 25, based in the UAE, and vaguely tired of opportunities that require experience before they offer any, this one is worth looking at.

Talent helps. Curiosity helps more.

Showing up, apparently, is everything.