Playing little brother to international city of the moment Dubai would definitely suck, but tourism officials are keen to make the UAE’s second city Abu Dhabi famous for something other than bizarre morphing skyscrapers. Abu Dhabi is proudly striving to become the cultural capital of the Middle East instead.

And while we scoffed a bit at first, on closer investigation it seems like Abu Dhabi does know something about culture. There’s going to be a Guggenheim Abu Dhabi by 2012, and in keeping with the UAE's penchant for world records, it'll be the world's biggest Guggenheim museum.

They've also got a bunch of national cultural buildings in Abu Dhabi like the National Theater and the main national library. Perhaps we’ll soon be able to skip the skyscrapers of Dubai and spend our layover soaking up the museum culture of Abu Dhabi. Pity the shopping will probably never be as good.

Related Stories:
· Oil’s Well in Abu Dhabi [The Age]
· The Incredible Morphing Skyscraper [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ioan Barbulescu]]]> amandak 2008-11-10T09:00:10-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/28/9853/4092

We love the German capital Berlin so much that we don’t really need a reason to go there. But here are two anyway.

First up, from October 31 through November 3, Art Forum Berlin 2008 will be the place to see what’s new in the contemporary art scene. It’s the lucky thirteenth time the Art Forum will be held, and if you’re wondering just what kind of work you’ll see, know that organizers say it’ll be art "with freshness, actuality and a certain cool roughness." Sounds like they're describing the crowd.

In the following week, the JazzFest Berlin starts on November 5 and will finish up late in the evening of November 9. Jazz musicians from the world over will set up in a bunch of Berlin venues, including the jazz clubs A-Trane and Quasimodo.

--AmandaK

Related Stories:
· Art Forum Berlin 2008 [Official Site]
· JazzFest Berlin 08 [Official Site]
· Berlin Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-10-28T09:20:15-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/25/14308/718

Everybody likes to make fun of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with its insufferably ironic scenesters and their asymmetrical haircuts, but it's still one of the best neighborhoods in New York to find bold new ideas in music and art. Case in point: the 'burg will host the borough's first opera in years this November when OperaOggiNY stages a performance of Franco Leoni's one-act verisimo opera L'Oracolo. The company is renovating the 600-seat McCaddin Memorial Hall Theater on Berry Street between South 2nd and South 3rd Streets, and will welcome city opera buffs to its grand opening performances on November 6, 7, and 8. Admission is only $20, which seems like a bargain for a "real" opera, and there are dozens of great bars and restaurants nearby - Dressler comes to mind - where patrons can discuss the tenor's register over drinks and snacks. It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd is drawn to these classical performances in the midst of hipsterville.

[Photo: nag-brooklyn.org]

Related Stories:
· OperaOggiNY [Official Site]
· OperaOggiNy to re-open McCaddin Memorial Hall Theater on Berry Street [nag-brooklyn.org]
· Opera Comes to the Burg [Gothamist]
· Opera Travel Coverage [Jaunted]]]> Victor Ozols 2008-10-25T14:30:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/15/175622/20

If you're considering taking advantage of Iceland's cash-starved economy with a jaunt there this fall, you can get a head start on the country's beyond-Bjork culture scene at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Through Saturday, BAM is staging Woyzeck, an otherworldly interpretation of the classic German drama, as conceived by hotshot Icelandic director Gísli Örn Gardarsson and his team of acrobatic actors and aerial ballerinas. The show comes complete with underwater scenes staged in a giant Plexiglass tank and an original score from cult rocker Nick Cave.

Tickets start at $20, which, as New York theater goes, is definitely recession-era pricing.

Related Stories:
· Woyzeck [Official Site]
· Iceland Invites You to Take Advantage of Its Economic Misfortune [Jaunted]
· Kaboom! Manhattan Project Opera Hits New York [Jaunted]

[Photo: BAM]]]> BS 2008-10-16T10:30:45-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/3/123748/490

Our Southern Africa embed Jill Nawrocki recently ducked out of Namibia for a field trip to South Africa.

Our final destination before crossing the border into rural Swaziland was the resort town of St. Lucia. Another volunteer had called it one of the most beautiful places on earth, and Coast to Coast said the village was seated at the heart of a World Heritage Site, amidst five different ecosystems. It sounded promising, and when we read that crocodiles, monkeys and even hippos roamed the streets, we knew it was a place that deserved a closer look.

While the "resort" part of the town was pretty desolate (again, we reasoned, because it was off season) Bib's International Backpackers (our hostel of choice) was busy with travelers from all over the world. In addition to your average dorm-style rooms and self-catering accommodations (all for about R100, or $12, a night), Bib's offers travelers a laundry list of tours, safaris and outdoor escapes to insure visitors experience all that St. Lucia has to offer.]]> Jaunted 2008-10-03T15:00:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/10/84640/5747

The White Nights of culture are sweeping across Europe and while the Madrid version might see museums open all the way through to 6 am, over in Dublin they're a bit tamer.

At the upcoming Dublin Culture Night on September 19, the museums and galleries involved will extend their opening hours, but only until 11 pm--which makes it more a culture evening than a culture night, we think.

But it's still worth checking out. They're putting on free buses and there'll be live performances on Temple Bar. And we're guessing plenty of Guinness to quench the thirst that comes from engaging with all that culture.

Related Stories:
· Dublin Culture Night [Official Site]
· White Night Travel: Madrid's La Noche en Blanco on Saturday [Jaunted]

[Photo: hippydream]]]> amandak 2008-09-10T09:45:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/21/17123/7116

When you think about hotbeds of Japanese-American culture, St. Louis probably doesn't spring to mind. But it should, because the Gateway City is home to one of the largest Japanese gardens in America, the 14-acre expanse at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

And every Labor Day weekend for the last 32 years, the garden has hosted one of the premier Japanese festivals in the US.

The three-day Missouri Botanical Garden Japanese Festival, August 30-September 1, features a wide array of Japanese cultural activities, including martial arts demos, Zen enlightenment workshops and everybody's favorite, sumo wrestling. Ten bucks gets you admission to everything.

Related Stories:
· Missouri Botanical Garden Japanese Festival [Official Site]
· Labor Day Travel Coverage [Jaunted]
· Culture Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ryan Rumberger, Missouri Botanical Garden] ]]> BS 2008-08-22T12:00:14-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/