Paolo Petrocelli, Head of Dubai Opera.

The world of work is changing, and the cultural sector is no exception. What was once seen as a niche domain of artists, curators and administrators is becoming one of the most dynamic ecosystems for innovation, collaboration and human creativity.

According to the United Nations Creative Economy Outlook 2024, the global creative economy generated more than $1.4 trillion in exports in 2022. Creative goods represented around 3% of total merchandise exports, while creative services account for nearly 20% of global services exports, together reflecting a rapidly expanding share of the world economy. Yet as their economic footprint expands, the very nature of work within the arts is evolving, blurring boundaries between creativity, technology and leadership.

From Stable Roles To Portfolio Careers

For decades, the cultural sector operated on fixed hierarchies: the artist performed, the curator selected, the manager administered. Today, these definitions are dissolving. A growing majority of creative professionals now combine multiple roles across disciplines, from content creation and production to digital strategy and community engagement. The “portfolio career” has become the new normal in culture.

This is something I experience as the head of Dubai Opera. Many of our younger professionals today work across multiple domains: programming and digital engagement, content creation and production support, marketing and artist liaison. This multidimensionality has become a core strength of our team, enhancing agility and fostering more collaborative ways of working.

This fluidity offers flexibility and autonomy, but it also requires new professional ecosystems: hybrid institutions, digital platforms and policy frameworks that can support multidimensional work.

As work across industries becomes less linear and more project-based, I believe culture can offer a model for what the future of employment will look like everywhere else.

Technology Is Expanding (Not Replacing) The Arts

AI, immersive design and data analytics are redefining artistic creation and audience experience. The PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2025-2029 highlights strong and sustained growth across all digital segments—from streaming and gaming to virtual and augmented reality—driven by the rapid adoption of AI-assisted creativity, immersive technologies and new content formats. Yet this expansion reveals a paradox: the more digital the cultural landscape becomes, the more essential human skills are.

At Dubai Opera, we are actively exploring how these technologies can enhance both our artistic work and our relationship with audiences. We are evaluating AI-supported tools that could help us better understand audience behaviors and emerging preferences, particularly among younger demographics. We are also engaging with artists and creative teams who are developing immersive or technology-driven performances, as these collaborations offer new possibilities for staging, storytelling and audience engagement. While this evolution is still underway, it is already clear that digital innovation will play an increasingly important role in how we create, curate and present the arts.

While technology can assist in the creation of art, it cannot replicate empathy, intuition or the shared emotional experience that defines culture. The artists, producers and cultural professionals of the future will be those who integrate digital tools while preserving the human dimension of creativity.

A New Skill Economy: From Creation To Curation

In the new cultural economy, professionals are valued not only for what they create but for what they connect. The OECD Skills Outlook 2023 highlights the growing importance of “transversal” skills—the ability to navigate across creative, analytical and social domains.

For cultural careers, this could mean combining creative literacy with business acumen, sustainability awareness and digital intelligence. The cultural worker of tomorrow must be part strategist, part designer and part diplomat.

This is increasingly visible in the recruitment we do. The strongest candidates today are those who can bridge creative judgment with strategic reasoning or who can contribute equally to artistic development and operational execution. Hybrid profiles are not a “bonus”; they are becoming the norm.

Education systems, however, are lagging behind this shift. In most countries, fewer than 25% of arts and humanities programs include entrepreneurship or digital skills training, according to UNESCO’s 2022 Re|Shaping Policies for Creativity Report. To remain relevant, universities, conservatories and academies must embrace interdisciplinary learning as the foundation of cultural career development.

Culture As An Engine Of Sustainable Growth

Beyond creativity and identity, culture is a major economic driver.

In regions such as the Middle East, Asia and Africa, governments are investing heavily in cultural infrastructure—from museums and opera houses to film industries, as part of long-term economic diversification and soft-power strategies. In Dubai, where I’m based, the cultural and creative industries generated AED 21.96 billion (about $6 billion) in added value in 2022, equivalent to roughly 4.6% of the emirate’s GDP and supported more than 175,000 jobs.

From my perspective, this transformation is visible every day. New institutions, festivals and creative communities are emerging across the UAE, building momentum and creating new opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue. Our partnerships with embassies, global performing arts organizations and local talent further contribute to positioning Dubai as a global cultural destination.

Culture is evolving from a discretionary expenditure into a pillar of the knowledge economy, one in which creative work produces not only beauty but economic resilience and global influence.

The Human Side Of The Transformation

While data and technology dominate the conversation, the essence of cultural work remains profoundly human. In my work, I regularly meet emerging artists and young professionals whose careers reflect both the promise and precarity of the sector. Their creativity is extraordinary, but the structural support around them must evolve to match their ambitions and safeguard their livelihoods.

Cultural policy must therefore adapt not only to digital disruption but also to the realities of a more mobile, hybrid and global creative workforce. As the creative economy grows, so too must our understanding of its workers as innovators, educators and connectors who sustain the cultural fabric of society.

Redefining Success

The future of cultural careers will depend on the ability to integrate purpose with innovation. Success will be measured less by stability and status, and more by adaptability, collaboration and cultural impact.

Professionals who can bridge art and analytics, as well as culture and commerce, will shape the creative economies of the future. In this transformation, the arts are not merely adapting to change; they are defining it—because culture, at its essence, has always been humanity’s most enduring way of working together to understand the world.

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