Eid Al Etihad is always an important date on the UAE calendar. However, for the 54th annual celebration, which took place on 2 December 2025, there was even more reason to mark the occasion, as it coincided with the unveiling of the new Zayed National Museum as well as the debut of the UAE National Orchestra.
The National Projects Office (NPO) once again tasked People&Co with producing a spectacular show worthy of the triple-celebration, with Tim Elliott reprising his role as Artistic Director. Catching up with TPiMEA after the dust had settled, Elliott wound back the clocks on how the creative vision came together. “The unusual thing for us this year was that we knew what the venue would be from the outset,” he recalled, referencing the launch of the Zayed National Museum. “That gave us a hook of a story, which was to celebrate Zayed and his journey of discovery. The team at the museum was very collaborative and great in helping us to unearth and understand new stories, which we were able to tell creatively in the show.”
The ceremony unfolded within a purpose-built sunken stage directly in front of the Zayed National Museum, designed to feel uncovered rather than constructed, placing the audience within the narrative as it emerged around them. “Unlike last year, where we were in a UNESCO World Heritage Site and only allowed to scrape 30cm deep into the ground, here we had a 7m void before we even started,” Elliott explained. “It gave amazing opportunities for underground cast entry and for elements to be revealed.”
As the creative team started to discover the space and establish the stories that would be told in the ceremony, the importance of the pit became clear. “We realised that many of the stories of the museum are about artefacts that have been unearthed from the ground across the UAE,” Elliott commented. “So, not only did the pit become a storytelling device representing the unearthing of artefacts, but it also provided the perfect staging solution for the new UAE National Orchestra to be showcased in its traditional form.”
With the pit accounting for foreground action, the production was given a sense of scale thanks to the giant wings of the Sheikh Zayed Museum, which was highlighted through lighting and augmented through an accompanying drone show. “It really accentuated the story,” Elliot recalled, describing the multilayered nature of the show site. “This was the greatest example of up-and-down production we’ve ever experienced in a show.”
The production team featured some familiar faces from previous years of Eid Al Etihad celebrations, including: Creative Director, Gavin Robins; Production Designer, Josh Zangen; Managing Director, Spectaculars, William Jensen; Project Director, Robyn-Marie Camilleri; Choreographer, Soha Frem; Head of Costume, Oxana Rausch; and Head of Props, Pam Nichol.
People’s Head of Technical (and TPiMEA Awards 2025 Production Manager of the Year) Mark Fogwill also lent his expertise, working alongside: Production Director, Simon Jones; Majlis & Guest Experiences Director, Dara O’Hanlon; Head of Operations, People, Carl Shaw; Operations Lead, Alison Gusbeth; Associate Director, Alfred Kouris; Director Associate, Staging, Hamza El Balaj; Senior Producer, Anne Tanaka; and Producers, Hazem Altattan and Andrew Jeffrey.
As if taking on Eid Al Etihad wasn’t complicated enough, People was also delivering the launch of the UAE National History Museum, with both projects running concurrently. While Elliot served as Artistic Director on both shows and split his time between the two, he explained that the size of each projects meant that largely separate teams were required. “Some collaborators and suppliers overlapped and some were deliberately different,” he commented. “We judged it on a case-by-case basis, looking at who had the capacity and would be best suited for each project.”
Bruno Poet returned as Lighting Designer, Moment Factory handled content design, while Composers Studio Al Watan and Musicom worked with Eden Mulholland on the soundtrack. Also onboard were: Al Laith (staging), Analog (drones), Auditoria (audio design), Bani & Al Culture and Barker Langham (cultural consultancy), Clair Global (audio and comms), Creative Technology (lighting and video), DONE+DUSTED (broadcast), Gulf Crewing Company (crew), FLOW (power), Magical Production (water fountains), Pitchblack Events Services (production rigging and automation), VK Exhibitions & Décor Industry (scenic), and Wonder Works (technical consultancy).
Photos: People
