Proceeds from Sales Will Be Used to Develop Performing Arts Programme and Regional Youth Art Initiatives
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 24th March 2021 – A continuation of her dedication as an artist to cross-cultural collaboration and elevating different nations on the global map, painter and Grammy-nominated composer Ella Spira MBE is for the first time auctioning a collection of 50 UAE landscape paintings for the UAE’s 50th Anniversary. The paintings are a culmination of Ella’s travels across the UAE sharing personal discoveries, unearthing places which she feels truly represent the region and show people the rich, captivating and nuanced history of the Emirates.
Simultaneously, Sisters Grimm will drop their first NFT artwork, celebrating the unique diversity and beauty of the seven Emirates. NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – represent a unique digital item and are the latest cryptocurrency phenomenon to go mainstream. After Christie’s auction house sold the first-ever NFT artwork recently — a collage of images by digital artist Beeple for USD$69.3 million— NFTs have captured the world’s attention.
The majority of the proceeds from the NFT drop and art auction will go into the Pietra and Ella Theatre Production Shows UAE company developing the Sisters Grimm Performing Arts Programme in line with their resident and world touring Arab World show and other arts initiatives for young people in the region.
Sisters Grimm was founded by Ella and former Royal Ballet Ballerina of 13 years Pietra De Mello-Pittman MBE in 2009 with the mission to use dance musicals to tell stories which impact individuals into cultural and social change through transforming the way people treat each other and their environment with a focus on mental and physical wellbeing and ecological awareness. Earlier this year, Pietra and Ella were awarded MBEs for ‘Services to International Trade and to the Creative Industries’ in the New Year Honours list recognising their achievements in promoting global commerce and ideas exchange.
Ella, who was born and raised in Gloucester, comes from a long line of artistic heritage from her Grandfather, Emile Spira who was a Jewish refugee from Poland, a pianist and composer and both Ella’s parents being fine artists, her mother a landscape painter whose work has been exhibited in the West of England Royal Academy and her father who is an abstract artist and was a significant Senior Lecturer at the University of Arts in Cheltenham.
Some of the Sisters Grimm’s experiences in the inspiring natural beauty of the UAE, can be seen in their UAE National Day Single and music video release ‘UNITED’, written by Ella and DB Gad featuring the vocals of Dubai based Emirati singer Shamma Hamdan, Don Abdullah and Madyan Hamza, which has reached over 3 million views to date.
Following the success of ‘UNITED’, Sisters Grimm launched their first covid-conscious digital social impact initiative called ‘UAE Art in Nature’ offering children and young people up to 18 years old the opportunity to be a part of their work, channel their own creativity whilst engaging with the natural environment with their family. The solely self-funded initiative saw Sisters Grimm receive over 1,000 artistic submissions from over 100 schools across the UAE. These artworks have become the 3d environment a ballerina dances through to the soundtrack of “Windows of the Mind” which features the vocals of Madyan Hamza singing in Arabic and DB Gad singing in English.
