Dubai's cultural life comes in a distant third to making money and having fun, with cultural activities (where they are available at all) limited in scale. Dubai has always suffered from not having a major venue for cultural performances, although the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre, Level 2, Mall of the Emirates (tel: (04) 341 4777; website: www.dubaitheatre.org), is a welcome new addition. With such a small population, there are no major indigenous orchestras or dance companies, although it is possible to find localised groups who occasionally put on public performances.

A relative hive of cultural activity is the Creative Art Centre, Al-Jumeirah Road (tel: (04) 344 4394), which runs from Saturday to Wednesday. Mornings are reserved for young children, afternoons for older children and, during winter, evenings are set aside for adult classes. A wide range of cultural and handicraft activities are covered. The Dubai International Art Centre, off Al-Jumeirah Road (tel: (04) 344 4398; website: www.artdubai.com) offers a similar range, as well as art displays, with works for sale. Visiting international acts occasionally spice up the music scene.

The Time Out Ticket Line sells tickets for events (tel: 800 4669; website: www.itp.net/tickets).

Music: Opportunities to hear classical music performed in Dubai are extremely limited. The Dubai International Convention Centre, Dubai World Trade Centre, Bur Dubai (tel: (04) 332 1000; website: www.dicc.ae) and The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Sheik Zayed Road (tel: (04) 331 1111; website: www.dubaihotels.crowneplaza.com) are the main venues that host visiting orchestras and musicians from around the world, although performances are far from regular. Many hotels employ a pianist to spice up the lobby, which is often as near to classical music as Dubai gets. Arabic nightclubs (see Dance) are the main venues for traditional Arabian music.

Theatre: Dubai Drama Group (tel: (04) 333 1155; website: www.dubaidramagroup.org) is an amateur theatrical company with over 100 members. Dubai's first purpose-built community theatre, Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre, has opened at the Mall of the Emirates. The Crowne Plaza Hotel, Sheik Zayed Road (tel: (04) 331 1111; website: www.dubaihotels.crowneplaza.com) also hosts regular theatrical performances.

Dance: There are no real dance companies in Dubai, although there are a number of dance schools, including the renowned Ballet Centre, behind Jumeirah Plaza (tel: (04) 344 9776), with ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance on offer. In addition, belly dancing and traditional dance are a mainstay in Arabic nightclubs, such as Al-Diwan, Metropolitan Palace Hotel (tel: (04) 227 0000), and Escoba, Al-Khaleej Palace Hotel (tel: (04) 223 1000).

Film: Going to the cinema is a very popular pastime in Dubai with around a dozen cinemas to choose from. These include Cinestar at the Mall of the Emirates (tel: (04) 341 4222), Grand Cineplex next to Wafi City (tel: (04) 324 2000) and Grand Mercato in Jumeirah at the Mercato Mall  (tel: (04) 349 8765), which show English-language films. The programmes are currently full of big-budget Hollywood films with little arthouse content.

Literary Notes: To get right to the heart of Dubai, Graeme Wilson's Father of Dubai: Sheik Rashid Bin Saeed al Maktoum (1999) is a detailed tribute to the founder of Dubai. Arabia Through the Looking Glass (1979), by Jonathan Raban, covers the region as a whole but also has an illuminating section on Dubai.

A local perspective comes from the English translation of Muhammad al-Murr's Dubai Tales (1991), with his famed short stories fleshing a bit of colour into the place. Muhammed al-Murr is one of the most revered local writers and it is worthwhile trying to get a copy of his other famous book, The Wink of the Mona Lisa (1994).

A good pictorial look at Dubai is Ronald Codrai's mid-20th-century Dubai - An Arabian Album (1992). Kevin Higgins' The Emirates (1995) is a look at all of the United Arab Emirates and puts Dubai in clear context, while William Facey and Gillian Grant's The Emirates by the First Photographers (2002) shows the sheer scale of change in Dubai and the other emirates over the last century.

An insight into the machinations and ambitions of Dubai's ruling family comes through Jason Levin's From the Desert to the Derby (2002), a look at their attempt to train a horse to win America's richest horse race. David Saunders' The Arabian Dream (2003) is a beautifully photographed look at the development of the city, though given the pace of change, it is rapidly being dated. Rachel Pagones' Dubai Millennium: A Vision Realised; a Dream Lost (2007) is the compelling story of Sheikh Mohammed's horse ‘millennium' and offers an insight into the inner workings of the emirate.