In 380 BC, Plato established his philosophical school near Athens in a grove dedicated to the mythical hero Academus. Since then, humanity has repeatedly revisited the idea that we exist through thought — that learning in community, with genuine intellectual ambition, changes people in ways that individual study cannot. Dubai has taken over the baton.
Kamila Shaimieva, Anastasia Belyak, and Olga Fleur have created their Akademy here, bringing the founders’ conversation to Lara Palmer. Kamila: It all started with our meeting in London on an autumn morning in 2019. After a couple of months of communication, the decision to create a new intellectual project was made.
The idea was associated with the Platonic Academy in Careggi — the institution that went down in history as the finest example of humanist education in the Renaissance. We wanted something similar in principles and diversity of disciplines. I would describe the club’s philosophy as personal growth not so much through attending lectures, but through the development of critical thinking.
The foundation stands on three pillars: the uniqueness of the programme due to diversity of disciplines; expanding the opportunities of modern intelligentsia for new knowledge and contact with success stories from every field; and the desire for personal growth and spiritual enrichment. Anastasia: I have always dreamed of making this already beautiful world better. As a child I loved French novels describing Parisian salons where Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau gathered.
When I moved to London and started studying at the Faculty of Arts, I wanted to create something educational related to culture — something modern and dynamic that met the requirements of London life. Akademy is an intellectual community of people united by the goals of self-development, cultural enrichment, and the gaining of new knowledge and emotions from the best specialists in their fields. We cover all spheres of life except politics: art, music, theatre, economics, philosophy, medicine, sport.
We always have the best with us — in London, Stella Rimington, former head of MI5, gave a lecture which she does only every few years. Marina Abramovic gave us a lecture during Frieze. Olga: Never stop learning — this is how I formulate the club’s philosophy for myself.
Our goal is to create a community of curious people interested in culture, art, technology, and business. Our task is to reveal to our members the region they live in, to introduce them to local leaders for knowledge exchange. Dubai, unlike London, builds its programme primarily around the culture and history of the Middle East. We see great value in this.