The arts and culture industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, with several projects showcasing the rich traditions, culture, heritage, archeology, art and modern creativity of its people through the coming together of historic and contemporary poetry, performances, calligraphy, art forms, comedy, film, theatre, museums and much more.
These projects, large and small, have had an incredible impact on emerging Saudi creative sectors, playing a critical role in nurturing creative expression and having a tangible and transformative effect on instilling an appreciation for culture and the arts within the Kingdom.
To discuss the current value being delivered from such arts and culture projects, how to amplify it to create sustainable value, and how to drive a lasting appreciation for artistic innovation, some key industry leaders gathered for an Arts and Culture Roundtable – powered by BLR World – as part of the fringe programme at Athar Festival in Riyadh.
Conversations at the roundtable revolved around awareness and access to the arts; developing a true understanding of audiences across Saudi Arabia; the responsibility to reach the full demographic spectrum in the Kingdom; and the need for a larger and broader offering within the arts.
The high-level roundtable discussion, held under the Chatham House Rules, also touched upon the need for greater efficiencies, better funding, long-term sustainable models, capacity building, coordination between various entities and organisations, as well as the untapped benefits of a more robust private sector.
“We need to understand not only who is interested in participating and the development of arts and culture, but also how they would like to engage with it, ensuring that there are diverse opportunities and more windows to access arts and culture.”
The knowledge-sharing exercise began with a look into the most crucial steps for fostering deeper cultural understanding among local audiences in Saudi Arabia.
Leaders at the roundtable talked about the importance of raising awareness about the importance of art and culture, its effect on the quality of life as well as how it contributes to the vibrancy of society, education and talent development, as well as a sense of identity and purpose among people within the Kingdom. The leaders discussed opinions on what it takes to create this awareness, and the need to move to a stage of understanding, before reaching a level of appreciation for arts and culture in Saudi Arabia.
At the outset, the leaders called for a better understanding of audience behaviour and audience demographics across various cities and towns in Saudi Arabia.
“I think there is an element of research that we are lacking nationally. We are not doing enough research. Yes, there is no time. Sometimes there is pressure to deliver specific projects, but we need to understand better who we talk to. We need to understand not only who is interested in participating and the development of arts and culture, but also how they would like to engage with it, ensuring that there are diverse opportunities and more windows to access arts and culture,” one of the leaders at the roundtable said.
The lost opportunity, they said, is that in Saudi Arabia quite often change is so fast that they can’t capture enough research and data . They explained how if segments of the audiences are captured, it will reveal that not all of them are familiar with or understand all the forms of arts, especially performing arts.
In terms of the performing arts, which is slightly different to the fine arts, the industry seems to be a bit further behind in terms of its pace. Leaders shared that the performing arts industry would benefit from different genres and much more frequent performing opportunities to develop a better understanding of what audiences want, and then from that, comprehend how to grow it.
“Awareness feeds into the recognition of the understanding of the value of culture, and a realisation that the ground is fertile for experimentation and innovation and growth.”
Another interesting point raised in the discussion was the need to market or reach out to not just the children and the tech-savvy youth – who accounted for the mass volume of engagement with arts and culture – but also the need to reach out to the elders, the parents, and the respected members of familial societies, because ultimately they would be the ones that would allow their kids to pursue a career in the arts.
Apart from the awareness needed to develop an appreciation of the arts, leaders also spoke about the need for more training programmes to build an appetite in arts and culture.
“So, when we do that training, it filters through and ripples across all the other cultural sectors as all the cultural sectors are connected one way or another in the end,” another leaders at the roundtable said. “Awareness feeds into the recognition of the understanding of the value of culture, and a realisation that the ground is fertile for experimentation and innovation and growth.”
They added, “What we wouldn’t want to see is, is that there is any feeling of being afraid to fail. We need to recognise that we’re on a journey that is going to take one or two or three years to develop.”
The discussion then segued into the pain points that stakeholders within Saudi Arabia’s arts and culture industry are facing, especially the lack of balance between speed to market and quality.
“The train has left the station and we are running behind,” one of the leaders said. “The communities in Saudi Arabia are so dynamic and so creative that our ways of working or the way we’re doing things is not keeping up with the pace of culture and change.”
Projects have their own timelines, the leaders discussed, but the people do not wait. People are really creative and want to do new things and be a part of the local and regional change, whether the arts and culture projects are able to keep up with these cultural shifts or not.
“I think this is, this is the biggest challenge, because culture is evolving every day. I mean, how do we keep ourselves relevant as we deliver projects? Also, we’re all working together – sports, entertainment, film – and at some point people only have so much time and attention to give. Can we expect people to feel and connect with our projects, just because they are great? Do we have data on where the appetite is?” the leaders asked.
“If you want the quick wins, it comes at the price of quality or sustainability, but if you want quality, it’s going to take time. If the client says, we want both, I tell them that they can’t have both.”
The consensus at the discussion was not only to improve efficiencies within the industries, but also to make arts and culture more sustainable.
Speaking to the skills gap within the industry, a leader said that upskilling is a need, but it is subject to the speed of delivery of a project.
“It’s game of: what do you want? If you want the quick wins, it comes at the price of quality or sustainability, but if you want quality, it’s going to take time. If the client says, we want both, I tell them that they can’t have both,” a leader said.
Another leader added, “If you’ve got a project, but then have to parachute in a load of consultants from wherever they are in the world. This is not a sustainable model for the Kingdom, so we need to focus on capacity building.”
Leaders also discussed pain points around procurement and finances, raising questions on whether they are designed to support programmatic objectives; whether there is a need to deregulate; whether external hiring is part of the problem.
“Luckily, there is courage in leadership, where occasionally, we make room for speed to market and allow for something mammoth to happen. We need to use speed to our advantage, but we need to learn how to navigate the system for this to be successful,” one of the leaders mentioned.
“I think Expo 2030 is fantastic for the private sector,” a leader said. “It is an opportunity for private sector companies to get involved, and even more so, the opportunity for Saudi Arabia to see what’s possible locally and internationally as a result of what happens in the six months of Expo.”
Coming back to the point of research, the leaders stated that there’s a need to document and analyse what’s happening, unpack the collated data from a social perspective, get social scientists to analyse how the community is changing. They also called for independent researchers to tell the story of how this sector has progressed and evolved. They also called for stakeholders in the sector to find a balance between building a structure based with policies and procedures that are solid, while still maintaining the necessary flexibility to innovate.
Another leader added that at times certain companies are “building projects based on very archaic models, which don’t allow us to quickly and agilely adapt our systems.”
Looking to the future, leaders at the roundtable called for stakeholders within the arts and culture sector to work on their long-term and the short-term vision in parallel to achieve the KPIs that the country has set for Vision 2030 and Expo 2030, while simultaneously “hitting the targets that we’ve set for tomorrow morning”.
“I think Expo 2030 is fantastic for the private sector,” a leader said. “It is an opportunity for private sector companies to get involved, and even more so, the opportunity for Saudi Arabia to see what’s possible locally and internationally as a result of what happens in the six months of Expo. And if I know anything about the private sector, they recognise an opportunity when they see it. And if they haven’t seen it yet, they will absolutely see it by Expo 2030.”
Leaders also discussed the potential benefits of a more robust private sector, including automatic efficiencies in certain areas, a more varied range of content, as well as audience development to an extent that has not yet been achieved within the industry.
For the private sector to attain a certain degree of maturity in the Kingdom, it would need a transformation from both sides: investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders will need to take a risk to enter a market where they are competing with government and semi-government entities, but at the same time governments will need to subsidise the associated risk to a certain extent.
“I do think there is scope for more creativity in how we communicate what we’re doing to the audiences that we hope to attract and to build for the future.”
Before the roundtable concluded each of the leaders shared their take on the one aspect they believe will make the most impact on how we to influence audiences, to diversify the offering, and to connect with the Saudi Arabian people.
Referring the reliance on WhatsApp over email, and the general difficulty in clear and consistent communication between various stakeholders and leaders within the industry, one of the leaders at the roundtable called for “policy circles” that fall within current regulations and are informal conversations. These could serve as a checkpoint around prices, the way artists feel, and fuel discussions around innovative initiatives, practices and solutions that can be replicated.
A leader said, “Everyone always says to us: ‘We need to collaborate, not compete; we need to discuss, we need to share information.’ So I agree that it’s a really cool idea to have forums to be able to do that. I just wonder whether there should be some formalisation of the informal forum.”
Another leader called for an ecosystem that allows more community-led projects to thrive by providing them with the space and resources they need to do so.
Experts at the roundtable also called for capacity building for human capital to ensure that leaders making decisions are knowledgeable, capable, and be held accountable for the long-term decisions that can’t be dialled back after a decade of implementation.
“Let’s make sure that all leaders have access to specialised education, while simultaneously building a meritocracy system that permits the whole ecosystem to develop, grow and thrive,” a leader said.
Finally, the leaders discussed the benefits that could come out of lessening the regulation around our marketing.
“I think we all make fantastic projects and products, but we don’t always all make or use fantastic social media or marketing tools; certainly not to the best of our ability. I think we could make people much more excited about some of the stuff that we do if we have a little bit more freedom in how we talk to them about it, keeping in mind all the cultural sensitivies that we need to adhere to. I do think there is scope for more creativity in how we communicate what we’re doing to the audiences that we hope to attract and to build for the future,” the leader concluded.
