Creativity is both the talk of the moment and the language of the times.
When it comes to the world’s most valuable companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon,[i] we don’t think of them as dreamers dreaming but creatives creating – and for good reason, since these companies are all game-changing groundbreakers.
The same can be said of the fourth largest company in the world — Aramco — which is based in the G20’s fastest growing economy, Saudi Arabia.[ii]
Yet, while overall Saudi growth in 2022 was 8.7%, the GDP of its creative and cultural industries (CCI) expanded at a rate of over 13%.[iii]
How is Saudi Arabia achieving this?
This simple answer is investment in innovation. To celebrate its 75th anniversary, for example, Aramco built the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) as the country’s largest CSR initiative and a gift to the Saudi people.
Ithra has a museum, theater, cinema, public library, educational facilities and a children’s museum, but what truly sets it apart compared to other large-scale cultural centers around the world is its department for creativity and innovation – the Idea Lab, which mounts several of Ithra’s most significant programs.
The Idea Lab’s flagship initiative is the annual Tanween creativity conference, a platform for cross-cultural exchange and knowledge sharing in the creative industries that is geared towards professionals and experts from around the world.
An offshoot of Ithra’s Tanween conference is a creativity initiative with hundreds of activations and events throughout Saudi Arabia’s entire Eastern Province: Alsharqiya Gets Creative (“Alsharqiya” is the Eastern Province, or EP) that took place from November 1 – 25, 2023.
The fourth edition featured more than 1500 activities in 10 cities throughout the EP, including more than 200 workshops and over 20 exhibitions as well as designathons, hackathons, marathons and competitions in 10 sectors, ranging from the corporate and arts sectors to the sports industries and the dining sector.
In many ways, EP Gets Creative functions as a series of partnerships and a social responsibility incubator, since to pull off this huge creativity program – the largest in the country – in 2023, Ithra worked with five main partners, 21 strategic partners, 300+ creative partners and five media partners.
While the program models initiatives and partnerships for the engaged organizations, creatives and businesses throughout the province, Ithra is also encouraging them to be proactive about social responsibility.
Many of EP Gets Creative’s leading activations are held in conjunction with Ithra’s primary and strategic partners.
Majd Investment, for example, hosted the inaugural 2023 International Conference on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design (ICSAUD) which showcased the latest innovations and technologies in the field of environmentally conscious architecture and the future of sustainable construction.
Awan Development Company hosted Awan Nights, a lively area with a creativity market and facilities for various creative activities.
It provided free space and materials for emerging and established painters and craftsmen – young and old alike.
It also featured an entertainment space, an area dedicated to children, as well as workshops, live bands and a food hall.
Rawabi Holding mounted a career discovery bootcamp to help students preparing to attend university to discover their career prospects by providing them with cognitive tools designed to help them understand themselves and discover their abilities.
The goal is to enable them to choose potential professions and their best available options to achieve their goals.
Several of Ithra’s leading partners are sports clubs, including al Fateh, the Saudi Premiere League football team from al-Hasa, and Al-Qadsiah, a First Division football club from al-Khobar, which mounted a number of arts and sport events and activities designed to enrich the culture of creativity, including interactive theatrical programs, archery and, of course, professional football training for all ages.
A particularly popular new sport in Saudi Arabia is padel – and there were four padel competitions in the fourth edition of EP Gets Creative.
One woman who first tried it as part of the 2022 EP Gets Creative programs is now on the Saudi national team and is competing internationally.
One company that mounted a padel competition is the Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers Company – a large business group with a vast range of interests, from bottling to banking.
Their 2023 contributions also included bowling, Taekwondo and creative artistic activities such as mural painting by professional artists, musical training workshops and live drawing on carpets.
“Creativity is the tool that allows Saudi creators and innovators to shape the future with their own hands,” explains Hadeel Eisa, Head of Communications at Ithra.
“Ithra’s Alsharqiya Gets Creative initiative celebrates creativity throughout the Eastern Province as we strive to be Saudi Arabia’s foremost destination for creativity.
“This year, we had over 350 partners and more than 1500 activities. To see this much momentum growing in real time is incredibly inspiring.”
By Daniel Kany, Senior Writer, Communication & Partnerships Division, Ithra
[i] The 50 Most Valuable Companies in the World in 2023 (visualcapitalist.com) Per August 16, 2023 using market capitalization, Apple is at $2.8T. Microsoft $2.4T, Aramco $2.2T… and Aramco is closer to Apple than the #4 Alphabet $1.6T.
[ii] Saudi Arabia: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2023 Article IV Mission (imf.org) “Saudi Arabia was the fastest growing G20 economy in 2022. Overall growth reached 8.7 percent, reflecting both strong oil production and a 4.8 percent non-oil GDP growth driven by robust private consumption and non-oil private investment, including giga projects. Wholesale, retail trade, construction, and transport were the main drivers of non-oil growth. The output gap is estimated to have closed during 2022 and the momentum is continuing in 2023, with nowcasting estimates suggesting non-oil growth above 5 percent in H1 2023.”
[iii] How Saudi Arabia is infusing creativity into the economy – Fast Company Middle East | The future of tech, business and innovation. (fastcompanyme.com)
