Aya Al-Bakree is a contemporary culture specialist with almost 10 years’ experience in the arts sector in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
She is CEO of the new Thunaiyat Ad-Diriyah Foundation, chaired by Saudi Culture Minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan. It will hold its first biennale of contemporary art in 2021.
Al-Bakree holds a bachelor’s degree in global communications from the American University of Paris.
After graduating, she began her career at a world-renowned French art gallery, where she immersed herself in the world of international contemporary art and learned about the commercial and business sides.
When she returned to Saudi Arabia, she gained further professional experience in the art sector with a cultural organization working across the Middle East, collaborating with locally acclaimed institutions and galleries in the Kingdom.
One of Al-Bakree’s goals is to become an educator and mediator between the Saudi art world and the international cultural community.
“Located in historical Diriyah, the Diriyah Biennale will first take place in 2021, with each edition centered around a theme chosen by the curatorial team and reflecting their research,” she told Arab News.
“The first edition will be focused on this historic moment of social change in Saudi Arabia, working with contemporary artists from the Kingdom and around the world.”
The biennales will be educationally driven, and will be accompanied by related educational and public programs, as well as visits organized for a wide range of community groups and schools.
