JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Institute of Traditional Arts at the Royal Academy of Arts is intended to bring traditional Saudi art to the masses both locally and internationally through educational programs and talent development.
The cabinet has approved the plan, which was first announced by Culture Minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan in 2019.
The Acting Executive Director of Marketing and Communication at the Kingdom’s Quality of Life program, Khaled bin Abdullah Al-Bakr, said on Wednesday that the institute will be “a qualitative leap toward promoting the cultural sector” and will take interest in the Kingdom’s traditional arts to “another level” through comprehensive strategic institutional work.
The institute is part of the Academies of Arts initiative announced by the culture ministry in March 2019, and it will cover five different areas: The support of “living treasures” that preserve traditional arts and heritage; training and production; awareness; global communication; and research.
It will focus on “enriching traditional Saudi arts and promoting their exhibition locally and internationally,” and on providing artists and craftsmen with a platform to promote traditional Saudi arts.
