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AlUla Arts Festival Kicks Off With Participation of International Artists

The third annual AlUla Arts Festival will take place across 22 days in the stunning landscape of the ancient oasis of AlUla.
The third annual AlUla Arts Festival will take place across 22 days in the stunning landscape of the ancient oasis of AlUla.
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AlUla Arts Festival Kicks Off With Participation of International Artists

The third annual AlUla Arts Festival will take place across 22 days in the stunning landscape of the ancient oasis of AlUla.
The third annual AlUla Arts Festival will take place across 22 days in the stunning landscape of the ancient oasis of AlUla.

The third annual AlUla Arts Festival, under its new banner of Art Unframed, with an expansive program of events, exhibitions, and creative initiatives, will take place across 22 days in the stunning landscape of the ancient oasis of AlUla, SPA said on Saturday.
Inaugurated in 2022, and part of the annual AlUla Moments calendar of events, the AlUla Arts Festival features an exciting mix of creativity, including local, regional, and international artists, performers, curators, collectors, and more.
The winner of the largest art prize in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Obaid Alsafi, unveils his winning artwork, Palms in Eternal Embrace. The sixth annual prize run by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is the first in collaboration with Arts AlUla, as part of a wider partnership between both organizations to combine their respective efforts to support creativity.
Wadi Al Fann presents Manal Al Dowayan, one of Saudi Arabia's most significant contemporary artists, in the lead-up to her new land-art commission, Oasis of Stories, a large-scale labyrinthine installation inspired by AlUla Old Town, which will be permanently placed in AlUla’s monumental desert landscape in 2026.
During the AlUla Arts Festival, two adjacent exhibitions -- featuring drawing, ceramic, soft sculpture, painting and weaving -- take place in AlJadidah Arts District, at the heart of AlUla’s community.
The first exhibition marks a milestone in the development of Oasis of Stories: on display are hundreds of drawings gathered from the artist’s participatory workshops with communities across AlUla. These drawings and stories will eventually be inscribed into the walls of Oasis of Stories, enabling AlUla’s residents to leave their permanent trace in Wadi Al Fann.
A parallel exhibition presented in collaboration with Sabrina Amrani Gallery, titled, “Their Love Is Like All Loves, Their Death Is Like All Deaths,” delves further into AlDowayan’s practice, with works including: soft sculptures made of tussar silk printed with images related to AlUla’s heritage; labyrinth-like drawings inspired by AlUla Old Town; engraved clay works made of mud gathered from across Saudi Arabia; and wall pieces featuring Sadu textile weaving, a technique traditionally used by Bedouin women.
AlUla presents two Artist Residency exhibitions, the Visual Art Residency exhibition “The Shadow Over Everything,” and the Design Residency exhibition “Unguessed Kinships,” which will run until April 30, emphasizing AlUla's emerging role as a focal point for cultural exchange and artistic innovation in the region.
Images by artist Hassan Hajja,j renowned for work that merges contemporary art, fashion and cultural identity, will be featured. He photographed local people and residents in February 2023 in an outdoor studio at Madrasat Addeera.
AlUla presents an exhibition of contemporary works by Saudi artists on loan from collectors in Saudi Arabia, hosted at Maraya. Curated by Dr. Effat Abdullah Fadag, the exhibition will re-canonize the history of the contemporary art movements in Saudi Arabia, documenting the story of artists and the role of collectors in the development of the art scene. The exhibition will run from February 9 to April 27 and is part of the pre-opening program for the future contemporary art museum in AlUla.
Following two exhibitions since 2020, the international open-air art exhibition Desert X AlUla returns for its third edition from 9 February 9 to March 23, placing visionary contemporary artworks by Saudi and international artists amidst the extraordinary desert landscape of AlUla.

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An English Rugby Team’s Stadium Plan Sparks Concern for UNESCO Designation

The River Avon in the World Heritage site of Bath, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 with the backdrop of the rugby stadium. (AP)
The River Avon in the World Heritage site of Bath, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 with the backdrop of the rugby stadium. (AP)
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An English Rugby Team’s Stadium Plan Sparks Concern for UNESCO Designation

The River Avon in the World Heritage site of Bath, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 with the backdrop of the rugby stadium. (AP)
The River Avon in the World Heritage site of Bath, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 with the backdrop of the rugby stadium. (AP)

Talk about a scrum.

The rugby club in the English city of Bath is at odds with some of its neighbors over plans to expand the team’s beloved stadium.

Though Bath Rugby won a legal case that went all the way to Britain’s Supreme Court, its plan to boost the Recreation Ground, or The Rec — its "spiritual home" since 1894 — faces more hurdles.

That’s because the city of Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its Roman roots, Georgian architecture and scenic landscapes. And the stadium sits in the heart of it, along the River Avon.

"I’m not anti-rugby. This isn’t about a sport. This is looking at what’s best for this city," Joanna Wright, a Green Party member of the Bath and North East Somerset Council, said as tourists stopped for photos near Pulteney Bridge.

Wright, who opposes the plan, worries that reducing the "green setting" will impact the UNESCO designation. She motions toward the hills beyond the stadium’s temporary East Stand, which in the rebuild would become permanent rather than be removed each summer.

She noted that the city of Liverpool lost its world heritage status in 2021 because of waterfront developments, including Everton's new soccer stadium.

"We don’t know what the World Heritage organization will do, but we do know that they have decided that Liverpool is no longer going to get its status, so do you want to risk that?" Wright said.

Bath Rugby — currently atop the Premiership standings — wants to expand from about 14,500 capacity to 18,000 and create "a new sporting, cultural and leisure stadium."

Rugby ‘brings the city alive’

Bath’s planning committee has targeted September for a decision. In a public comment period, a large majority of respondents favored the plan.

"They recognize the importance of the sport to the city," Doug Wrigglesworth, chairman of the Bath Rugby Supporters Club, said in an interview. "It’s an iconic stadium. (But) It really needs to be brought up to date."

Bath Rugby has played home matches there for more than 125 years. Facilities were damaged in the 1942 "Bath Blitz" bombing by Germany’s Luftwaffe during World War II.

After rugby union became professional in the mid-1990s, the club began adding capacity bit by bit.

Much of the seating is unprotected from the weather, and efforts to squeeze in more fans had been dubbed "Operation Sardine."

Still, it's a bucket-list destination for rugby enthusiasts, the way baseball fans in the United States flock to Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. Pubs and restaurants fill up on matchdays.

"It’s quite a big advert for the city," said Wrigglesworth, who has been attending matches for 45 years. "It brings the city alive."

Wright, however, describes game days as "pandemonium and getting in and out of the city is problematic."

Bath was England's top team in the 1990s and won the European Rugby Champions Cup in 1998. Today, its star player is flyhalf Finn Russell, the Scotland captain.

Rugby union has been struggling financially. In the 2022-23 season, no Premiership club made a profit, according to the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report. The Rec’s capacity utilization in '22-23 was 91% — second highest in the league.

Expanding the stadium would generate more match-day revenue and corporate partnerships.

Bath Rugby, owned by businessman Bruce Craig, declined interview requests.

Beavers and bats

Bath in 1987 was declared a World Heritage Site, and in 2021 received a second moniker as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe.

UNESCO — the UN’s cultural agency — had put Liverpool on an "endangered" list years before pulling its world heritage designation. Last year, it rejected recommendations to put Stonehenge on the list.

Besides the UNESCO designation, concerns have been raised in Bath about everything from noise and transportation to the welfare of bats and beavers.

The UK government’s Environment Agency cautioned in a letter to the planning committee that the plan’s environmental statement overlooks the European beaver — a protected species.

"Beavers need to be considered as they are now known to be present in good numbers on the Avon with numerous active territories in the Bath area and Pulteney Gate being directly on the main dispersal route for these animals," read the Environment Agency’s recent letter, which also raised flooding concerns.

The club's plan has prompted feedback about the need to protect bats, too, with stadium lighting flagged as a potential problem.

Legal battles

Residents scored a legal victory a few years ago by citing a 1922 covenant that said nothing should be built on the ground that would disturb the neighborhood. Bath Rugby got that overturned, however, when the Court of Appeal ruled that covenant language was too vague.

And when the Supreme Court in October 2022 declined to hear an application to appeal the ruling, the expansion plan was back on. The club has been revising it since then to incorporate feedback.

The UK committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites — ICOMOS serves as adviser to UNESCO on cultural World Heritage Sites — recently submitted its concerns to the planning committee.

ICOMOS-UK noted improvements in the design but encouraged "further reductions in height, especially to the central roof section, and a design approach that overcomes the exaggerated mass and scale and the incompatible form within the otherwise harmonious city." It warned of "significant permanent harm."

However, Historic England, a public body that seeks to champion England’s history and environment, wrote that it has "no objection to the application on heritage grounds."

Wright, the city councilor, said one of her favorite aspects of living in Bath is "wherever you are, you can always see trees."

"That’s one of the (reasons) why it’s been given World Heritage status, it’s not just that it has all this heritage, it has settings of green spaces. Once you put in such a massive commercial development to the heart of the city, you change it."