Saudi Culture, Commerce Ministers Sign MoU to Empower Entrepreneurs in Cultural Sector

The partnership seeks to empower cultural entrepreneurs and organizations - SPA
The partnership seeks to empower cultural entrepreneurs and organizations - SPA
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Saudi Culture, Commerce Ministers Sign MoU to Empower Entrepreneurs in Cultural Sector

The partnership seeks to empower cultural entrepreneurs and organizations - SPA
The partnership seeks to empower cultural entrepreneurs and organizations - SPA

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan and Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monsha’at) Majid Al-Kassabi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday at the Ministry of Culture in Al-Bujairi district, Diriyah.

According to SPA, the MoU aims at fostering collaboration between the Ministry and Monsha’at, particularly through business incubators and accelerators tailored to the cultural sector.
The partnership seeks to empower cultural entrepreneurs and organizations by offering targeted training programs designed to address sector-specific needs. It also includes strategic consulting services to strengthen entrepreneurs' skills and advance their projects through innovative, sustainable approaches. These efforts aim to generate substantial economic and cultural impacts, promote awareness, and raise knowledge about investment opportunities and growth potential in the cultural sector.
Key elements of the agreement focus on enhancing commercial innovation and integrating modern technologies for small and medium-sized cultural enterprises, ultimately contributing to a thriving cultural landscape and bolstering their role in the local economy.
The MoU aligns with the Ministry of Culture’s broader strategy to build strategic partnerships across sectors. It aims to empower entrepreneurs and innovators by providing access to essential resources and opportunities, advancing the cultural sector, and fostering a climate of creativity and innovation in line with the objectives of the National Strategy for Culture under Saudi Vision 2030.



Abu Dhabi Art Announces Artists, curator Selected for 'Beyond Emerging Artists' Program

Co-Founder of GALLERIA CONTINUA Lorenzo Fiaschi. WAM
Co-Founder of GALLERIA CONTINUA Lorenzo Fiaschi. WAM
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Abu Dhabi Art Announces Artists, curator Selected for 'Beyond Emerging Artists' Program

Co-Founder of GALLERIA CONTINUA Lorenzo Fiaschi. WAM
Co-Founder of GALLERIA CONTINUA Lorenzo Fiaschi. WAM

Abu Dhabi Art has announced details around its Beyond: Emerging Artists program, which commissions new work by up-and-coming UAE-based artists each year, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

Beyond: Emerging Artists 2024 will be curated by Lorenzo Fiaschi, Co-Founder of GALLERIA CONTINUA, who has selected the artists Fatma Al Ali, Dina Nazmi Khorchid and Simrin Mehra Agarwal to produce commissioned works to be exhibited at Abu Dhabi Art this year, WAM said.

The works will be on exhibition at Manarat Al Saadiyat on November 20-24, after which the exhibition will travel internationally to a new location.

"As we embark on this new journey with Abu Dhabi Art's Beyond Emerging Artists program, we are excited to contribute to the region’s vibrant contemporary art scene,” said Fiaschi.

“Celebrating 18 years of collaboration with Abu Dhabi Art, GALLERIA CONTINUA is eager to witness and support the dynamic evolution of the art world. We are committed to embracing diversity, which enriches our collective artistic experience. We look forward to guiding the selected artists—Dina Nazmi Khorchid, Simrin Mehra Agarwal, and Fatma Al Ali—and helping them develop exceptional projects of international caliber that showcase the creativity and potential of today’s artistic landscape,” he added.

The three selected artists were chosen from over 100 proposals reviewed by the Abu Dhabi Art organizing committee and GALLERIA CONTINUA, and in consultation with Friends of Abu Dhabi Art, a group of individuals who are actively committed to supporting art and culture in the emirate and who support the Beyond Emerging Artists program each year, WAM said.

Abu Dhabi Art Director Dyala Nusseibeh said: “During the selection process we were struck by how analytical and thoughtful each of the chosen proposals were, across diverse practices, unpicking issues that ranged from conflict and war to our relationship with the environment and the impact of colonialism on indigenous plant life in the Gulf. Together the commissioned artists navigate utopian or dystopian imagined landscapes, in often playful, often piercing ways, creating the space for new histories of the region to emerge.”