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Saudi Arabia's Royal Institute of Traditional Arts Kicks Off Educational Programs

Saudi Arabia's Royal Institute of Traditional Arts Kicks Off Educational Programs
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Saudi Arabia's Royal Institute of Traditional Arts Kicks Off Educational Programs

Saudi Arabia's Royal Institute of Traditional Arts Kicks Off Educational Programs

The Royal Institute of Traditional Arts (RITA) in Saudi Arabia has kicked off its executive programs aimed at providing an innovative environment to develop potentials in Saudi traditional arts through educational, cultural, and social programs.

The institute's goal is to emphasize the national identity by enriching and promoting the traditional arts, in addition to motivating and training local skills and talents, and providing educational programs in this field.

The institute seeks to contribute to preserving the tangible and intangible assets of traditional arts, raising the level of awareness in the kingdom, promoting these arts locally and globally, and encouraging and supporting the efforts made to maintain them.

RITA has divided its educational programs into three categories: student programs, academic programs, and short courses. It offers many art-related majors including traditional visual arts, textiles and fashion, materials, construction, and books, in addition to studies in traditional performance arts such as popular dance and traditional music, as well as studies of museums, heritage, and antiquities.

In the first phase, the institute launched several courses to teach traditional arts including palm leaf weaving, one of the most popular arts in Saudi Arabia. It shed lights on how Saudis inhabiting agricultural regions adapted to their environment and improved their skills. Palm leaves are used to make chains and other products locals use in their daily lives.

It also plans to launch a course to teach "Al Sadu" weaving, an old Saudi art known with its catching colors and geometric patterns widely seen in tent embroidery. Al Sadu is usually weaved by assorting wool, lint, and animal hair into threads using a loom.

The institute will also provide a general course about UNESCO, its goals and missions, in addition to explaining its different conventions and programs aimed at supporting culture, including the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003), and the 1972 World Heritage Convention. The course will enable the participants to study the Kingdom's cultural landmarks enlisted as "UNESCO's Intangible Heritage," in addition to the Saudi sites included in the agency's World Heritage List.

RITA plans to open several branches, but the biggest is located in "Al Murabba" neighborhood in Riyadh. The 3.350 square meters building includes 12 workshops, four classrooms, four ateliers, and a library.

Another large branch will be opened in Historic Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia, and will feature two workshops, three classrooms, and will recruit specialized technicians.

The King Salman Park is set to host the main campus as of 2025, which will feature four art academies, three cinema halls, an external theater, a cultural educational center, a national theater, and five specialized museums.

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Russian ‘Spy Whale’ in Norway Wasn’t Shot Dead, Likely Died of Infection

FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)
FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)
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Russian ‘Spy Whale’ in Norway Wasn’t Shot Dead, Likely Died of Infection

FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)
FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)

A beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation that it was a Russian spy, was not shot to death as claimed by animal rights groups but died of a bacterial infection, Norwegian police said Friday.
A final autopsy by Norway's Veterinary Institute “concludes that the probable cause of death was bacterial infection -- possibly as a result of a wound in the mouth from a stuck stick,” Amund Preede Revheim, head of the North Sea and Environment section of the police in south-western Norway said.
“There have been no findings from the autopsy that indicate that the whale has been shot,” he stressed, adding that the autopsy had been “made difficult by the fact that many of the whale’s organs were very rotten.” As there was no indication of foul play, there was no reason to start a criminal investigation into its death, The Associated Press quoted Preede Revheim as saying.
The tame beluga, which was first spotted in 2019 not far from Russian waters with a harness reading “Equipment St. Petersburg,” had been nicknamed "Hvaldimir,” combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was found floating in a southern Norway bay on Aug. 31.
In September, animal advocate groups OneWhale and NOAH filed a police report saying that the animal’s wounds suggested it was intentionally killed.
They pointed at several wounds found on the animal’s skin, including what was interpreted as a bullet hole.
“Assessments made by the Veterinary Institute and the police’s forensic technicians are that these are not gunshot wounds. X-rays of the chest and head were carried out without any projectiles or other metal fragments being detected,” police said in a statement.
Earlier, police had described a stick about 35 centimeters (14 inches) long and 3 centimeters (1 inch) wide which was found wedged in the animal’s mouth, its stomach was empty and its organs had broken down, police said. No further details were given.
The 4.2-meter (14-foot) long and 1,225-kilogram (2,700-pound) whale was first spotted by fishermen not far from the Arctic town of Hammerfest.
Its harness, along with what appeared to be a mount for a small camera, led to media speculation that it was a “spy whale.” Experts say the Russian navy is known to have trained whales for military purposes. Media reports also have speculated that the whale might have been trained as a therapy animal.
There was no immediate reaction from OneWhale or NOAH.