Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, also known as Ithra, has released a comprehensive study mapping the cultural and creative landscape in Saudi Arabia and the wider Mena region.
The study, comprising three reports, examines the evolution of the cultural industry within regional and global contexts.
It comes after a two-year research process involving surveys with 9,000 respondents from 10 Mena cities: Beirut, Cairo, Dammam, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait City, Manama, Muscat, Riyadh and Sharjah. The study also relies on interviews with global cultural and creative experts in policymaking, academia and art.
The research is a resource for policymakers as well as the public, challenging perceptions and inspiring dialogue on the state of an industry
Fatmah Alrashid,
head of strategy and partnerships at Ithra
It sought to highlight the most pressing issues in the regional cultural and creative sector today.
Fatmah Alrashid, head of strategy and partnerships at Ithra, said the centre hopes for the research to be “a resource for policymakers as well as the public, challenging perceptions and inspiring dialogue on the state of an industry”.
She stressed the importance of activating cultural participation in the region by focusing on “making cultural participation available to all” in terms of quality and economy, providing the necessary platforms, and contributing to the implementation of initiatives that will make culture part of the public education programmes and curriculum.
Top-down v bottom-up approaches
The cultural scenes are evolving differently across the Mena region.
The Gulf states, the study found, are adopting a top-down approach to cultural development by investing public funds in new institutions, frameworks, infrastructure and spaces to enable the creative industry to thrive. In contrast, the Levant and North African Arab countries are pursuing a bottom-up approach, driven by grass roots organisations, private initiatives, a vibrant cultural scene and social diversity.
The two varied approaches, the study found, are both proving to be successful.
One commonality across the region is that cultural participation is uniformly on the rise, driven “by an enhanced cultural awareness and a motivation to learn”. The expansion of cultural offerings online is also a major contributor to the boost of cultural participation and awareness.
The research underlined several theme-specific trends, with history and heritage emerging as the most popular theme, followed by film and television.
Challenges and recommendations
Despite the overarching positive cultural participation across the region, the research points to accessibility as a key barrier to cultural engagement. Additional challenges hindering cultural engagement in some countries include limited public expenditure and support, economic and political instability, limited presence of culture in the mainstream education system, limited information and awareness, and a relative scarcity of family-oriented activities and facilities.
The study recommends several directions and policy measures to accelerate cultural participation, including supporting low-income groups, initiatives to promote life-long cultural learning and a cross-collaborative spirit between the region's cultural institutions.
The study also addresses the large impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the global cultural and creative industry, and the lasting effect of the pandemic on cultural consumption patterns, including the acceleration of the digitisation of cultural offerings.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)
RESULTS
Cagliari 5-2 Fiorentina
Udinese 0-0 SPAL
Sampdoria 0-0 Atalanta
Lazio 4-2 Lecce
Parma 2-0 Roma
Juventus 1-0 AC Milan
Japan 30-10 Russia
Tries: Matsushima (3), Labuschange | Golosnitsky
Conversions: Tamura, Matsuda | Kushnarev
Penalties: Tamura (2) | Kushnarev
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AGL AWARDS
Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
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Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Brief scoreline:
Tottenham 1
Son 78'
Manchester City 0
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed PDK
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 820Nm
Price: Dh683,200
On sale: now
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UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
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Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Tesalam Aleik
Abdullah Al Ruwaished
(Rotana)
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England 458
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 overs)
England won by 211 runs and lead series 1-0
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- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
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The%20specs
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MATCH INFO
Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 18', 24')
Brighton 1 (Dunk 79')
Red card: Alisson (Liverpool)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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