By Yousef Al-Mehaimeed
Anyone who has observed the plastic arts movement in the Kingdom over the last few decades will notice that the movement has become more popular and has gained the attention of the private sector. In the past, the Culture and Art Society was the only government body that promoted art but today we have many Saudis who promote the arts. But several government bodies continue to impose bureaucratic measures on artists and art promoters, preventing them from raising public awareness about the importance of art.
For example, several art galleries were given licenses to operate, but after two years, they all closed. Why did they fail? We have a large number of Saudi artists - male and female – yet we still do not have art galleries that exhibit the works of local artists. Why? I think the reasons have to do with the bureaucratic measures involved in operating art galleries. To open an art gallery, you need to apply to the Ministry of Culture and Information for a permit in addition to several other government agencies; at least six, and sometimes more. Throughout this entire process, the applicant will have paid tens of thousands of riyals just to get a permit.
The other annoying thing is that an applicant is only allowed to operate one art gallery or two maximum on a yearly basis, but not more than two. I do not understand why the permit application process for operating an art gallery now takes about six months, while during the tenure of the former Minister of Culture and Information Abdulaziz Khoja, it took only a week.
If we assume that several measures have been introduced by the ministry that require an art gallery operator to get permission from certain government agencies, why doesn’t the ministry form a committee with members representing several government agencies to reduce the time it takes to issue a permit? Frankly speaking, I do not know why the ministry doesn’t just grant such permits minutes after an applicant has applied. There is no need to study the application for days or months.
This bureaucracy strangles art and forces some owners of art galleries to close within two years of opening. If things continue like this, we will drive away our artistic talent and the people who curate art to nearby countries where they can easily invest money to operate as they wish.
