By Anas Alyusuf

Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — With his calm and composed demeanor and an inimitable style of conversation, featuring Najdi characteristics, and his capability to multitask by managing dozens of government files, Minister of Culture Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Farhan is on the way to accomplishing the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

The Vision is initiated and being led successfully by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, at the head of an executive team whom Saudis prefer to call as “The Team of Muhammad Bin Salman.”

Prince Badr, who is at the helm of the Saudi National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, has written stories of success in winning international recognitions in the arena of culture.

This starts with the Kingdom’s winning of prestigious positions at the bodies under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), such as memberships in its Executive Council and Information for All Program (IFAP), as well as in its World Heritage Committee for the first time.

The credit for the resounding success of two Saudi exhibitions on the Kingdom’s archeology, heritage and history held in Paris and Rome, also goes to him.

Despite the appreciation about the presence and key role of Minister of Culture in scoring all these successes, he still remains, as many top figures say, “calm, confident and determined to accomplish his goal.”

Prince Badr takes to heart the English proverb “Time and tide wait for no man” knowing fully well that time is of essence and uses every opportunity to manage it well.

Saudi intellectuals and cultural figures recognized the fact that for the first time a minister is at the helm of affairs by taking the responsibility of the portfolio of culture after it was bifurcated from the Ministry of Information in June last year.

The minister had chosen one of the clay houses in the Historic Diriyah, the birthplace of the Saudi monarchy, as the launching pad for the ministry’s future journey by making this the venue for his first meeting with the intellectuals and cultural figures.

One of the attendees of the first meeting with the minister, who preferred not to be named, indicated that the choice of the location of the meeting had a great symbolic significance. “We realized then that the journey of Saudi culture will start from our ancient heritage site to the world, and this is the bottom line.”

In between the minister’s meeting at the “Mud House” in Diriyah and his appearing in the rostrum of Hall “No. 1” at UNESCO, from where he articulated the Kingdom’s vibrant destinations toward comprehensive development in the cultural arena, there were dramatic developments and comprehensive reform packages encompassing the entire cultural sector.

The Kingdom’s appetite for “comprehensive reform” towards culture, science and arts was evident ever since the end of April 2016, and its efforts have been crowned with success when it was elected to UNESCO’s Executive Council and the World Heritage Committee.

The Kingdom’s “Hour of Implementation” in the cultural sector was launched with the announcement of the ministry’s strategy and directions by Minister of Culture Prince Badr at the end of February 2019.

He also unveiled the new ministry’s road map in the journey of construction and empowerment, as it will focus in its work on 16 sub-sectors so as to give a more comprehensive meaning to the concept of culture in the Kingdom. The ministry started implementing many of its initiatives in its first package consisting of 27 initiatives.

At the end of the year 2018, the features of cultural entities began to appear, with an institutional imprint in the form of museums, films, music, libraries, fashion, heritage, language, literature and publishing, theater and performing arts, visual arts, architecture and design, and culinary arts.

The ministry has become closer ever to assign the tasks of each cultural entity that are affiliated with the ministry despite its independence in managing the affairs of the relevant sector, in addition to being obligated to work within the framework of the ministry’s general vision and strategic directions.

The mission of each entity will be concentrated in five tasks, starting with developing experiences, forming partnerships, managing intellectual and material assets owned by it, managing and providing supportive funding for the sector’s activities, in addition to implementing the strategic plans entrusted to it.

With the establishment of 11 cultural entities that emanated from the sub-sectors of culture, the ministry will focus its work on six main pillars to give a thrust on performing its role, facing the challenges and achieving its aspirations for an integrated development of the environment.

This begins with the leading role of the cultural sector, as well as developing the cultural environment with enacting possible regulatory frameworks, exchanging global culture and appraising and nurturing talent, in addition to preserving Saudi heritage and culture.

Returning to the phase of building the “foundations’ of the institutional sector of culture, many stakeholders within the cultural sector do not hide their optimism with what they call the “Badr Bin Farhan Mix” to achieve the goals of his ministry.

Although the minister is still in the phase of establishment and construction, which usually requires more time as it focuses heavily on education and capacity-building for young people, the cultural successes won by the Saudis on the foreign domain, indicate the effectiveness of the great work based on several directions at the same time, which was revealed by the minister in a press interview last September.

The ministry’s initiatives to remove stagnancy in many cultural aspects, such as including music as part of the curriculum of educational institutions and arts academies, and the dilemma of full-time job faced by intellectuals and innovators, cultural scholarship and so on, gave a clear message that the ministry is determined to find a solution to all these challenges with its strategy that was announced in March 2019.