Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Snap Inc. has chosen the Jax cultural district in Diriyah to set up its Saudi base and a content creator studio under a new agreement inked with the Ministry of Culture, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.

Jax district is considered the Kingdom’s trendiest creative hub boasting galleries, studios, and capabilities that incubate art and artists alike while inspiring the nation’s cultural movement.

The Saudi ministry and Snap Inc. have signed an agreement to adopt Augmented Reality (AR) solutions across the ministry’s portfolio of events and initiatives, as well as upskill local talent to master Snapchat’s unique offerings.

Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan and Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel witnessed the signing of the agreement at Jax District in Ad-Diriyah. The agreement was signed by Hamed Fayez, Deputy Minister of Culture, and Ben Schwerin, SVP of Content and Partnerships at Snap Inc.

The agreement comes as part of the ministry’s efforts to build partnerships with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to benefit the nation’s cultural scene across its various verticals, including the maximum leverage of cutting-edge technologies in this critical domain which represents a core component of Vision 2030’s Quality of Life program, besides collaborating to implement social service programs.

The company will invest its digital technologies into local cultural programs and events besides supporting the cultural sector in line with the ministry’s strategic plans to develop an interactive cultural experience on social media platforms and promote its creative content across 16 cultural sub-sectors.

Snapchat is a pioneering platform in Saudi Arabia with around 20 million active users. The visual messaging app offers the Saudi content creator community a unique stage to engage with its various features and innovative tools while helping the ministry in penetrating a large user base to market its programs, initiatives, and promotional campaigns.