JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia plans to develop its arts and media industry to counter negative "stereotypes" of the conservative kingdom, which has no public cinemas or theatres and tightly controls its press.
The initiatives are part of the wide-ranging National Transformation Programme (NTP) which sets five-year targets for diversifying the oil-dependent economy.
"The intention also is to transform the society," Culture and Information Minister Adel al-Turaifi told reporters on Tuesday after the NTP was endorsed by the cabinet a day earlier.
While private film showings do take place in Saudi Arabia and small art exhibitions have occurred, the Wahhabi Islamic thought on which the kingdom is founded forbids paintings of the human form and frowns upon music.
But under the NTP a Royal Arts Complex would be developed, as well as a Media City.
Ahmed AlMulla, a poet and director of the Saudi Film Festival, welcomed the step but said the kingdom is starting from "ground zero."
AlMulla, based in the Gulf coast city of Dammam, told AFP by telephone that the kingdom's artists have only been able to work part-time. The sector needs an infrastructure including a base in the kingdom's educational institutions.
Artists, he said, "were like a rare coin banned from circulation."
Turaifi said that although some Saudi artists and performers have exhibited and gained popularity abroad, they "did not find the platform and space to support them" at home.
That will change with the Arts Complex which "would help convey a picture of Saudi Arabia to the world," he said in the press conference with other ministers.
Similarly, the Media City will develop the production skills of young Saudis and create local content which so far is "very limited", Turaifi said.
"What we're aiming to do is actually to provide institutions that can display their work, that can support them, that can provide them with grants, scholarships, to pursue their dreams of creating art," he said.
Neighbouring Dubai has a 15-year-old Media City which is a tax-free zone home to more than 2,000 regional and international media companies, including the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel.
- 'A treasure chest' -
Saudi Arabia took a more conservative course, including the banning of cinemas, after fundamentalists in 1979 seized Islam's holiest site, the Grand Mosque in Mecca, to oppose perceived Westernisation. They were eventually dislodged in a deadly assault by security forces.
"I am confident that my country is a treasure chest of artistic talents", AlMulla said.
But "it needs work" to recover from the legacy of "intimidation" by conservatives, he added.
In his remarks on Tuesday Turaifi did not mention cinemas, and neither does the NTP, but AlMulla thinks they will eventually return.
More than half of Saudi Arabia's citizen population is younger than 25, and living much of their lives online.
Saudis are voracious viewers of Internet videos.
The NTP targets 16,100 media and related jobs by 2020, up from 10,000 now, but the main goal is to improve the kingdom's image and promote its culture, according to Turaifi.
"During the last few decades accusations and stereotyping was instilled about Saudi Arabia," the minister said.
Asked whether the level of freedom of speech in the kingdom allows arts and media to flourish, he said Saudi newspapers "every day" carry criticisms of government programmes.
Turaifi said feedback was also important for the success of the NTP, part of the Vision 2030 reform drive led by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to wean the top oil exporter off its traditional source of revenue.
In an unusual display of public accessibility, government ministers each night this week are answering questions from local and foreign reporters on national television.
Saudi Arabia ranks 165 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.
The case of blogger Raif Badawi, who promoted free speech, generated worldwide concern. Arrested in 2012, he is serving 10 years in jail and has received 50 lashes of a 1,000-lash sentence.
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