Museums Authority announced today the launch of its strategy. <Dr. Stefano Carbone, CEO of the Authority, explained that the strategy seeks to bring about tangible development in a vital and important sector such as the museum sector through a vision, mission and well-defined objectives in order to develop the sector, develop its content and programs, empower and train its employees, and create an environment that develops Saudi museums and elevates them to be real cultural platforms that provide diverse knowledge content and attract local and international audiences. The strategy of the Museums Authority is aligned with the National Strategy for Culture and Vision 2030. The strategy defines the value chain through 4 main axes: the social and economic output of the museum sector, its contribution to the field of culture, the activities it will offer, and its enabling tools, which include talent development, financing, supportive partnerships, licenses and regulations. In its strategy, it addressed the key role that museums play in socio-economic development by planning to add new and diverse classifications for museums around the Kingdom. <The strategy also defined the vision that it will follow and stipulated the establishment of national museums as inspiring destinations and catalysts for cultural and community participation for citizens, residents and visitors, while its mission, which it seeks to achieve, is to protect, promote and present the national heritage from all over the world for the purposes of study, education and entertainment, giving the Kingdom a place on the global cultural scene with the highest quality standards, while the strategic objectives included 12 objectives: enriching institutions and collections, enhancing the value of existing heritage content, expanding the reach of museums using high-quality institutions and increasing visitation rates. <The strategy will contribute to the development of existing museums such as the National Museum and Masmak Palace Museum. It will also develop a large number of museums around the Kingdom, from Arar to Najran and from Abha to Dammam by 2024, in addition to several large and small museums in the coming years until 2030. The first museums to be established include the Tariq Abdul Hakim Museum in Jeddah and the Black Gold Museum in Riyadh. The Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art will have a temporary home in the new Jax neighborhood in Diriyah until the opening of the Grand Museum in the coming years, while mid-term plans include the opening of flagship museums such as the Royal Art Complex Museum, the Museum of Digital Arts and the Prince Mohammed bin Salman International Center for Arabic Calligraphy. It aims to create a healthy space for Saudi museums to grow and develop spontaneously by distributing them around the Kingdom, diversifying their specialties and collections, attracting local and international audiences, creating organizational visions and strong educational programs, building a new generation of museum professionals, and creating commercial opportunities to diversify sources of income.
