One Minute World Arts- Saudi Arabia’s “Saudi Vision 2030”: Uplifting the Kingdom’s Performing Arts I
Over recent years, as part of the so-called Saudi Vision 2030 – a strategy made to diversify and enrich the country’s economy, development of the performing arts sector in Saudi Arabia has been accelerated. In 2018, the UK-based Chris Grady Organization (CGO) was brought in by the Theater and Performing Arts Commission of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture to initiate training programs for local theater designers and potential musical theater performers, so as to nurture more professional talents and move towards the goal of running a well-developed performing arts industry by 2030.
Ever since its founding in 2007, CGO has accumulated rich experiences in explorations and collaborations related to performing arts and the creative industry. It has worked side by side with artists and organizations, helping them forge connections and form networks, such as Korea / UK collaborations for making middle or small scale theater productions. During a 17-week musical theater workshop led by CGO in 2022, participants aged from 18 to 40s would present their musical performances, songs such as On My Own from Les Misérables and Stephen Sondheim’s Our Time, in English or Arabic at the end of the program in order to share with the Ministry of Culture as well as their family and friends the progress they made through repeated practice. Despite the fruitful results, CGO has still pointed out 3 challenges confronting the future development of Saudi Arabia’s performing arts industry: to develop a talent pool big and strong enough for performing Broadway-style shows with Arabic cultural characteristics, to build the infrastructure – not only staff and management but also proper facilities – that can support this, and, finally, to encourage the country’s vast population to come out of the malls and restaurants and spend their leisure time watching a live musical theater performance.
沙烏地阿拉伯的「願景2030」：提振表演藝術產業的新希望
近年來，沙烏地阿拉伯制定名為「願景2030」（Saudi Vision 2030）的政策，積極發展多元經濟，並藉此機會奮力促成國內表演藝術相關產業之提升。2018年起，立基於英國的國際劇場創意組織克里斯．葛瑞迪團隊（Chris Grady Organization，簡稱 CGO），應邀為沙國文化部所轄屬的「劇場暨表演藝術委員會」（Theater and the Performing Arts Commission）規劃課程，培訓音樂劇和戲劇製作所需的專業人才，包括設計師和表演者等，以趨近該國於2030年具體建構藝文表演產業鏈的目標。
CGO自2007年成立以來，累積了許多在表演藝術和創意產業上的開發、交流經驗，與不少國家及藝文團體建立合作關係，其中也包括韓、英跨國製作的中小型劇場。2022年，CGO在沙國舉辦了為期17週的音樂劇工作坊，學員年齡從18歲到40餘歲都有；在團隊的引領下，每位參與者最後都必須以英語或阿拉伯語進行成果發表，演出知名音樂劇的曲目，來呈現自身在反覆練習中所獲取的養分，其進展幅度之大相當令人振奮。儘管如此，CGO仍然標誌出未來沙國表演藝術產業必須持續耕耘的三大面向：其一，培養、打造豐足的人才庫，以利搬演具有阿拉伯文化特色的百老匯式音樂劇；其二，網羅行政人才、強化管理制度，並添購必要的設備；最後，則是設法鼓勵習慣在大賣場與餐廳消費的廣大國民進劇場觀賞演出。
Photo Credit ©Chris Grady, Nada Alturki, Mohammed Al-Kinani/Shutterstock, Saleh Fareed
Sources:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2232286/saudi-arabia
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1956076/saudi-arabia
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1919981/saudi-arabia
https://www.chrisgrady.org/cgo-development-international-training/
https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/bursary-scheme-launched-to-support-aspiring-migrant-producer