Unity in a Time of Uncertainty: Ithra’s Approach During the Pandemic in Saudi Arabia by Lama Alissa

Unity in a Time of Uncertainty:

Ithra’s Approach During the Pandemic in Saudi Arabia by Candida Pestana and Lama Alissa

andida Pestana is Curator of Contemporary Art at Ithra. She has more than a decade of experience in museum development and cultural diplomacy. Pestana holds a Master’s degree in Curatorial Studies from the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland and a Bachelor’s degree in painting from the University of Porto in Portugal. At Ithra, Pestana leads the development of the modern and contemporary art collections, and fosters partnerships and opportunities for artists in the Middle East, such as the annually awarded Ithra Art Prize.

L D

ama Alissa holds a Master’s degree in Design History and Curatorial Paris avisonStudies Chiwarafrom is a Parsons lecturer in and a Bachelor’s in Communication Design thedegree Department of Archaeology, from the Paris College of Art. She has Cultural Heritage andworked Museum with the French auction house Ader Entreprises Studies at the Midlands State University & Patrimoine, the Parisian gallery Art Photo Expo, in Zimbabwe. His research focuses the Saudi pavillion at the 58th edition of the Veniceand on conservation of cultural property Biennale, as well as with ASIA NOW and fotofever. public participation in the arts. He has She is currently Assistant Curator of Contemporary presented several research papers, Art at Ithra. including in 2014 at the American Institute of Conservation (AIC) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, ‘Securing the Future of Collections in Zimbabwe’s National Museums through Preventive Conservation: The Case of Zimbabwe Military Museum’ (forthcoming publication in Inter‑Disciplinary Perspectives on the Heritage of Zimbabwe: Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies); in 2015, at the AIC Annual Meeting, Miami, ‘Bridging Theory and Practice in the Conservation of Zimbabwe’s Dry stone walled structures: An Outline of the Restoration Project of Naletale National Monument’; in 2015, at the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists Conference, Harare, ‘A False Sense of Security: The State of Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Collections in Zimbabwean Museums’; and in 2016, at the International Institute of Conservation (IIC) Congress, Los Angeles, ‘Conserving Contemporary Artworks: Perspectives of Artists and Curators at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’.

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Ithra’s pandemic-era initiatives with local, national and international targeted audiences comprised its hybrid flagship creativity festival, a pair of locally oriented celebrations that used motor vehicles instead of interior spaces, and a virtual initiative—Ithra Connect— that comprised more than 50 virtual programmes.

Tduring lockdown (March to July

he social impact of Ithra’s efforts

2020) was considerable; feedback and online numbers far surpassed the centre’s expectations. Covid-19 restrictions had prompted the then-empty centre to redouble its virtual outreach approaches, giving audiences an outlet from their confinement while remaining in the safety of their homes. Ithra grew and expanded its audiences during the pandemic while institutions operating elsewhere under different cultural and economic models were shuttering their operations. Since it opened in 2018, Ithra has received more than 1.8 million visitors, 80 per cent of which are locals from the Eastern Province (Ithra 2021).

SCompany, developed Ithra as part of

audi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian Oil

the company’s corporate social responsibility policy on the occasion of the kingdom’s 75th anniversary (Ithra 2020c). Ithra’s mission is ‘to make a tangible and positive impact on human development by inspiring a passion for knowledge, creativity and cross-cultural engagement for the future of the Kingdom’ (Ithra 2020e). Ithra is particularly unique,

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arch 2020 was a time of turmoil across the international museum sector. The Covid-19 pandemic response led cultural institutions such as museums to close for months. Saudi Arabia responded to the pandemic with relative success, largely because it assertively implemented tactics including lockdowns, masks, social distancing and a national vaccination status app (Saudi Arabia Population Statistics 2021). Hence, the country had only one lockdown, from March 2020 to mid-June 2020, with public life gradually moving towards normality since then. Nevertheless, the Saudi museum sector has been affected by the lockdown. Ithra (King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture) closed its doors in mid-March 2020, in line with what was happening globally. It was found that 90 per cent of museums—85,000 around the world—had closed (Vision 2030 2016) and more than 15 per cent would remain permanently closed after the pandemic (Ministry of Culture 2020). Not surprisingly, museum attendance was down more than 70 per cent worldwide (UNESCO 2021). The grassroots cultural sector is also at great risk. ‘Grassroots culture’ includes non-institutionalised popular culture and is often consumed in music venues as well as studios, independent art spaces and artist workspaces (Travkina and Luigi Sacco 2020). London, for example, predicts that as many as 90 per cent of its grassroots venues are facing permanent closure because of the social-distancing measures implemented during the pandemic (UNESCO 2021). Saudi Arabia, however, has been seeing an increase of grassroots cultural venues as a result of Covid-19 and growth in the cultural and creative sectors, including impact, innovations and planning for the post-crisis period (OECD 2020a). The pandemic has not been without personal costs for Saudis. Nearly a fourth of Saudi Arabians have experienced moderate to severe psychological impact due to Covid-19 (Alkhamees et al. 2020, p. 8). According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), museums play a significant role in people’s well-being and ‘support inclusion and participation of all in society’ (Ithra 2019). Museums can be great regional economic engines, offering clear benefits to societies (OECD and ICOM 2019). But could a single museum also be part of the Saudi response to Covid-19? The team at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Ithra, certainly thinks so. because it is a cultural institution in a land without a robust history of cultural institutions—Saudi Arabia, a nation of 35 million people only has about 84 public museums, while the United States has over 35,000 (Bullard 2014). Moreover, according to UNESCO, the global number of museums has increased by almost 60 per cent since 2012 (COVID-19: UNESCO and ICOM concerned about the situation faced by the world’s museums 2020)— ‘demonstrating how important they have become in national cultural policies over the past decade’ (Saudi Arabia Population Statistics 2021 2021). The Ithra library would have to build its own audiences as well; according to the Ministry of Culture, in 2019, ‘the 84 government-funded public libraries throughout the Kingdom’s cities and governorates have been challenged with severe underperformance and lack of supplies, which resulted in low numbers of visitors’ (Ministry of Culture 2019).

Idents are under 35, Saudi Arabia is now n a country where two thirds of resi-

being driven to change at a revolutionary pace. In 2016, the kingdom announced

Vision 2030 and, in 2020, the National Transformation Program, an ambitious set of initiatives that aim to diversify the nation’s economy and move away from full dependence on the oil industry, advance quality of life and develop the sectors of health, education, culture, tourism as well as urban infrastructure (Vision 2030 2016). The cultural component of Vision 2030, which is led by the newly established (2019) Ministry of Culture, has been organised with 11 new commissions ‘to manage the various cultural subsectors with greater efficiency, flexibility, and autonomy’ (Ministry of Culture 2020). Vision 2030 has accelerated the Saudi people’s interest in consuming arts and culture, but it has also provided them with opportunities to engage creatively with arts and express themselves, including the development of cinemas, cinema productions and theatres and the establishment of the Saudi Theatre and Performing Arts Commission, art spaces, museums, galleries and seasonal festivals including music, culinary arts, poetry, theatre and contemporary art (Ministry of Culture 2020).

Fig. 1. Ithra building designed by Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, 2019. © The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra)

Ibefore Vision 2030 was announced in

thra was established as a project in 2008

2016 (Rashad 2016); it was officially inaugurated in 2016 before opening to the general public in 2018. In 2015, Ithra hosted several programmes before the building opened. It hosted 6,700 contestants in its national reading competition iRead, more than 10,000 students in its STEM-oriented iSpark programme and reached more than 200,000 students and teachers through the Ithra Youth initiative (Saudi Aramco 2015). The Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta was selected to design the building after winning an international architectural competition (Fig. 1). The iconic building includes a four-floor library, the 18-floor Ithra Tower, the three-floor Idea Lab, the Energy Exhibit, a five-gallery museum, a 315-seat cinema, a 900-seat performing arts theatre, the 1,500 m2 Great Hall and a children’s museum (Ithra n.d.).

Iand map the effects of the Covid-19

n this article, we set out to understand

pandemic on the institutional presence and programming of Ithra as a cultural centre emerging at a moment of unparalleled cultural change—modelled by Vision 2030—which is specific to Saudi Arabia.

Othe narrative we seek to portray is

ur methods are limited, because

the story of a unique cultural centre in a nation without a long history of such

centres. The context is an unprecedented pandemic in an era of extraordinary change in international culture communities and cultural and creative industries (CCI). To a certain extent, we have relied on studies and internal data and framed these, when necessary, with national and international references. Although this is a historiographic study of Ithra’s attempts to create new audiences during a time of crisis, it could be an example of best practices and reflections in critical times. These are key contrasts for us, but we ultimately argue that the historical and practical positions in the digitisation discourse can benefit from the example of this unusual Saudi institution, where the CCI and cultural consumption are decidedly nascent.

Ttive approach, we take a close look at o accurately portray Ithra’s proac-

three of Ithra’s pandemic-era initiatives with local, national and international targeted audiences: its hybrid flagship creativity festival, a pair of locally oriented celebrations that used motor vehicles instead of interior spaces, and a virtual initiative—Ithra Connect—that comprised more than 50 virtual programmes. What we found is that because Ithra was already deeply engaged in outreach and in connecting with new audiences in a social media-savvy nation, the centre was unusually well positioned to be a leader during a time when lockdowns and institutional closures

encouraged culture producers, distributors and consumers to move to creative and largely online platforms.

Ilic, Ithra was named one of the top

n 2018, the year it opened to the pub-

100 places to visit in the world by TIME magazine, having been ‘selected across a range of categories and evaluated for quality, originality, innovation, sustainability and influence’ (Al-Hussain 2018). The centre foresees a future in which Saudi Arabia is a beacon for knowledge and creativity. Through inspiring a passion for knowledge, creativity and cross-cultural engagement for the kingdom, Ithra aims to make a positive impact on human development. Since then, it has evolved into a hub for culture, knowledge and creative entrepreneurialism. A distinction that sets Ithra apart from most international cultural centres is that, in addition to its focus on fine arts, theatre, cinema and museums, it includes a new cultural form – an innovation studio called ‘the Idea Lab’. It is an essential component of the centre that is dedicated to creativity, innovation and cultural entrepreneurialism, and it represents a critical pillar of Ithra’s mission: creativity. This puts Ithra in rarefied company, along with just a few cultural centres, such as the UK’s Somerset House, Media Lab Prado in Milan and Miraikan in Tokyo. Moreover, Ithra is an institution that has to reinvent itself constantly, since its total numbers depend MUSEUM international | 123

Fig. 2. Aerial view of zone two of Eid on Wheels, 2020. © The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra)

on repeated visitation rather than on new audiences. Ithra’s audience has to be constantly engaged, activated and motivated to create interest, curiosity and commitment to the institution, especially since audience development is key in every institution (Waltl 2006, p. 1).

Imodel than, for example, American

thra, however, has a different financial

museums, which are largely non-profits aiming to generate sustainable sources of revenue—from, for example, donations, grants or ticket sales—and are as much at the whim of the marketplace as for-profit enterprises (Bell 2016). Ithra, a community initiative by Saudi Aramco is a non-profit cultural institution that is not subject to such market-based factors. However, it still faced significant

The digital flâneur

Efer insight into a consumer cul-

ach of the three case studies of-

ture shaped by the physical and virtual presence of materials. The cultural critic Walter Benjamin examined the links between consumer culture and capitalism ‘with an emphasis on the transformation from a culture of production to one of consumption’ (Schwartz 2005, p. 1727). He notes that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the introduction of the Paris arcades (pedestrian

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challenges during the lockdown period in Saudi Arabia with closed facilities and the majority of the staff operating from their homes. In fact, this shift helped fuel Ithra’s move to not only prioritise but also greatly increase its virtual programming; it added videos about art, podcasts, quiz shows, live daily children’s programming, a collective Covid-19 diary, a high-profile international UNESCO ResiliArt programme, articles, interviews, videos, stories for children, classes, society gatherings, a Covid-19-related exhibition and more. The centre’s virtual initiative, the UNESCO-recognised Ithra Connect, doubled its programmes to more than 50, which reached more than 10 million people in July 2020 alone (Ithra 2020e).

Wsets of Ithra’s cultural content as

passages covered under roofs of glass and iron) led to economic, cultural and behavioural changes in France’s capital city. Similarly, the introduction of the internet in the late 20th century resulted in some surprisingly similar perspectival changes—experienced through coded images and texts displayed on technological devices. From the early 1960s, the post-war acceleration of new technologies was already visible (Foster et al. 2016, p. 849). For Benjamin, the arcades

were seen as ‘commodity capitalism’s original temple’ and signified modernity (Benjamin 2002). They represented the home turf of his modernist hero—the ‘flâneur’—who would consume culture not by purchasing goods, but by strolling about a place to take it in through observation (Ibid.). The flâneur is like an early version of an internet surfer or even a social media ‘lurker’, browsing about an immaterial cyberspace. While a website might seem to have a single

hat follows is a closer look at three

case studies for the success of the centre’s pandemic programming. Eid on Wheels allowed visitors to attend Ithra’s interactive festivities in their cars. Tanween, Ithra’s flagship creativity festival, had to change format to adapt to new rules and health protocols. Finally, we examine Ithra Connect, an umbrella initiative that delivered more than twice the originally planned number of virtual programmes during the early days of the pandemic.

media theorist and educator Marshall McLuhan, known for his expression ‘the medium is the message’ (Boulding 1965), claims that the way we send and receive information—the medium—is more important than the message itself. The technology that transfers the message plays a role in impacting our behaviour as individuals and as societies. Thus electronic communications marked the return

to a global village (Harrison and Wood 2003, p. 754). With the digital age, messages have been restricted to a specific number of words and seconds—whether a 140-character tweet or a 60-second Instagram reel. Throughout our programmes, we use these physical and virtual platforms to disseminate ideas and connect with our audiences.

Eed by Muslims worldwide to mark Agramme approach was Ithra’s Eid on

traditional ardah dance and contemporary electronic dance. The third zone, ‘Car Orchestra’, invited visitors to be the performers of the show by blowing their car horns collectively to the beat of a classical symphony: (Fig. 2). A conductor directed the cars, as instructions were displayed on the screens. Snacks were distributed in the fourth zone. In the final station, ‘Carpark Quiz’, visitors took part in a trivia game; the fastest to answer a question would win. The journey ended with a photo opportunity called ‘Car Photobooth’. A green screen was placed behind each car, and visitors could choose their background and whether they wanted a physical copy of their photo or a digital version. The event was broadcast live on Ithra’s YouTube channel (Ithra 2020b).

point of entry—the home page—it can be accessed from almost anywhere: direct search, a link from social media, a note from a friend or an emailed advertisement, for example. Both the arcades and the internet are sites for consuming materials. Material objects “are complex, symbolic bundles of social, cultural, and individual meanings fused onto something” physical (Martin 1993). Canadian

Taking Eid to the streets

id al-Fitr is a festive holiday celebrat-

the end of the dawn-to-sunset fasting of the holy month of Ramadan. Before Covid-19, Ithra’s Eid al-Fitr festivities— featuring programmes and activities for all ages—was enjoyed by wide audiences. In 2019, Ithra received 42,000 visitors over four days. In 2020, due to the lockdown and health protocols, Ithra took the celebration to the people with a joyous parade consisting of four wagons that roamed the streets for four days from 24 to 27 May through five cities (Khobar, Dammam, Dhahran, Qatif and Saihat) in the Eastern Province. Each wagon showcased a different theme and traditions catering to all ages. The parade was broadcast by a drone-filmed virtual live feed, aimed at engaging the public, while they were confined to the comfort and safety of their homes.

particularly

innovative

pro-

Wheels—a celebration of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday that honours the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son in obedience to God’s command.

EAugust 2020. Because socially dis-

id on Wheels was launched on 1

tanced visitor circulation remained a concern, the Ithra team used Ithra’s outdoor space and created an in-car interactive experience accessible to all members of the local audience. Tickets—which sold out in one day—were available online and only in limited quantities. The seemingly endless stream of comments on Instagram and Twitter made clear the public’s desire for the centre to extend the event and offer more tickets. Consequently, the event was doubled in length and extended to 6 August.

Tdience of more than 100,000 people. Tbuilding is 1.4 km long and, for Eid he parade had an estimated live au-

he Ring Road surrounding the Ithra

People greeted the performers from their windows and doorsteps, held ‘thank-you signs’ and expressed their gratitude and thanks on social media. The hashtag ‘#Ithra_Eid’ was trending and went viral in the Gulf Cooperation Council, and a video was posted on Ithra’s YouTube channel (Ithra 2020d).

on Wheels, it included five stations. Elements of Eid were incorporated in the five zones, so families and groups of friends could engage in games, enjoy tasty treats and experience live performances. The event featured eight to 10 sessions a day, each with 20 cars. The experience required the use of one’s phone throughout the journey, but Ithra also provided a variety of screens throughout the zones to display instructions in both Arabic and English. The experience also included green-screen photography, colourful lights and upbeat music (Wqa Electronic Newspaper 2020). Upon entering, each car required a ticket with a scannable barcode. Visitors were greeted with an explanatory video of the journey and the safety measures in place. A card was also provided for contacting Ithra employees in the case of an emergency. The cars were assigned to specific groups that were each accompanied by a guide. Every zone had a story. In zones one and two, visitors viewed two performances:

Oopened and the museum welcomed

n 23 June 2020, Ithra’s doors re-

a limited but safe and socially distanced public (Ithra 2020a). Lifting the lockdown meant the programmes needed to be readjusted from being exclusively virtual to a new form of socially distanced physicality. Engagement strategies needed to be rethought and, sometimes, created from scratch. For those unable to physically visit the institution, Ithra’s online presence continued through its website and social media platforms.

[The pandemic] helped fuel Ithra’s move to not only prioritise but also greatly increase its virtual programming; it added videos about art, podcasts, quiz shows, live daily children’s programming, a collective Covid-19 diary, a high-profile international UNESCO ResiliArt programme, articles, interviews, videos, stories for children, classes, society gatherings, a Covid-19-related exhibition and more.

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Fig. 3. ‘Faseelah Pavilion x Building Simplicity’ talk during Tanween 2021. © The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra)

Tanween: The New Next – Creativity is the Way Forward

Lflagship creativity festival. It gathers ed by the Idea Lab, Tanween is Ithra’s

speakers and performers from around the world. It provides young Saudis and aspiring entrepreneurs with direct access to international experts through workshops, seminars, masterclasses, mentorship sessions and exhibitions. Its aim is to be a platform where new ideas and creativity thrive. Ithra typically hosts Tanween over a four-week period. The first edition of Tanween explored the theme of ‘Disruption’; the second theme was ‘Play’. The event targeted both the general local audience of families and children as well as Ithra’s core audience of emerging and professional creatives. In 2018, Tanween had 60,000 visitors; this increased to 100,000 the following year. In 2020, Tanween had an audience of 18,000 (Frith 2021).

Ctomed to commenting on social ontemporary users, now so accus-

media, have motivated cultural institutions to rethink the presentation of their programming and how they engage visitors (Simon 2010). Ithra is one such institution: it takes feedback seriously. The precipitous drop in Tanween’s visitor numbers in 2020 was the result of professional precision; instead of seeking to attract increasingly larger numbers of visitors and a broader audience, Tanween decided to focus on content more relevant for its target audience. The festival focuses on the CCI, and the 2020 target audience was change- making creatives—the next generation of the Saudi creative economy. Footfall during Tanween 2020 totalled 17,000 people, who visited in person in October 2020. Yet Tanween had refocused not on

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the local footfall audience but on a core audience of creatives and innovators. Tanween 2020 sold 800 in-person participation tickets and more than 1,000 online participation tickets—which included masterclasses, portfolio reviews and one-on-one mentor sessions. In other words, Tanween more successfully targeted its desired audience—the next generation who will drive the kingdom’s creative economy. Overall, Tanween welcomed a total of 170,000 visitors from 2018 to 2020 (Ithra 2020f).

DIthra would open its doors in 2020,

espite the uncertainty as to whether

the team had continued working on the third iteration of Tanween with the theme ‘The New Next – Creativity is the Way Forward’. It was a direct response to the pandemic, reaching out to creative professionals on the topic of dealing with the uncertain future. However, because travel restrictions were still in effect, international speakers could not be physically present. Tanween 2020 was a hybrid event of virtual and in-person programmes, including workshops, masterclasses, talks and one-on-one sessions with professionals. It was changed from a 15-day programme to a four-day programme. With the challenges during the pandemic, Tanween has been a key factor for inspiring individual creativity and promoting the creative industry in Saudi Arabia.

Wprogrammes, the Idea Lab could ith a virtual component to the

accurately evaluate and track the attendance preferences. As a result, for 2021, Tanween changed its 2021 strategy according to its 2020 findings. According

to Robert Frith, the creative director of Tanween, individuals interested in certain disciplines would only attend offerings related to that discipline. It is key to listen to what audiences need and how they want to learn, develop and communicate. Accordingly, the programme system for Tanween 2021 has been redesigned to make the content discipline- specific, focused on one discipline per week rather than concurrent streams of diverse content. For example, the four focused disciplines were: Emerging Creatives, Creative Economies, Graphics & Communications and Architecture & Products. The creativity festival took place physically and ran for two weeks, from 27 October to 23 November 2021, and hosted 30 talks, 10 masterclasses, seven workshops and four experiences (Fig. 3). There were only four speakers that joined virtually from Japan, Hong Kong, Finland and Amsterdam, and there were two virtual masterclasses. In addition, Tanween 2021 saw a balanced number of speakers—with a ratio of 23 male and 24 female speakers. It also saw a diverse selection of speakers, from 13 countries and speaking different languages. The sessions were offered in Arabic and in English: 21 sessions were conducted in Arabic and 23 sessions were in English. The target audience fell into three main groups: emerging creatives, creative professionals and the creative industry, and the general public. In fact, as shown in figure 4, the total number of visitors for Tanween 2021, 31,048 visitors, is almost double the number of 2020 visitors. All in all, the plans to concentrate the disciplines for Tanween 2021 were proven to be effective (Frith 2021).

ResiliArt Viewers Analytics Gender

Age categories

Geographical representation

Female

41.3%

Male

58.7%

18 – 24 years old

15.81%

25 – 34 years old

49.80%

35 – 44 years old

34.39%

Saudi Arabia

744 viewers

Bahrain

37 viewers

The United States

35 viewers

The United Kingdom

23 viewers

The United Arab Emirates

20 viewers

Morocco

14 viewers

Qatar

11 viewers

Table 1. Analytics views of ResiliArt panel discussion titled ‘Dystopia to Utopia: Our Changing Cultural Landscape’ in partnership with UNESCO, 18 June 2020. Total Number of Tanween Visitors 120 000 100 000 80 000 60 000 40 000 20 000 0 2018

2019

2020

2021

Ithra Connect

IMuseums, Farah Abushullaih, spoke Fdemic as a critical time for active Hmoral mission with the increased n an interview, the head of Ithra

about how Ithra transitioned virtually as the pandemic arrived: ‘Covid hit at a sensitive time. We had to show the people that Ithra was still here. As Ithra goes beyond the walls of the building, so does its impact on people’ (Abushullaih 2021). At the same time that the country closed down in early March, so did Ithra. Consequently, a new, virtual approach had to be adopted. As noted in the Ithra Covid-19 Report: With the Saudi public’s heavy reliance on social media and virtual platforms for information and culture consumption [it represented] a real opportunity for the arts and culture sector to grow over the next few years, and such growth might have already begun even during quarantine. (Alrashid et al. n.d., p. 9).

rom the start, Ithra treated the pan-

outreach:

Ithra responded to the global lockdown by developing an unprecedented amount of new and relevant content to serve our audiences online. Content and engagement became an emergency service of sorts, assisting the public in dealing with the stress and isolation of lockdown. […] We led the way with Ithra Connect, a UNESCO‑recognised online initiative featuring more than 50 ongoing programmes […] We sought to connect with our audience and connect with new ones. (Ithra 2020e)

ere we see the convergence of Ithra’s

opportunity for connection as accessibility became easier. Democratization, or ease of accessibility, has been one of the brighter hallmarks of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Access is not what it used to be […] the use of online events allows people […] to take part from where they are. This represents a significant step forward in ensuring that a wider public can benefit from large cultural institutions […] Proximity is being replaced by accessibility, and subsequently, diversity. (Alrashid et al. p. 20)

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Gender Female Male

Nationality Saudi Non-Saudi

City of Residence in the Kingdom Eastern Province Outside of the Eastern Province 9.0%

37.0%

32.0%

63.0%

68.0%

91.0%

Fig. 5. Ithra Connect’s visitor demographics, including gender, nationality and city of residence in the kingdom in 2020.

Iprogramme at the right time. The pro- Tused Ithra’s digital platforms, such Othe pandemic offered the opporthra Connect represented the right

he newly launched programmes

nline culture consumption during

grammes included design and arts and crafts workshops, a Covid-19 collective journal, exhibitions, articles, podcasts, videos, cultural discussion and societies for Ithra’s components (art, theatre and film). Additionally, a ResiliArt international panel discussion was held in partnership with UNESCO; titled Dystopia to Utopia: Our Changing Cultural Landscape, this panel saw a broad geographic reach that extended to the following countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Qatar and the United Kingdom (Table 1). Table 1 provides further data on the gender, age and geographical location of the viewers of ResiliArt.

as the official website, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. The Ithra Connect videos alone were viewed millions of times. The impact of Ithra Connect has been recognised on the regional level by the Middle East Public Relations Association, the region’s leading body for public relations and communication professionals. Ithra won the silver award for the Ithra Connect campaign in the Best Arts and Culture category at the Middle East Public Relations Association Awards. The award was for Ithra’s creative communications in expanding its reach during the global pandemic, using art, innovation and design to engage with domestic, regional and international communities.

tunity to extend Ithra’s international reach. Ithra Connect included exclusive, live online talks with international and regional figures such as the acclaimed English actor Idris Elba, the American astrophysicist Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson and the international architect Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, founder of Snøhetta (Ithra 2020e). Many of the virtual programmes were initially intended to be physical, such as the summer camp for kids. The chart above (Fig. 5) illustrates visitors’ gender, nationality, city of residence in the kingdom.

A flexible model committed to its audience

Ibeen both a human and a cultural trag-

n no uncertain terms, the pandemic has

edy. To report on Ithra’s success during Covid-19 is meant in no way to dismiss the personal, social and economic misery suffered by millions of people around the world—including Ithra’s staff and audience communities. A close look at the shape and outcome of Ithra’s responses to the sudden shift in social distancing, ordered closures and mandatory adjustments reveals a model of a cultural institution that is flexible, creative and healthy. Ithra never took its eyes off its commitment to its audiences—whether

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national, global or local. Ithra used its resources to reach out actively—an already important function in a region not used to frequenting museums, movies, theatres, cinemas or cultural centres.

Devents continued to be held by the espite the fact that programmes and

centre, the institution experienced a few setbacks. Our focus had to shift towards the virtual space, with an infrastructure that was not yet configured to accommodate these changes. The impact was more obvious in a few programmes, where only basic structures were in

BReport (Ithra 2020d, p. 2), the pro-

ased on the Ithra Connect Evaluation

grammes met or exceeded 69 per cent of visitors’ overall expectations, and one third of the visitors were non-Saudis. In other words, the programmes drew a satisfied and genuinely international audience.

place. However, with time, we refined our strategy, tactics and tools so that our virtual face could be more engaging, approachable and clear. We consulted with the Head of Communications at Ithra, Hadeel Al‑Eisa, about the challenges faced in pivoting into the digital realm; she commented: ‘All tools were used to open windows behind closed doors […] Ithra has a lot to communicate but had to manage well. The positives [outweighed] the negatives, and this helped us reach a new type of audience and engage with international influencers, partnerships and audiences” (Al-Eisa 2021).

Pcation relied on different channels

rior to the pandemic, communi-

and on promoting and positioning content. Our approach was to prioritise increasing awareness and visits to the center over creating virtual content (Ibid.). However, during the pandemic our strategy was focussed on using the full potential of our manpower to accomplish different tasks rather than on laying off staff. Due to the rapid adaptation of

our offering to the virtual world during Covid-19, our digital space and, in particular our website, is playing catch-up to deliver an end-user experience that meets the high expectations of our online audience. Additionally, the timeline of delivering our online collection has been extended. Meanwhile, our focus has been on our social media platforms, where we have more direct access to the community.

s recently as 2014, Saudi Arabia was the world’s top per-capita consumer of YouTube content (Kagel 2013). Saudi Arabia is a nation dedicated to social media and online information. As an institution that had a theatre and a cinema before these were allowed in the kingdom and as a cultural centre that has the first children’s museum and innovation lab in the nation, Ithra has not only helped to lead the way, but it has had to pioneer its outreach approach. In fact, ‘social media is increasingly becoming an expectation for visitors’ (Lord and Piacente 2014, p. 351). Because social media was already part of Ithra’s strategy for targeting and educating the public about change and new experiences (WARC 2020), the centre was in a prime position to innovate digital engagement with its audience. Not surprisingly, the pandemic led visitors to go online and reach out through platforms such as Zoom and Instagram—where consumption of international online content more than doubled. While museums and cultural institutions around the world have been devastated by Covid-19, the pandemic also created an ecosystem of unforeseen and previously unimagined opportunities – new and popular online platforms, an increase of digital platforms for culture consumption and ranks of telecommuters, for instance (Gruyot and Sawhill 2020). Ithra’s ResiliArt panel discussion in partnership with UNESCO, for example, allowed Ithra to host a truly international conversation, from a Middle Eastern perspective, about the state of the creative sector around the world during the pandemic. Ithra took a new approach by moving beyond its physical space and reaching communities in their homes and beyond. In a time of Covid-19 curfews, the institution decided to take celebrations to the people and perform on the streets. Ithra, as a fairly new institution, took some bold steps to get through to their audience by alternative means. This is the future of cultural institutions: we can no longer passively stand by and expect visitors to come to us. Rather, offerings have to be based on outreach, both physical and virtual. This pandemic brought about substantive challenges and financial constraints to the arts and culture sector, but there are valuable lessons to be learned.

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Acknowledgements ▶ We would like to express our deepest gratitude and thanks to our editor Daniel Kany and to our fellow colleagues at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) for their unwavering support and essential contribution to this article: Abdullah K. AlRashid, Ahmed AlSadah, Ahmed Al Thani, Ashraf AlFagih, Ayan AlSomali, Farah Abushullaih, Fatema AlKatheer, Duaa AlMubasher, Ghannam AlGhannam, Hadeel Al-Eisa, Hatim Taha, Jose Agustin Ruiz, Manar AlDhwila, Mizna AlZamil, Mohammad AlOtaibi, Munirah AlSafra, Noura AlZamil, Norah AlKhalfan, Razan Alissa, Robert Frith, Shujoon AlQahtani and Yasir Qunais.

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