Govt Panel Exploring Ways to Promote Folk Art

Govt Panel Exploring Ways to Promote Folk Art
Javid Hassan & Ali Al-Zahrani, Arab News

RIYADH, 21 February 2014 — A multi-agency committee has been formed to focus on assistance to Saudi craftsmen, Arab News has learned.

Majid Al-Sheddi of the Supreme Commission for Tourism said members of this committee, comprised of representatives of 10 governmental departments, have visited many countries to study ways of developing folk art industries.

Saudi craftsmen who were interviewed by Arab News at the Janadriya Festival said that they had been contacted by the SCT two years ago as part of the registration of craftsmen for providing them financial assistance. “The SCT people have not come back to us, and we are still waiting,” Mohammed Al-Jamhan, a craftsman from Qassim, told Arab News.

Both Al-Jamhan and Saleh Abdulaziz Al-Saggouf, also from the Qassim area, said it would be a good idea if the SCT set up a handicrafts emporium in the model of the National Products Center of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“We really need a place where people could come and buy handicrafts,” said Al-Saggouf. “Since there are no conducted tours for visiting businessmen coming from abroad, a handicrafts showroom is highly desirable.”

The artisans felt the need for training facilities for newcomers into the field in order to save the handicraft industry from extinction. “Unfortunately, there is no such facility,” Yusuf Mehmood Al-Owaish from Al-Hasa told Arab News.

Asked to comment on the plight of the Saudi craftsmen, Al-Sheddi told Arab News that the SCT was fully committed to helping the artisans. “We always inform them beforehand about upcoming cultural festivals. This provides them an avenue for earning their livelihood,” he said.

The SCT official said that they are in talks with the Louvre Museum authorities of France for an exchange of ideas on the management of museums.

Referring to the high-level committee, he said its members have visited Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Morocco, countries that all have flourishing handicrafts industries.

“We want to draw on their experience in formulating a long-term strategy for the development and rehabilitation of the handicrafts trade in the Kingdom,” said Al-Sheddi.

He pointed out that French President Jacques Chirac is likely to visit the Kingdom in the near future. The presidential delegation will include a member of the Louvre who will identify areas of cooperation for establishing museums in the Kingdom.

Al-Sheddi said the private sector could play a major role in promoting domestic tourism. “Our long-term strategy is to involve the private sector in this regard,” he said.