RIYADH — A total of 16 nonprofit professional societies will be created in 13 cultural sectors in the Kingdom. This is part of the ministry's strategy for the nonprofit sector approved by Minister of Culture Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Farhan. The strategy aims to build a diverse system of nonprofit entities in various cultural sectors in all regions of the Kingdom. The Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the Quality of Life Program and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, will launch these societies during the year 2021. These organizations will form professional links for Saudi intellectuals and artists and will provide opportunities for professionals in these sectors to develop their skills, build their initiatives, develop awareness, form support mechanisms, and create an attractive social model for professionalism in culture and arts. The Ministry of Culture is working on building an executive plan to create sustainable societies. The Ministry of Culture will implement its plan for the nonprofit sector by dividing nonprofit organizations into five categories such as civil institutions, professional societies, specialized societies, cooperative societies, and amateur clubs and that is consistent with the system of civil societies and institutions. It will build a set of initiatives that form an appropriate context for nonprofit cultural organizations. The five categories will form an expression of a response to the essential needs of practitioners, amateurs, and those interested in various cultural sectors. The multiplicity of forms and initiatives also reflects the ministry's concern in expanding the scope of the indigenous practice of culture and arts. Minister Prince Badr thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for their continuous support for the nation's culture and intellectuals, as well as for enhancing the opportunities for the nonprofit sector to contribute to the development of cultural fields. "The objectives of the ministry's strategy for the nonprofit sector are its inclusion, its effective contribution to the cultural and social systems, its building of wide communication at the local and international levels, the safety of its administrative efficiency, and its financial stability." Prince Badr said that since the beginning of last year, the Ministry of Culture has worked on an analytical study of the nonprofit cultural sector in the Kingdom as well as in a number of other countries. The study came out with a number of proposals that served as the basis for the ministry's plan for the sector, which is summarized that culture is in its essence an organized civil action with government legislation, supported by the private sector. The study concluded the importance of re-classifying nonprofit cultural organizations in accordance with their roles to a broader than the two-fold classification established in the system of NGOs and civil institutions, and the importance of developing them in terms of their geographical distribution, measuring their social and economic impact, expanding their areas of competence in view of the cultural sectors. This is in addition to developing their administrative, marketing, and operational capabilities and aligning them with the system of civil societies and institutions, and raising their ability to create new opportunities to attract support. Referring to the ministry's support for these organizations, the minister has directed that public libraries, cultural centers, and literary clubs headquarters, and cultural and art associations will be made available to hold activities of the new organizations. The ministry has invited interested persons to apply to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to establish their own civil institutions, and their civil and cooperative societies in the fields of literature, publishing, translation, libraries, heritage, museums, theater, and performing arts, music, films, fashion, cooking, architecture and design, and the visual arts. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Culture is working on a number of initiatives in support of nonprofit cultural organizations, and aims to expand the areas of professional practice, hobby, and volunteering in the fields of culture and the arts in order to achieve the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the National Strategy for Culture.
