Saudi Arabia’s creative economy is at a decisive moment, where ambition meets coordinated action. This high-level panel brings together the Ministers of Culture, Economy and Planning, and Investment, to present a unified vision of culture as a driver of prosperity. The discussion will explore how cultural priorities are embedded in economic forecasts, how infrastructure and heritage investments fuel competitiveness, and how culture is positioned as a key asset within national development. Together, the ministers will outline a national framework that secures culture as capital — delivering measurable impact, global influence, and lasting value for generations to come.
Culture today is not only heritage and identity but also an engine of growth and a field of investment. Saudi Arabia’s transformation demonstrates how national leadership, and cultural policy can turn ambition into structures that attract resources, build ecosystems, and expand global influence. This session will explore how governments worldwide are positioning culture as both a symbol of identity and an investable sector. Speakers will share perspectives on building sustainable cultural economies, creating frameworks that secure long-term resilience, and ensuring culture thrives as a driver of global relevance and prosperity.
At a time when stories transcend screens and capital meets creativity, film and media stand at the center of a rapidly changing global economy. This fireside chat will examine how investment in entertainment is reshaping markets, advancing technology, and amplifying cultural influence across borders. The conversation will ask what global partnerships and financing models are needed to sustain creativity as a strategic asset class and how nations and companies alike can position storytelling as a driver of both growth and soft power.
Saudi Arabia is rewriting the script for cinema as both cultural strategy and global industry. Its new cinematic investment fund, created with the Cultural Development Fund and private partners, is pioneering a model where vision and capital unite to build sustainable markets, empower talent, and place Saudi stories on the world stage. This fireside chat will explore how public ambition, and private investment can co-produce the future of cinema, creating an ecosystem that nurtures local talent, attracts international co-productions, and positions film as both an engine of growth and a powerful instrument of cultural diplomacy.
Culture is a global growth sector, yet institutional investors remain hesitant. The challenge lies not in demand but in the absence of models that meet international standards of scale, discipline, and risk management. This session examines the financial architecture of culture, focusing on how valuation, structured funds, and blended instruments can unlock capital and bring cultural ventures into mainstream markets. It will consider how culture can mature into a credible asset class, how public–private frameworks can reduce barriers to entry, and how Saudi Arabia can pioneer pathways that link its cultural industries with global capital flows.
As culture takes on new economic significance, the challenge is no longer recognition but stewardship. This keynote examines how cultural capital can be guided from vision to tangible value, turning heritage and creativity into sustainable growth, strengthened competitiveness, and lasting global impact.
In a time of geopolitical instability and shifting global orders, culture is increasingly recognized as both an economic asset and a force of influence. This fireside chat will examine how cultural policy and large-scale heritage investment can strengthen alliances, shape narratives, and create lasting value, while also questioning whether culture can truly serve as an effective vehicle for global engagement today. By framing culture as both capital and cohesive power, the conversation will highlight how investment and cultural strategy intersect to build trust, influence, and resilience. The dialogue will ask how global crises affect the role of culture, whether heritage projects can serve as long-term partnerships rather than symbols of prestige, and under what conditions culture can deliver real impact.
How the economic context, globalization and changing audience expectations have reshaped the landscape for art and cultural institutions over the past decade, creating major opportunities for countries ready to embrace this new paradigmatic shift.
For over 30 years, the Kremer Collection has shared the beauty and legacy of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish Old Masters, one of the most influential schools in Western art history. In this session, George Kremer, Founder of The Kremer Collection, will share perspectives on how public and private actors can work together to safeguard cultural heritage and broaden access to art. Drawing on his experience building one of the world’s foremost private collections, he reflects on new models of collaboration that bring the Old Masters into dialogue with contemporary audiences.
Culture is no longer confined to symbolic value; it is becoming a structured market with real financial weight. This session convenes global market leaders, financial institutions, and cultural investors to examine how auctions, art fairs, and development funds are shaping culture’s evolution into a disciplined asset class. The discussion will explore how valuation standards and regulatory frameworks can build investor trust, how banks and funds can seed capital into cultural ventures, and how global platforms generate liquidity and visibility. Looking ahead, the panel will assess innovations from digital tokenization to hybrid ownership models and their potential to redefine how culture is financed, owned, and scaled in international markets.
As culture rises on national and global agendas, creative leaders must not only shape narratives but also define priorities that attract long-term investment and public trust. This session explores how leadership in 2025 is evolving to meet this moment—bridging policy, identity, and innovation. Panelists will examine how visionary leadership can steer institutions, guide capital toward inclusive and strategic initiatives, and build the cultural ecosystems of the future.
Culture is at a crossroads. As technology reshapes creativity and identities become ever more fluid, we are witnessing the rise of a world where art is everywhere and yet harder to hold onto. This session is a bold provocation: if we want culture to endure, evolve, and inspire, what future must we build today? Through painting, film, visuals, and raw storytelling, visionary creators will explore what culture could become and what we stand to lose if we fail to invest in its survival.
When Notre-Dame caught fire in 2019, the world turned to philanthropists, not governments. That moment revealed how private giving can act as decisive capital in moments of cultural crisis. This session will examine how philanthropy, often overlooked in investment discussions, contributes to cultural preservation, innovation, and national identity. The focus will be on how non-commercial capital can be deployed strategically to restore heritage, support artists, and sustain institutions. More critically, the discussion will ask how philanthropy can evolve from sporadic generosity into a long-term, structured form of cultural investment that strengthens resilience in both Saudi Arabia and the global cultural economy.
Small doesn’t mean small-minded. This session spotlights the creative entrepreneurs, designers, and studios innovating with limited resources — and making a big impact. From pop-up fashion labs to independent media and local crafts platforms, we explore how SMEs in the cultural sector turn constraint into opportunity, and what kind of targeted support can help them grow, sustain, and scale their vision.
As culture becomes an increasingly global and investable asset, a fundamental tension emerges: who gets to decide which voices are amplified, and which are overlooked? Should investment in the arts be guided by market forces, or should capital—public and private—play an active role in supporting underrepresented cultures and creators? This debate confronts the economic and ethical dimensions of cultural funding head-on. On one side, the case for impact-driven investment models that fuel sustainability and creative growth. On the other, the imperative to preserve cultural diversity, challenge bias in funding structures, and rethink how value is defined. Expect a lively exchange of ideas that asks: is it possible to fund culture at scale without sacrificing equity or authenticity?
Immersive cultural experiences are transforming how audiences engage with heritage, art, and storytelling. From interactive theaters and digital installations to VR-driven exhibitions, the experience economy is redefining cultural value. This session explores the creative and financial models behind immersive formats, and how they’re shaping tourism, placemaking, and cultural investment across the globe. Panelists will discuss what it takes to fund, scale, and sustain immersive experiences that blend technology with meaning. In addition, present investable models and case studies demonstrating cultural experiences with scalable economic returns.
Culture now travels at the speed of streaming. Films, series, and festivals are no longer just entertainment — they are windows into how societies live, dream, and imagine their futures. A drama from Seoul, a documentary in Lagos, or a series from Mexico City can instantly reshape perceptions and build connections across continents. This session explores how global storytelling shapes diplomacy, identity, and soft power in the 21st century. It will also ask what responsibilities cultural leaders and investors bear in choosing which narratives are amplified, and how streaming platforms can expand access while safeguarding authenticity — ensuring stories from emerging regions thrive alongside global blockbusters.
Documenting Culture is a dynamic format that unfolds in chapters, with an anchor guiding short focused stories into a continuous narrative that frames culture as both capital and connection. In this edition, Documenting Impact & Leadership explores the future of cultural entrepreneurship. The first round examines how investors can identify and nurture the next wave of emerging creators through venture funding, incubation, and innovative tools. The second round shifts to cultural leaders and entrepreneurs, highlighting what creatives need to thrive from sustainable platforms and broader access to stronger links between creativity and investment.
Documenting Culture is a dynamic format that unfolds in chapters, with an anchor guiding short focused stories into a continuous narrative that frames culture as both capital and connection. In this edition, Documenting Impact & Leadership explores the future of cultural entrepreneurship. The first round examines how investors can identify and nurture the next wave of emerging creators through venture funding, incubation, and innovative tools. The second round shifts to cultural leaders and entrepreneurs, highlighting what creatives need to thrive from sustainable platforms and broader access to stronger links between creativity and investment.
How can heritage sites evolve from cultural treasures into thriving economic assets? This session explores the transformation of historic landmarks and iconic locations into dynamic investment opportunities. We’ll examine innovative funding models, public-private partnerships, and tourism-led strategies that unlock long-term value while safeguarding cultural integrity. The discussion will also highlight how both developed and emerging markets are adapting these models, including the role of philanthropy in heritage conservation and sustainable cultural economies.
What do investors really want from cultural ventures? This reverse pitch flips the script — instead of creatives pitching ideas, investors will share the kinds of cultural projects they’re looking to back. From immersive digital experiences to heritage preservation and next-gen performance spaces, this session reveals real investment criteria, deal-breakers, and funding trends. Designed to close the conference on a practical and opportunity-driven note, it’s a must-attend for cultural entrepreneurs, institutions, and anyone seeking to turn creative vision into funded reality.
Google Arts & Culture is partnering with Jeddah Historic District, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to digitize its heritage and make it accessible worldwide through Street View. This marks the first time such captures are shared from the Kingdom.
Culture is a powerful enabler of growth. It shapes destinations in tourism, infuses sport with creativity and identity, and inspires ideas and innovations that strengthen economies. In turn, tourism amplifies culture on the global stage, sport celebrates it through shared experiences, and economic planning embeds it into diversification strategies. This session explores how this reciprocal relationship transforms culture into a driver of competitiveness, investment, and long-term value.
Culture becomes capital when ideas, places, and financing are strategically aligned. This session brings together leaders shaping the Kingdom’s cultural future from three perspectives: intellectual property that secures creative rights and unlocks commercial value, urban development that transforms heritage and districts into engines of identity and tourism, and national financing that channels resources into long-term growth. Together, these pillars show how culture can be structured as an investable asset, creating resilient ecosystems that deliver impact well beyond Vision 2030.
As economies shift from resource extraction to knowledge creation, cultural innovation is emerging as a powerful growth engine. This session explores how creative industries — from digital storytelling and immersive tech to design, fashion, and culinary arts — are driving national prosperity, diversifying economies, and creating global influence. It will examine how investment in cultural innovation generates jobs, attracts capital, and opens new markets. Can cultural innovation become the next global economic driver — and how can nations futureproof their growth by investing in creativity? How investable models across creative industries can unlock capital-ready ecosystems that deliver both cultural relevance and economic return.
Culture is no longer just heritage or expression. It is a driver of identity, resilience, and growth. This session brings together former ministers and cultural leaders to explore how policy, philanthropy, and institutions translate cultural ambition into sustainable impact. The conversation will highlight how cultural capital can shape national identity, attract investment, and deliver long-term societal value, while also examining its role in strengthening international partnerships, fostering social cohesion, and building trust across borders. By looking at both economic outcomes and broader societal impact, the discussion will ask how culture can serve as a cohesive power that unites communities and amplifies global influence.
What happens when a hotel becomes more than just a place to sleep — when it becomes a living museum of place, memory, and identity? This session explores how hospitality spaces can embed cultural elements into every layer of the guest experience, transforming hotels into immersive destinations of meaning and connection. From architecture and design rooted in local traditions to uniforms, menus, music, and curated cultural programming — culture is no longer an add-on, it’s the main attraction. We’ll also examine the national incentives driving this shift in Saudi Arabia, and how culturally enriched hospitality is already reshaping guest satisfaction, boosting reviews, and unlocking new streams of cultural and economic value.
Culture is often seen through a nonprofit lens — but what if we treated it like R&D? This session explores how investing in research, experimentation, and intellectual property can generate new cultural capital. From material innovation in heritage preservation to data-driven tools for audience engagement, panelists will discuss how strategic investment in knowledge unlocks long-term cultural and economic value. This session also highlights return-driven frameworks that position R&D in culture as a viable and high-impact investment frontier.
The Kingdom’s giga projects are more than large-scale developments. They represent new models of how culture anchors national transformation, shaping identity, placemaking and global influence. By embedding cultural experiences, creative industries and heritage into their core, these projects are redefining how destinations attract investment, tourism and talent. This session will explore how culture drives the success of flagship projects, creating ecosystems where imagination meets capital and positioning Saudi Arabia as a global hub for innovation and cultural exchange.
The Cultural Market Outlook provides a comprehensive assessment of the Kingdom’s cultural sector, identifying the forces driving transformation and the opportunities ahead. This session will unpack the report’s key findings — from integrating heritage with innovation to mobilizing public–private partnerships and aligning with global benchmarks. Speakers will translate insights into actionable strategies for investors, policymakers, and cultural leaders, highlighting how Saudi Arabia is positioning culture as both a competitive advantage and a long-term engine of growth.
Documenting Culture brings together stories in short, dynamic rounds, where an anchor guides speakers to reveal how culture can function as both capital and connection. Each chapter adds a new lens, showing how creativity is translated into tangible impact. This edition focuses on the future of cultural infrastructure. Museums, biennales, and cultural districts are evolving into strategic assets. The chapter explores how cultural infrastructure can generate public value and economic return through spaces that are sustainable, inclusive, and globally competitive. The first round examines architecture and institutional development, asking what it takes to turn cultural infrastructure into engines of regeneration and growth. Leaders in planning and design share how new models can secure investment, attract audiences, and embed culture into city life. The second round turns to curatorial vision and cultural ecosystems, highlighting how curators and cultural leaders bring spaces to life through content and community engagement, connecting local identity to global networks to ensure cultural infrastructure delivers both meaning and value.
Documenting Culture brings together stories in short, dynamic rounds, where an anchor guides speakers to reveal how culture can function as both capital and connection. Each chapter adds a new lens, showing how creativity is translated into tangible impact. This edition focuses on the future of cultural infrastructure. Museums, biennales, and cultural districts are evolving into strategic assets. The chapter explores how cultural infrastructure can generate public value and economic return through spaces that are sustainable, inclusive, and globally competitive. The first round examines architecture and institutional development, asking what it takes to turn cultural infrastructure into engines of regeneration and growth. Leaders in planning and design share how new models can secure investment, attract audiences, and embed culture into city life. The second round turns to curatorial vision and cultural ecosystems, highlighting how curators and cultural leaders bring spaces to life through content and community engagement, connecting local identity to global networks to ensure cultural infrastructure delivers both meaning and value.
Industrial design and furniture manufacturing are emerging as high-potential growth sectors, attracting both creative talent and international investors. This session explores how global design offices establishing local presences, alongside investment in industrial design and furniture production, can unlock new opportunities for economic growth and creative entrepreneurship. This session will explore what attracts leading design firms to new markets? How can investment accelerate industrial design into a sustainable industry? And how can design move from concept to large-scale production while retaining cultural identity and global competitiveness?
Evolving Spaces – Building Culture’s Capital Value explores how museums, biennales, and cultural districts are becoming strategic assets that generate both public value and economic return. The first round focuses on architecture and institutional development, showing how design and new models can secure investment, attract audiences, and embed culture into city life. The second round highlights curatorial vision and cultural ecosystems, revealing how curators and cultural leaders bring spaces to life, connect local identity to global networks, and ensure cultural infrastructure delivers both meaning and value.
Global partnerships are accelerating the growth of regional creative economies, unlocking new investment, infrastructure, and export opportunities. Across sectors like film, arts, and media, collaborations between international brands and local players are fueling content creation, IP development, and talent expansion. As an example, partnerships such as Warner Bros. Discovery with OSN highlight how global streaming platforms are working with regional networks to strengthen creative ecosystems and amplify local voices on the world stage. In this session, we will discuss how strategic alliances are transforming emerging markets into cultural powerhouses — and what new models of collaboration and investment are shaping the future of the global creative economy.
Evolving Spaces – Building Culture’s Capital Value explores how museums, biennales, and cultural districts are becoming strategic assets that generate both public value and economic return. The first round focuses on architecture and institutional development, showing how design and new models can secure investment, attract audiences, and embed culture into city life. The second round highlights curatorial vision and cultural ecosystems, revealing how curators and cultural leaders bring spaces to life, connect local identity to global networks, and ensure cultural infrastructure delivers both meaning and value.
When public funds are allocated to support local culture, a fundamental question often arises: What qualifies as art or heritage—and who gets to decide? This session explores how definitions of cultural value are formed, negotiated, and acted upon in the context of government funding. From historic preservation to contemporary expression, decisions about where to invest can reflect broader narratives about identity, belonging, and national priorities, and what roles are played by governments, cultural experts, local communities, and other stakeholders in shaping these decisions.
As global attention turns toward culture-led development, a pressing question arises: who should finance the cultural infrastructure that drives regional identity, tourism, education, and creative economies? From collaborative funding of heritage sites to revitalizing cultural districts, culture is increasingly seen not only as a moral cause but as an economic strategy. This session explores how regional alliances, international donors, and public-private partnerships can work together to fund cultural initiatives. Can culture be a shared investment in the future, rather than a solitary national burden? With insights from legal experts, philanthropists, and cultural investors, this debate examines how cooperation can transform cultural heritage into a long-term regional asset.
Cultural festivals today are far more than artistic showcases — they are strategic platforms for international diplomacy, intercultural dialogue, and economic development. Through curated programming, cross-cultural collaborations, artist exchanges, and international partnerships, festivals create opportunities for nations to build meaningful relationships, for businesses to access new markets, and for communities to foster deeper understanding across cultures. This session explores how festivals — across music, film, literature, and heritage — have become essential spaces for dialogue, innovation, and investment, illustrated by real-world examples such as international film markets, literary festivals fostering policy discussions, and music festivals driving tourism and creative industries.
From heritage preservation and grassroots tourism to large-scale cultural branding, countries worldwide are leveraging culture as a catalyst for economic transformation. This rapid-fire showcase highlights diverse models that link creativity, identity, and inclusive growth. Featured Case Studies: United Kingdom – Libraries as Cultural Infrastructure for Innovation and Regeneration Libraries are evolving into dynamic civic and cultural institutions that drive innovation, support local enterprise, and revitalize communities — demonstrating how investment in knowledge infrastructure fuels inclusive growth. India – Restoration Toolbox for Heritage Skills In a country where Western models often fall short, this award-winning Indian initiative empowers young professionals to restore heritage through locally driven methods—merging traditional knowledge, digital access, and community resilience. Rwanda – Resilience Through Culture Through national branding, diaspora engagement, and IP-backed financing, Rwanda is building a future-ready creative economy rooted in identity, innovation, and inclusive growth. Italy – Save Venice: Art Conservation through International Collaboration Since 1971, the American nonprofit Save Venice has funded the restoration of over 2,000 works of art, ranging from ancient Greek sculptures to medieval mosaics to Renaissance wellheads and sculptures to 17th-century stucco interiors and musical scores, entire buildings, and more paintings by Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese than any other private group. Learn what has made the organization successful for so many years and thus a funding model for others.
The next chapter of global culture isn’t being written just in galleries or studios — it’s being coded, streamed, and co-created across continents. From AI-curated exhibitions and virtual filmmaking to immersive experiences designed by artists oceans apart, technology is not just a tool — it’s the new canvas that can take into account, worldwide heritages . This session explores how digital platforms, real-time collaboration, and immersive storytelling are breaking down creative borders and forging partnerships, bringing together cultural heritages at unprecedented speed and scale. As investors and institutions look to the future, we’ll discuss how innovation is shaping a truly borderless cultural economies.
