A global hub for artistic education
A decade ago, Saudi Arabia set out Vision 2030, a wide-ranging plan to diversify a thriving economy, foster a vibrant society and cultivate cultural ambition. This September, Riyadh University of Arts (RUA) opens its first term doing just that. As the region’s first higher education institution dedicated to arts and culture, RUA is part of the Ministry of Culture’s strategy to advance Saudi talent as a catalyst for economic development.
This ambitious project was brought to life in just two years. “We worked rigorously on our cultural talent development strategy, underpinned by the belief that talent is the driving force behind the growth of the arts and culture sectors,” says Noha Kattan, deputy minister for national partnerships and development. “By prioritising talent, RUA will play a defining role in shaping Saudi Arabia’s emerging creative industries and cultivating a thriving cultural ecosystem.” By 2030, the country’s cultural sector will generate 346,000 jobs. “We want RUA to take a thought-leadership position as an institution that champions arts education with new forms and innovative ways of experiencing culture and the arts,” adds Kattan.
The university’s pioneering approach sees 13 planned colleges partner with renowned global institutions to leverage expertise while creating programmes unique to Saudi culture. Four founding colleges open in September with three more in 2027.
“RUA students can create their stories based on their experience and identity”
Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning television and film industry has created an opportunity for local talent that RUA aims to support with its College of Film. When programme lead Dr Musab Alamri began his trajectory as a filmmaker, he had to study for his master’s degree and PhD in the US and UK respectively. He sees huge advantages in RUA’s incoming class of filmmakers being able to base themselves in Saudi Arabia’s energetic capital. “If I’m in Los Angeles, it’s difficult to write a story about Saudi,” says Alamri. “But here in Riyadh, we have the location and the variety of actors. Students can create their own stories based on their experience and identity.”
At RUA’s leafy campus in the Irqah neighbourhood, with its iconic najdi architecture, film students will enjoy cutting-edge facilities like virtual soundstages, as well as post-production facilities such as film grading and sound design labs. “Usually at public universities, students have to rent equipment if they want to shoot,” says Alamri. “I’m excited that all of our students, whether they are in semester one or semester eight, will be able to go to our equipment room, sign out the gear they need and begin filming.” Director Dr Philip Lewis cites the College of Film’s close-knit collaboration with California’s USC School of Cinematic Arts as another boon to students. “There aren’t many places where you can just turn to your professor, who for example has already made seven feature films, and ask them a question,” he says. “It sets our students up for fantastic careers in the future, because they’re going to have this network of people, who are trained at the highest levels, as colleagues 10 minutes after they graduate.”
“RUA ensures that we can develop classes that bring musicians together with other creatives”
The soundscape of Riyadh is as lively as its character. “The city is growing so fast, it’s a really exciting place to be,” says Elizabeth Kelly, director of RUA’s College of Music. “You can hear it growing around you in the sounds of construction. As for the music scene, the energy is electric at concerts.” In parallel with the Ministry of Culture’s Music Commission, which will catalogue regional music for the first time, the College of Music curriculum seeks to amplify the Saudi songbook.
London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama has worked closely with RUA to develop a wide-ranging programme that facilitates the study of music from the perspective not just of musicians, but also for those interested in music industry as well as music education. Guildhall is also supporting admissions processes and the development of the College of Music’s world-class facilities, including technical requirements. RUA’s spirit of inclusion means that it will welcome students from every stage of development. “There’s a lot of interest from professionals in the industry who lacked the opportunity to study an arts degree because they weren’t available until now,” says Kelly. “We want to support those people too.”
While barriers occur among schools within established arts institutions, RUA’s colleges will share a physical space for open collaboration. “The interdisciplinarity built into RUA ensures that we can develop classes that bring musicians together with other creatives, like computer scientists or filmmakers, to create innovative works,” she says. With a multi-disciplinary spirit embedded in the university’s fabric from day one, students will be enabled to push beyond the perceived limits of their creativity.
“RUA has had positive feedback from great global institutions, which is so reassuring”
As part of RUA’s unique collaborative approach to education, modules offered in its College of Theater and Performing Arts will follow a similar multi-disciplinary approach, encompassing acting for stage, film, gaming, voiceover, content creation and more. College director Andrew Sullivan sees this as formative to a long-term strategy. “Students will be internationally benchmarked because of the skills that they will learn,” says Sullivan. “So they can work abroad, but also bring all this back to Saudi – and also, potentially, return one day as RUA faculty.”
Sullivan worked with New York’s American Musical and Dramatic Academy to develop a curriculum that inspires graduates to actively shape the Saudi creative landscape. As with all RUA collaborations, the intention is not to impose a Western structure, but to share experiences and expertise that will enhance the inherent culture of the kingdom. “Students can start creating theatre, they can start producing it, they can build the next Screen Actors Guild,” says Sullivan. “They are very much contributing to this ecosystem.”
While initial offerings at the College of Theater and Performing Arts centre on acting, an arts production course will soon be rolled out. It will be a fundamental step towards cross-programme collaborations, as students can gain experience in all aspects of event production. “We’ve had positive feedback from great global institutions, which has been so reassuring,” says Noha Kattan. “The enthusiasm we’ve seen towards an arts education model perceived to be just what this sector needs, speaks to the long-term impact we can generate and deliver together.”
Find out more at rua.edu.
