Culture Ministry and King’s Foundation Collaborate for 2025 Handicrafts Revival.

Riyadh: In the presence of Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the Ministry of Culture signed a cooperation agreement with The King’s Foundation to participate in the Year of Handicrafts 2025 initiative through the Foundation’s School of Traditional Arts. The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the Saudi International Handicrafts Week Exhibition (Banan), held at the Roshan Front in Riyadh.

According to Saudi Press Agency, the ministry was represented at the signing by Deputy Minister of Culture Hamed bin Mohammed Fayez, while the foundation was represented by the director of the King Charles School of Traditional Arts at The King’s Foundation, Dr. Khaled Omar Azzam. The agreement aims to revive and promote handicrafts in the Kingdom in 2025 through collaboration to prepare and implement training programs in the field of crafts in several Saudi regions. A key component of the agreement entails launching the “Regeneration of the Crafts of Saudi Arabia” program, which com
mences in early January 2025.

The School of Traditional Arts at The King’s Foundation will develop a customized program and execute training initiatives focused on design and crafts, primarily to regenerate and renew Saudi craft traditions across different regions of the Kingdom. The King’s Foundation is a charitable, educational institution established in 1986 by King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, formerly the Prince of Wales. It aims to teach and demonstrate the principles of urban design and traditional architecture, highlighting the importance of prioritizing the people and communities at the center of the design process.

The Foundation’s School of Traditional Arts places significant emphasis on traditional arts and skills through graduate programs and training courses in the creative artistic practice of these arts. The agreement constitutes a strategic implementation of the Ministry of Culture’s commitment to fostering international cultural exchange, which r
epresents a core objective within the comprehensive National Culture Strategy under the framework of Saudi Vision 2030.

Through this agreement, the ministry seeks to support the Year of the Handicrafts 2025 activities by implementing targeted training and development programs in design and craftsmanship for Saudi artisans. This initiative falls under the ministry’s broader efforts to enhance craft production across the Kingdom.