As Riyadh’s entertainment empire expands under Vision 2030, questions grow about whether Saudi Arabia is fostering real art or merely spectacle in service of the state
When Saudi Arabia announced the “Saudisation” of its massive Riyadh Season festival, it was framed as an artistic correction: a turn toward empowering Gulf talent and reducing dependence on Egypt’s long-dominant cultural influence. But as Abdullah Bakr’s analysis makes clear in this article for Beirut-based Daraj Media, the decision was less about artistic renewal than about political control and image management. It reflected a deeper shift in the Kingdom’s new entertainment economy, one that prizes spectacle, profitability and soft power over creativity, dissent and cultural freedom.
The architect of this transformation is Turki Al-Sheikh, head of the General Entertainment Authority and a close adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In just a few years, he has turned Riyadh into a global hub for concerts, festivals and sports extravaganzas, featuring everyone from Shakira to Tyson Fury. His ambition is to rebrand Saudi Arabia as a land of leisure and modernity, recasting its global image after years of notoriety over human rights abuses and repression.
But beneath the fireworks, the contradictions are glaring, the article notes. The 2025 “Riyadh Season” announcement, pledging an almost exclusive focus on Saudi and Gulf performers, came after years of tension between Al-Sheikh and Egyptian artists, who had long dominated Arab popular culture. It was, critics argued, a symbolic act of “punishment”, a way of asserting Saudi cultural sovereignty and sidelining Egyptian soft power.
The politics of spectacle has also collided with the politics of conscience. When Egyptian actor Mohammed Salam withdrew from a Riyadh play in 2023 – citing the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza and stating: “I cannot joke and dance while our brothers are dying” – his decision sparked admiration across the Arab world and outrage among Saudi officials. The Riyadh Season went ahead as planned, its opening night featuring international pop stars and a boxing match, even as Gaza burned. For some, it became a metaphor for a kingdom “dancing on wounds.”
This tension between entertainment and empathy, art and obedience, runs through the Saudi cultural project, the article writes. Under Vision 2030, the state has invested billions to diversify the economy and polish its image. Cinemas reopened after decades of prohibition; massive festivals and world-class sporting events are now routine. Yet, as the article shows, this expansion is tightly choreographed. The entertainment industry is built to dazzle, not to provoke.
The state’s hand is everywhere: from funding epic historical films about Islamic victories to producing dramas that celebrate state institutions like the army and police. The themes are safe, patriotic and grand. What’s missing, the piece argues, is the freedom that gives art its pulse, which is the capacity to question, disturb or dissent.
That absence is not incidental. Saudi Arabia’s cultural modernisation remains tethered to an authoritarian political reality where freedom of expression is sharply curtailed. Theatres and studios thrive; prison cells remain full. The same government that invites Maroon 5 and BTS to perform still imprisons writers, feminists and reformists who push beyond the sanctioned line. It appears that Saudi Arabia allows people to dance, the article notes, but not to think or speak freely.
There is no denying the Kingdom’s achievements. Riyadh now competes with Dubai as a regional cultural hub. Festivals generate jobs, tourism and national pride. For a young population long starved of leisure, the transformation feels exhilarating. Yet, as the article cautions, “a joyful edifice without a solid foundation of freedom of expression and cultural pluralism” cannot last. Spectacle may sustain popularity, but it cannot replace authenticity or critical thought.
The question that lingers in the article is whether Saudi Arabia can move from a model of “entertainment for sale”, to genuine cultural creation. True art, after all, emerges not from directives or billion-dollar budgets, but from the freedom to imagine, resist and reveal. Until that freedom exists, the Kingdom’s cultural renaissance will remain dazzling but hollow.
Original article (“سعودة الفنّ” أم ترفيه للبيع؟”) by Abdullah Bakr was published in Arabic on 14 Aug 2025.
It is available here.
Daraj Media is an independent pan-Arab digital media platform founded in Beirut in 2017 by journalists Diana Moukalled, Hazem al-Amin and Samar Yazbek. It was created in response to the decline of press freedom and the dominance of state- and Gulf-funded outlets in the Arab world. The outlet defines itself as a space for independent, feminist and anti-authoritarian storytelling, aiming to “disrupt the mainstream Arab narrative” by foregrounding marginalised voices and promoting critical debate beyond sectarian or nationalist lines.
Summary by ZN
