Doha – Apart from seeking economic diversification, Qatar is investing in developing other areas, like culture. In the centre of this initiative is the Cultural Village, a state-owned enterprise to receive investment of US$ 1 billion and whose objective is boosting cultural production and transforming the country into a regional hub in the sector. Heading this mission is the Brazilian Márcio Barbosa, former director of the Unesco and of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).
According to him, the project should aid in the preservation of historic values in the country, at the same time at which it offers current “cultural opportunities” in music, arts, theatre and cinema. “It is an area in which both sides may be offered, [the new and the ancient],” he said.
The installations, located in Doha, the country capital, are practically ready. They reproduce the environment of a traditional Arab village and include theatres, exhibition halls, movie theatres, an enormous open-air amphitheatre and spaces for varied activities, including trade, like restaurants and shops.
“It is a monumental project, but not just for Qatar, the idea is for the space to be shared with the population in the region,” said Barbosa, who has been living in Doha for two months. He is setting up his team and plans to start promoting public attractions in September.
During Ramadan, the month in which Muslims fast during the day, Barbosa hopes to develop activities to attract the population after sunset and to start establishing the places operation as a leisure area. In 2010, Doha was chosen by the League of Arab States to be the Arab Culture Capital.
In October, Doha should receive the Tribeca Film Festival, promoted by Doha Film Institute in partnership with the organizers of Tribeca Film Festival, in Nova York. Barbosa also plans to promote an exhibit by Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado and is negotiating musical presentations.
He wants to start in 2011 with a calendar for different spaces. But the intention is not to make the site into a “show hall”, nor into a company to “make money”. To Barbosa, it is necessary to select the programme carefully to balance the traditional with the new and not just to reproduce what is already done in other countries of the region.
In this respect, he said that the government must allocate a good volume of funds to make the Cultural Village into a regional hub. One of the sources of funds should be the areas surrounding the village, allocated for housing and commercial projects.
Industry
Investment is also necessary to make the site into a space for “research”. Barbosa pointed out that, in this area, international cooperation is fundamental. “To see what is happening in the world it is necessary to cooperate,” he said.
The village follows the model of other initiatives in Qatar, like, for example, the areas of education and science and technology, where partnerships were established with international institutions for the opening of local branches.
One of the main challenges of the project was fostering the establishment of a “cultural industry”, a concept that is little publicised in the country. For such, the Cultural Village also plans to be an area for production. The Doha Film Institute, for example, plans to train moviemakers and actors.
According to Barbosa, cultural activities are seen as complementary, hobbies or something to be sustained by the government, not as a professional option. “It is necessary to show that there are some talents should be let out,” he said. He added that Qatar does not yet have a structured cultural policy and that it is necessary to show that culture may also be a business.
Dialogue
Barbosa was invited to work on the project by the person whose brainchild it is, Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, the wife of the emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. He was acquainted with her over the 10 years in which he worked at Unesco. Mozah is greatly engaged in humanitarian activities, education, the empowerment of women and in the Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, organized by the United Nations (UN).
The third edition of the forum should take place this week, in Rio de Janeiro, and in 2011, it should take place at the Cultural Village, in Doha, which will also start hosting the movements secretariat. The initiative was launched by the governments of Spain and Turkey, incorporated by the Unesco, and, according to Barbosa, has culture as one of its main pillars.
*Translated by Mark Ament
