SCENE

“A community is never really started from scratch. It goes from something organic to intentional. Saudi is the perfect example; it’s always been an underground scene, and there’s been talent around, but everyone was working in silos. Communities are now being built because there’s infrastructure being put in place to build spaces for people”

— Tanya Awad XP Activations and Music Program Manager - Creating Experiential Events

The SCENE pillar centered on enriching and growing audiences organically to create a robust music economy in the MENA region.

The XP Music Futures Day Program SCENE sessions explored the importance of nurturing community-led spaces, networks, and values. Increasing grassroots, small, and mid-size music venues to establish and help emerging artists develop community connections. There was an emphasis on residencies to give artists safer spaces for experimenting and connecting. In addition, there were requests for more XChange workshops in different regional contexts to help encourage interdisciplinary participation. The sessions also emphasized the importance of building communities through increasing IRL events, radio shows, and podcasts. Speakers drew parallels between music and sports and how to create immersive experiences to capture diverse audiences.

“The Music Commission is working very closely with nightlife actors. And building off this unveiling... Saudis have always had this culture of nightlife— with all traditional forms of music and gatherings— and now what we’re doing is to increase or at least provide support. So considering that there are a lot of new sectors, music, fashion, and visual arts, they’ve been around, but they were somewhat low profile. We need decent infrastructure. So what do you need as artists? We need galleries. As chefs, you need kitchens. As musicians, you need venues. So the first thing we are trying to do is establish more venues, provide that accessibility, give more support to the private sector, and then start building itself within that frame.”