Lord of Influence

I recognize it’s been forever since I posted (and that I’ve said this before), but here goes trying again to get back on the blog track. So much to tell you, where to begin…

The most interesting story to come my way over the last few months comes by way of some Luminato Festival party gab. Okay busted, this was back in June but the story has really lingered with me. Hanging out at the Spoke Club (decorated for the occasion with all things corporate sponsorship, complete with Loreal products on romantically lit plexi-plinths and hyper-scented exit swag), I had the chance to chat a bit with Chris Lorway, then outgoing AD of Luminato (regrettable since this last fest was one of his more experimental visual arts programs). Lorway has joined the power team at Lord Cultural Resources , if you’re not familiar with Lord, you should be… they’re THE international go-to team for planning and management of heritage, culture and the arts. And, they’re Canadian. “Lord Cultural Resources is a global professional practice dedicated to creating cultural capital worldwide.” What does that mean? Well, my last conversation with Lorway enlightened me to just what kind of influence the people at Lord can have.

So here’s the story, keep in mind this is highly anecdotal and obviously lacking in detail — thus blog fodder and not a doctoral thesis or a work of journalism. I welcome someone from Lord correcting me on any misspoken words, but I think this is a pretty fascinating situation to consider together…

Lorway is one of the consultants on a new international cultural centre in Saudi Arabia. Initiated by the Saudi Aramco Oil Company (see PS below) to promote cultural development within the region, and seemingly to attract new corporate partners to the area. My understanding is that the centre will be for both performing and visual arts. Lord is consulting on everything from the design of the theatres (which is very particular in relation to the proximate seating of both the Royal family and the greater populace); to hooking up a star architectural firm to the project; to training locals in some of the technical aspects of running such a space.

What blew my mind was Lorway’s anecdote about a boardroom conversation in which the status of women performing in public in the region was discussed, because at this point, it is not acceptable for adult women to perform on stage. As I understand it Lord has been involved in discussions about how to build a cultural centre with an international reputation, bringing in international performers and artists of all kinds, including women. And thus the beginnings of a general plan was discussed… how to make it more acceptable to a general Saudi audience for women to be on stage? Well, apparently, pre-pubescent children are allowed to perform on stage, including girls. The long-term plan then, as I understood Lorway, is for the new cultural centre to be involved in developing a greater visibility – a star system if you will – for more female children performers. The idea being that if they are so beloved by a large public by the time they reach puberty people will not want to see them disappear from the public eye.

So there it is, again, anecdotal… but the implications of Lord consulting on a decades-long project of deep cultural shift shouldn’t be underestimated. On the one hand, maybe we should see this as a positive influence on a systemically inequitable environment. On the other hand, this particular affirmative action plan has the potential to become just another exploitation of women’s bodies for the trickle up purpose of corporate gain. Remember, this is an initiative developing out of an oil company’s interests to attract attention to the region. Is this the new, subtle cultural imperialism? Or is this the idealized “culture-in-action” actually playing out? I still haven’t fully parsed this out in my mind and obviously we need more concrete information… but would love to hear your thoughts and any redirection of the meta-thinking.

P.S. A little late added important info, as a friend just reminded me, Aramco Oil is state-owned, ie. run by the royal family. So let’s also consider the political agendas at stake in this cultural institution — balancing both how to appeal on a broad international level while maintaining respect within Islamist communities. Hmm… ‘bit tricky.