JEDDAH: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal has emphasized that the cultural events being organized at the historic Souq Okaz are part of a massive intellectual, cultural and economic project.
Speaking at a press conference at the governorate office in Jeddah on Wednesday, Prince Khaled said Souq Okaz is not in competition with other cultural events in the region. He said cities that hold such events are witnessing a development boom due to the mega projects taking place there.
Prince Khaled will open the eight-day Souq Okaz festival on Aug. 19 some 40 km north of the resort city of Taif. Organizers have said the festival will have different sections for traditional handicrafts, and cultural and literacy activities that feature poets and lecturers from around the region. More than 2,000 Arab writers, poets and historians within the Kingdom and abroad participated in last year's festival.
Prince Khaled said the prizes distributed at Souq Okaz and other cultural events “are not measured by their financial value” but by their intellectual and cultural importance.
Prince Sultan bin Salman, secretary-general of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, said Taif is witnessing a development boom. He said the city needs further development, especially in the downtown area, to benefit from its tourism potentials in the summer and Ramadan seasons.
The events for this year at Souq Okaz include poetry reading, photography and art competitions, cultural seminars, theatricals, and photography and art exhibitions.
Prizes on offer range between SR50,000 and SR300,000. Two prizes are on offer for the poetry competitions — one for Saudi poets and another for poets from the entire Arab region.
The panel of judges includes the president of Taif University, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Information, the secretary-general of Souq Okaz festival organizing committee and five leading poets.
The authorities are making efforts to revive Souq Okaz, a historical market that dates back 2,500 years, into a major Arab cultural center similar to Carthage in Tunisia and Jarash in Jordan.
