DOHA: The Cultural Village Foundation (Katara) has signed an agreement with Palladium Group, a world-renowned strategy execution consulting company, to implement its five-year strategy from this year until 2018.
The strategy aims at enriching the regional and international cultural scene, support culture and the arts and reinforce national identity and heritage revival to strengthen the sense of national belonging, achieve cultural development and openness to world cultures and shape the civilised image of Qatar at global forums.
“The strategy seeks to achieve the objectives of Katara as a cultural, economically profitable foundation, and direct Katara team according to proven methodologies and best international working standards,” Katara General Manager, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, told a press conference following the signing.
He said, “The general framework of the strategy aims at exploiting the buildings and facilities of Katara to contribute to the advancement of cultural movement, promote and highlight creative energies, develop the cultural and literary climate in Qatar and involve intellectuals in the development process.”
The next stage in the strategy, he said, is to increase cultural awareness by organising festivals, exhibitions and seminars, conducting research and releasing publications and periodicals that reflect ideas of the Cultural Village in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. These will be done in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage; Qatar Museums Authority, Qatar Foundation (QF) and government, cultural, educational, academic, economic and educational institutions and other parties in and outside the country.
“Cultural diversity led by Katara is an integral part of the promotion of dialogue and openness to world cultures, and has become evident by investing in innovation and open channels of communication with countries, intellectuals and artists locally and internationally,” he added.
He said Katara is an ongoing project which will be followed by other stages, including the establishment of a mall, villas, hotels, and other facilities serving culture and tourism, but the focus is on cultural and human development.
Katara Strategic Affairs Adviser, Dr Khalid Al Jaber, said the strategy enters its implementation phase which came after an evaluation of the system, conducting interviews with decision-makers and leaders, workshops and meetings, dialogues and deliberations with executives, employees, beneficiaries, stakeholders and the public.
The operational framework of the Kaplan-Norton strategy will be adopted with the participation of its founder, internationally renowned expert Dr David Norton.
About the goals of the next phase, Dr Al Jaber said: “Our goal is to focus on the new generation of the young and emerging artists, discover their cultural, artistic and scientific potential and allow them to emerge on the scene.”
He said Katara would collaborate with Unesco, the Kennedy Center of Arts in Washington, and QF to design educational and training programmes and projects for secondary schools and universities.
The programmes will help in the development of the youth’s skills and abilities, under the slogan ‘Learning through the arts’.
He said the strategy, based on studies, interviews and the results of a poll, is the road map for the coming years. The Peninsula
