Misk Art Institute

The Misk Art Institute is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to empowering local artists through an interconnected system of education, practice, and multidisciplinary experiences.

It is located in Riyadh City, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and is affiliated with the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Foundation "Misk". Established in 2017, it works on supporting artists and all forms of art, encouraging creative works, and elevating them to the level of international representation.

The institute offers general programs that vary between theoretical and practical workshops, most of which focus on supporting emerging artists through training and mentorship, providing opportunities and resources necessary to showcase their talents, diversifying their experiences, and broadening their artistic visions. These include:

Since 2019, the Misk Art Institute has been presenting annual art exhibitions through displays that span across the Gregorian calendar months. These exhibitions, curated by local and resident artists, serve as platforms for them to express their ideas and unleash their potential, creating inspiring dialogues about the artistic possibilities in the Kingdom.

The institute annually organizes the Misk Art Week initiative, a creative space where participating artists and designers can exhibit their works to exchange experiences and knowledge and share talents. In 2022, the Misk Art Institute held the week under the theme "Art and Design Market," with the presence of Saudi artists from various categories. These included product designers, graphic designers, textile weavers, painters, art studios, printmaking practitioners, as well as entrepreneurs and craftsmen interested in the creative field.

The institute has focused on developing the arts in the Kingdom by offering programs that include workshops across various provinces of the Kingdom. It has launched over nine technical training programs and four artistic residency programs, benefiting more than twenty-five resident artists. Additionally, it has conducted seven specialized courses, seven panel discussions, and forty workshops. The institute also doubled the value of the Misk Art Grant in 2021 to reach SAR1 million, with 287 artists applying for the grant. It has provided support to ten artists from the Kingdom and other Arab countries.

The institute offers a series of art books titled 'The Art Library,' an initiative that covers topics of modern and contemporary art in the field of Arab visual arts with a focus on Saudi artists. The aim is to provide resources that preserve the professional biography of artists who have influenced and shaped modern and contemporary Arab art since its inception. The series is published in collaboration with Rizzoli International Publications, with each book being released in both Arabic and English editions.

Misk Art Institute organizes annual scientific trips to a number of countries that host leading platforms in arts and culture. In 2019, it participated in one of the most important international cultural gatherings (the Venice Biennale in Italy) and presented an exhibition that provided an analysis of policies related to lifestyle and living spaces within national economic plans. The institute won the Cultural Institutions Award in the non-profit sector category in the second edition of the National Cultural Awards initiative in 2022.