Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya Investment Company has awarded a construction contract worth an estimated $1.4bn to local company Nesma & Partners for the development of the Qiddiya City Performing Arts Centre, a flagship cultural project within the Kingdom’s planned entertainment hub, Qiddiya City.
The arts centre will feature three theatres with a combined capacity of over 3,000 seats and a striking cantilevered amphitheatre overlooking Qiddiya City’s lower plateau.
The design also includes a 500-seat suspended theatre, hoping to add a visually iconic addition to the city’s skyline.
Located on the edge of Saudi Arabia’s Tuwaiq Mountains, the centre will offer panoramic views of the sprawling Qiddiya City below.
Once complete, it is expected to host more than 200 indoor and outdoor performances per year, ranging from theatre and music to digital art, cultural showcases and international productions.
The tender for the project was issued in September 2023, with contractors submitting bids in May 2024, according to reports by MEED.
Qiddiya Investment Company later appointed US firm Tom Wiscombe Architecture as the design architect and Dubai’s Brewer Smith Brewer Gulf as the design consultant.
As Qiddiya City’s first cultural asset, the performing arts centre is designed to inspire a new generation of Saudi talent and audiences, positioning the city as a leading destination for creativity and performance in the region.
The project reflects the Kingdom’s broader push to expand its leisure and tourism sectors in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
Qiddiya City, located southwest of Riyadh, forms part of a wider development that includes the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium, a motorsports track, Six Flags Qiddiya, the Aquarabia theme park and an e-sports arena.
Saudi Arabia’s leisure tourism has surged in recent years, with domestic leisure trips rising from 16.7m in 2018 to 33.8m in 2023, while international arrivals for recreational purposes grew by 600% over the same period, according to GlobalData.
Beyond entertainment and sports, Qiddiya’s media district is set to become a regional powerhouse for film, television, and digital production.
It will also provide advanced studios, post-production facilities and training centres, designed to attract international filmmakers, streaming platforms and gaming developers.
Together with the performing arts centre, these projects hope to position Qiddiya City as a hub for the creative economy, complementing other Saudi initiatives to build a globally competitive media and entertainment sector.
Qiddiya is one of several mega-projects driving Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification efforts under Vision 2030, alongside Neom, the Red Sea Project, Amaala and Diriyah Gate.
The Saudi government hopes that each project will redefine the country’s key sectors, from sustainable living and tourism to culture and sports, while creating thousands of jobs and boosting non-oil revenues.
The Qiddiya Performing Arts Centre is set to be one of Saudi’s cultural beacons, an architectural and artistic landmark that may redefine what entertainment and creativity mean in the Kingdom, and possibly the wider region too.
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