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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJI #0016/01 0091357
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091357Z JAN 08
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0454
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS JEDDAH 000016 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SCUL ODIP OIIP BEXP SA
SUBJECT: AMERICAN CULTURE AND COMMERCE FESTIVAL IN ABHA, 
NOVEMBER 25-28, 2007 
 
REF: JEDDAH 00512 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY: With the goals of engaging broader, younger 
and harder-to-reach audiences outside of the Kingdom's major 
cities and educating Saudis about U.S. culture, education and 
commercial partnerships, the U.S. Consulate General Jeddah 
Public Affairs Section planned and conducted a four-day 
American Culture and Commerce Festival in Abha, in 
partnership with the Abha Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 
The heavily-attended event featured a gala VIP opening, 
English teacher training workshops, presentations on study in 
the U.S. and visas, panel discussions, Foreign Commercial 
Service presentations to local businesses, art workshops for 
youth, photo and art exhibitions, multimedia informational 
displays, an American documentary film series and musical 
performances.  The festival ended with a large, public 
concert performed jointly by an American music group and a 
traditional Saudi dance troupe.  Local officials estimated 
festival attendance at 8,000 people, with over 1,200 students 
participating.  National and regional media coverage was 
extensive and overwhelmingly positive.  END SUMMARY. 
 
TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING: INSPIRATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
FESTIVAL 
 
¶2.  (U) The idea for the "American Culture and Commerce 
Festival" originated during a meeting between Consul General 
Tatiana Gfoeller and then Governor of Aseer, HRH Prince 
Khalid bin Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (who is now Governor 
of the Makkah Region).  Together the Consul General and HRH 
Prince Khalid began developing the idea and initial planning 
for the festival.  Patronage and support for the festival 
were then continued by the newly appointed Governor of the 
region, HRH Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. 
The Abha Chamber of Commerce also supported and facilitated 
the festival organization, as did other local partners 
developed throughout the planning process.  Finally, after 
almost two years of planning and preparation, the festival 
was held November 25-28, 2007. 
 
PARTNERSHIP: PUTTING ON A FESTIVAL AND DEVELOPING NEW 
FRIENDSHIPS 
 
¶3.  (U) Planning and conducting a festival of this nature 
would not have been possible without the positive existing 
relationships, and ones recently developed, between Consulate 
General Jeddah and local Saudi partners.  The base for this 
partnership began long before the idea of hosting such a 
festival was even suggested.  Thanks to groundwork previously 
laid in Abha by former Fulbright participants, touring 
American photography exhibitions and other cultural programs, 
and the Jeddah Public Affairs Section's close relationship 
with the editors of the Abha-based national newspaper, 
Al-Watan, the project's development was supported by Aseeri 
institutions and authorities despite the area's reputed 
conservatism. 
 
¶4.  (U) Among the most positive aspects of this event were 
the new cooperative relationships forged between the 
Consulate General and local institutions.  This festival was 
conducted in partnership with the Abha Chamber of Commerce 
and Industry, and Jeddah Public Affairs worked in close 
collaboration with the Chamber throughout the planning stages 
of the event.  The Assir branch of the Ministry of Education 
also provided key support, selecting 120 local English 
teachers to participate in a three-day teacher workshop and 
facilitating an art workshop for local schoolchildren.  In 
addition, Consulate General Jeddah was fortunate to have the 
generous support of a local General Motors distributor, 
Universal Motors Agencies, which provided both the space for 
the event and the services of a local Saudi advertising 
company.  Consulate General Jeddah and the Public Affairs 
Section in particular spent countless hours planning and 
conducting the festival alongside these partners.  The end 
result was not only a successful event, but strengthened work 
relationships and new, genuine personal friendships. 
 
DANCING TO "THE TWIST": FOUR DAYS OF MUSIC, ART, COMMERCE, 
AND CULTURE 
 
¶5.  (U) The festival opened on November 25, 2007 with a VIP 
ceremony attended by the Consul General, Deputy Governor of 
Aseer Doctor Abdulaziz Al-Khedheiri, the American and Saudi 
planning teams, and invited dignitaries and guests.  The 
Board Chairman of the Abha Chamber of Commerce, a 
representative of Universal Motors Agencies and the Consul 
General delivered remarks, followed by a multimedia 
presentation on the history of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, 
live traditional Aseeri dancing, and a formal dinner 
 
reception.  The Consul General also hosted a coffee 
discussion with twenty prominent Aseeri women the following 
morning. 
 
The next three days of the festival were open to the public, 
and included: 
 
-multimedia informational displays and free materials in 
Arabic and English on facets of American education, 
government, commerce, sports, arts and culture, and religious 
and ethnic diversity; 
-poster shows on American culture, values and history, and 
photography exhibitions on the American landscape and Native 
American art; 
-an American documentary film series featuring selected 
videos in Arabic and English, provided by the Office of 
Broadcast Services (PA/OBS), which ran for the entire 
festival and included films representing a cross-section of 
American society and culture; 
-informational presentations to local business people by a 
Foreign Commercial Service representative. 
 
¶6. (U) In addition to the continuously-running events, each 
day featured special events.  The Regional English Language 
Officer from Cairo led a three-day teacher training workshop 
for 120 male and female Saudi English language teachers. 
During one evening, Consular and Public Affairs 
representatives gave presentations on studying in the U.S. 
and procedures for applying for a U.S. visa.  Saudis who had 
recently completed study in the U.S. participated in a panel 
discussion about their experience as students at American 
institutions.   All of these presentations were standing room 
only.  Two special events highlighted the final day of the 
festival.  The first was an art workshop for local Saudi 
schoolchildren, who drew pictures on the theme of "U.S.-Saudi 
friendship".   One deeply moving picture was drawn by a young 
boy who depicted the U.S. and Saudi flags facing each other, 
with a banner above the flags reading, in Arabic, "Cooperate, 
we are all brothers."  American musician and artist Ken Nance 
participated in the art workshop and shared some of his 
drawings.  The second special event was an evening concert, 
in which both an American music group (of expatriate 
Americans living in the Kingdom) and an Aseeri music-dance 
group performed to a full house. 
 
REACHING OUT TO YOUTH 
 
¶7.  (U) One of the central goals of the event was to reach 
out to the young people of the Aseer region.  The festival 
accomplished this in many ways.  First, the American 
officials and musicians interacted with youth visitors 
throughout the event, exchanging ideas about America and 
answering questions on everything from education to art to 
general life in the U.S.  Specific events throughout the 
event were aimed particularly at youth.  Students from local 
schools and universities were invited by the Ministry of 
Education in Abha to the education and visa presentations, 
with over 1,200 students participating.  At these 
presentations young people filled the rooms, listening and 
following the presenters out into the hall to continue asking 
more questions after the presentations ended.  These 
presentations were so popular that many students and parents 
requested on subsequent days of the festival that the 
sessions be repeated. 
 
¶8. (U) For younger children, in addition to the art workshop 
there was also a "Children's Corner" table set up in the main 
exhibition hall, offering popular giveaway items such as 
Stars and Stripes pencils, pinwheels, lollipops and stickers, 
mini-soccer balls, and U.S.A.-themed arts and crafts. 
Throughout the festival, crowds gathered to watch children 
who had come to the festival with their parents run over to 
the "Children's Corner" to color the free paper American 
flags and "U.S.A." baseball caps.  The films were also 
popular with youth, giving them opportunities to view many 
aspects of American life and culture not seen in the usual 
Hollywood films shown on satellite television.  Finally, a 
large number of youth attended, and danced at, the joint 
American-Saudi musical performance that closed the event. 
 
"I SAW IT ON TV": THE FESTIVAL IN THE MEDIA 
 
¶9.  (U) Media coverage of this event was extensive and 
overwhelmingly positive.  The Consul General's public remarks 
were warmly received and favorably reported in print and 
television coverage of the festival opening.  Reporters 
interviewed representatives of the Abha Chamber, the visiting 
American musicians, participating teachers and 
businesspeople, and attendees of the various presentations 
E 
 
and workshops.  The Deputy Governor attended three days of 
the festival, and gave media availability on each day to 
different television outlets to promote the event's positive 
message.  Print media began coverage in the days leading up 
to the festival, and continued running reports two full weeks 
after the event ended.  In total, seven 
nationally-distributed newspapers printed over twenty 
articles covering the event.  Television coverage was 
similarly widespread.  Two national television news channels 
(Saudi TV and Al-Ikhbariah) and a pan-Arab satellite 
television news channel (Al-Arabiya) covered all four days of 
the event and broadcast detailed reports of the various 
festival functions.  Al-Arabiya produced four separate 
reports, each several minutes long, detailing different 
aspects of the festival.  One particular highlight of many of 
the television broadcasts was a clip of the musical 
performance in which Consulate General Jeddah officials, 
American expatriates, Abha musicians and local Saudi visitors 
are seen dancing arm-in-arm at the concert's close. 
 
"EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT": PUBLIC REACTION 
 
¶10.  (U) The festival was attended by an estimated 8,000 
people over four days.  Visitors expressed positive views not 
only of the festival activities and exhibits, but also of the 
U.S. Consulate General's efforts to engage with Aseeris in 
the south of the Kingdom and build bridges to this 
conservative region.  Those who attended clamored for an 
expansion of U.S.-Saudi cultural and commercial activities in 
the future, and  the U.S. Consulate General Jeddah has been 
invited to make the festival an annual event, and to "take it 
on the road" to other cities in the Western Region.  Deputy 
Governor of Aseer Doctor Abdul Aziz al Khederi summed up the 
positive reaction and what we could only have hoped for when 
he relayed the following comment he had heard by many Saudis 
who had attended the festival: 
"Everyone...Saudis and Americans were getting along....  They 
put on such a nice festival; free for everyone...we don't 
understand why there is any problem between us." 
 
"LET'S DO IT AGAIN SOMETIME": LESSONS LEARNED FOR THE FUTURE 
 
¶11.  (U) Throughout the long planning process and during the 
event itself, Consulate General Jeddah learned a number of 
lessons that could be beneficial should the festival become 
annual, or be held in another city, or should another post 
host an event of a similar nature.  First, conducting this 
event on a limited budget led to creativity -- and success -- 
of many components of the festival that otherwise could have 
been prohibitively costly.  For example, two ideas developed 
in the planning stages were to program an American artist and 
a musical group into the festival.  However, bringing a 
musical group from the U.S. was out of the question due to 
budget and time constraints.  Therefore, the Consulate 
General reached out to the American expatriate community and 
was able to find four Americans working locally who play 
together in a band performing American traditional music. 
Because the members live in Saudi Arabia, they were able to 
speak to festival-goers in the local language and give press 
interviews in Arabic. 
 
¶12. (U) Rather than bringing in visiting speakers from the 
U.S., employees of the U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia conducted 
all of the lectures and presentations on studying in the 
U.S., U.S. visas, and U.S.-Saudi commercial opportunities. 
The Regional English Language Officer based in nearby Cairo 
conducted the English teacher training, which also helped 
keep costs down.  Leveraging Fulbright Alumni connections, 
Jeddah Public Affairs recruited a panel of Saudis from Abha 
who had recently studied in the U.S. to participate in a 
panel discussion for students thinking about studying in the 
U.S.   A Fulbright Alumnus also acted as an intermediary in 
organizing the art workshop for children -- working with the 
local schools to identify children to participate -- which 
helped the Consulate General to avoid complications often 
encountered with the Ministry of Education and other 
authorities when trying to work directly with public schools 
in the Kingdom. 
 
¶13. (U) Finding space for the event presented another 
challenge.  There were no free public venues available in 
Abha, and the only location with a suitable space was a local 
hotel that wanted to charge an outrageously high fee for its 
space.  Consulate General Jeddah worked with the Abha Chamber 
of Commerce to look for sponsors who would be willing to work 
directly with the hotel to provide the needed facilities. 
The Chamber located a generous sponsor, which resolved two 
major issues: first, the sponsor agreed to provide for the 
space; second, the sponsor and the Chamber of Commerce dealt 
 
directly with the hotel, and this simplified the formal 
aspects of the sponsorship for the Consulate General 
considerably. 
GFOELLER