The Arab World Institute is preparing to celebrate its fortieth anniversary in 2027. Its new president, Anne-Claire Legendre, intends to use the occasion to clarify the institution’s purpose, strengthen partnerships and better connect culture, learning and political dialogue.
This direction goes beyond the programming of exhibitions. It raises questions about the role of an institution created to establish a lasting relationship between France and societies across the Arab world.
An institution with multiple missions
The Arab World Institute brings together a museum, a library, exhibition spaces, Arabic-language learning programmes, intellectual events and diplomatic activities.
This diversity is a strength, but it can also blur public understanding. Is the Institute a museum, a cultural centre, a forum for debate, a language school or an instrument of international cooperation?
The new leadership wants to make this identity clearer without reducing the institution to a single function. The challenge is to build a coherent public brand while respecting the diversity of the countries, languages and perspectives represented.
Supporting contemporary creation
Among the announced projects are the development of artistic residencies and the creation of a contemporary art prize. Such tools can play an important role when they give artists time, production resources, critical support and international visibility.
Their credibility will nevertheless depend on procedures: the composition of juries, transparent criteria, disciplinary diversity, fair pay and follow-up after a residency.
Support should not stop at a one-off exhibition. It should help artists build networks, document their work and gain access to other institutions.
These questions can already be seen in the exhibition devoted to Azzedine Alaïa and Africa, where research and context make it possible to read a body of work beyond its most familiar image.
Partnerships between institutions
The Institute wants to increase co-productions with museums, festivals and organisations in the Arab world. Collaborations with Sharjah, Riyadh, Jeddah, Doha or Red Sea festivals can share costs and enable works to circulate.
Co-production, however, raises governance questions. Each partner arrives with its priorities, funding and political environment. A cultural institution must preserve critical autonomy while maintaining dialogue.
This tension lies at the heart of cultural diplomacy: creating spaces for cooperation without turning programming into official communication.
Explaining the Arab world without simplifying it
The new president has emphasised the need to provide tools for understanding. This mission is particularly important when Arab societies are often approached mainly through crises, conflict or geopolitical narratives.
A cultural institution can offer other entry points: literature, design, cinema, archives, photography, music, social history and digital creation.
Initiatives such as the PhotoVogue MENA open call for visual artists demonstrate the emergence of scenes that cannot be reduced to a single regional identity.
A financial model to consolidate
Large cultural institutions must fund their buildings, staff, collections and programmes. The Arab World Institute is seeking to develop co-productions, partnerships and self-generated revenue.
The search for balance must not lead it to favour only the most commercially attractive projects. Libraries, arts education, research and debate may be less visible, but they remain central to cultural public service.
Sustainability therefore depends on a mixed model combining public funding, partnerships, ticketing, philanthropy and international cooperation.
A lesson for cultural policy
The Institute’s repositioning is directly relevant to the region’s cultural industries. It shows that an institution cannot rely only on a prestigious building or event-driven programming.
It must define its mission, understand its audiences, measure its impact, develop staff skills and build long-term partnerships.
This logic complements the issues explored in our article on three projects supporting young talent in Morocco. Artists need programmes, but they also need institutions capable of maintaining relationships over time.
Towards the fortieth anniversary
The year 2027 will provide a concrete test. Announcements will need to become visible projects, understandable procedures and a programme combining creation, learning and debate.
Success will not be measured only by visitor numbers, but by the Institute’s ability to become a place where societies of the Arab world can represent themselves in their full complexity.
