Ministers of culture don’t normally find a place on this list, their position transient, their power too remote. In Saudi Arabia, however, Prince Badr has no fear of being voted out and enjoys drilling down to the nuts and bolts of the Kingdom’s focus on culture (part of its wider Saudi Vision 2030 economic diversification programme). His portfolio includes the General Culture Authority, which oversees all the Kingdom’s arts centres; the Misk Art Institute, which gives grants, residencies and career support to local artists, hosting the annual Misk Art Week in December; the Royal Commission for AlUla, greenlighting the third Desert X AlUla in February (despite CEO Amr AlMadani’s arrest on corruption charges in January). As chair of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, he is responsible for both the eponymous event and Jeddah’s Islamic Arts Biennale. The third edition of the former took place in February, with Ute Meta Bauer as curator, while the latter opens January 2025, Badr using diplomatic influence to secure loans from over 30 international institutions.