Egypt’s Minister of Culture, Gihane Zaki, has announced a sweeping 12-month program to modernize the nation’s cultural sector, starting with the immediate development of 30 cultural palaces across various governorates. This initiative, backed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, aims to transition cultural facilities from static buildings into integrated community hubs. The strategy, titled “Towards a Fair, Safe and Creative Culture,” is built upon three core pillars—social, national, and civilisational—designed to ensure “cultural justice” by providing arts and heritage access to all citizens, including those in rural and border regions.
The social pillar introduces mobile cultural units, digital libraries, and a free “cultural card” for low-income students and people with disabilities. Nationally, the focus shifts to engaging younger generations through a merger of technology and heritage, featuring interactive apps and a unified digital platform for national icons. On the global stage, the “Egypt Creates for the World” pillar will promote Egyptian talent via a new Digital Egypt Studio and a cultural export program. Minister Zaki emphasized that digitization is the “backbone” of this transformation, moving beyond an optional tool to a necessity for domestic engagement and international soft power.
