Skip the opening
A proposal for the General Entertainment Authority
Every night, Riyadh asks one question.
“Where shall we go tonight?”
You built the spectacle.
Between the headlines is everything locals know.
The open mic behind a green door. The oud set upstairs. The café still open after the show. Known to the people who live here, and hard to find online.
Every place a Saudi shares rises into one layer of knowledge.
An entertainment intelligence layer for the Kingdom.
Read by AI. Checked by people. Connected in one knowledge graph of Riyadh’s evenings.
Someone asks, after the show at Winter Al Dirah
“Something small, in Arabic. Walking distance.”
It would answer in plain words, and show its working.
Shared by Saudis. Held in the Kingdom.
Riyadh first, while the season is on. Then every region.
Now let Saudi map what’s in between.
A proposal from TAG AI & Consultancy for the General Entertainment Authority
Riyadh’s real roads: OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Region boundaries: geoBoundaries, CC BY 4.0. Places, people, requests and answers are illustrations.
The film
00In one minute
An entertainment intelligence layer for the Kingdom.
Saudis who know Riyadh’s evenings would share the places between the headline events, in their own words and with their name on them. AI would read every voice note, photograph and story; people would check every place, and every licence against GEA’s lists if GEA shares them. A knowledge graph would connect it all, so residents and visitors get an answer for tonight they can trust, and GEA sees what no ticket shows. Shared by Saudis, and held in the Kingdom.
The map is the product. The intelligence is the asset.
A proposal from TAG AI & Consultancy. Nothing on this page says GEA or any partner has agreed to anything. Pictures of people are illustrations made with AI.
The green door: an open mic a local wanted people to find. Illustration made with Veo
00What GEA would gain
00The chapters
01The spectacle
You built the spectacle.
20 million
visitors to the fifth Riyadh Season.
Saudi Press Agency, 18 February 2025SAR 4 billion+
in agreements announced at Joy Forum 2025, for the year ahead.
Saudi Press Agency, 17 October 202521 October
Riyadh Season 2026 opens, for about ten weeks.
Gulf News; TradeArabia, 28 September 2026You built it.
But how do they find it?
02The gap
Thursday, after work. She wants something that isn’t the same old thing.
02The gap
She asks her phone. It sends her where she went last week.
Popular places near you tonight:
People can only attend what they know about.
02The gap
An invisible problem.
- 1Thousands of events, and no way to tell them apart.
- 2The places locals love stay hidden.
- 3Off-peak venues sit empty on weeknights.
- 4Saudi talent struggles to be seen before it is famous.
- 5The data stops at the ticket.
What ticket data sees
- Ticketed events
- Transactions
- Known venues
What nobody sees yet
- The open mic in a licensed café, listed nowhere
- The Thursday oud set in a licensed café
- The performer building a following
- The request nobody could answer
03Three questions
Three questions that matter to GEA.
1
How do you fill seats beyond the headline events?
Small venues and weeknights are invisible to most visitors.
2
How do you find Saudi talent before they are famous?
There is no steady way to see who is rising, or who wants to be found.
3
How do you know why people choose, when the data stops at the ticket?
What people wanted and could not find is never recorded.
in between
04What’s in between
The hours before and after the show. The small room two streets away. The night that isn’t a headline.
04Who knows it
Not through ads. Not through influencers. Through the people who know their city best.
05The intelligence layer
How one voice note would become knowledge.
- 1It listensAhmed sends a voice note in Najdi Arabic. The AI would transcribe it in his dialect, then translate it.
- 2It seesIt would read his photograph for what the voice note did not say.
- 3It understandsWhat it is, when it is on, how to find it and who it suits, each fact traced to where it came from.
- 4It checks, and people decideThe AI would check location, duplicates and licence. People nearby, the owner and a checker would decide.
- 5It connectsThe place would join a knowledge graph of places, people, nights, performers and unanswered requests.
- 6It answersA question in plain words, answered from what was checked, with its working.
- 7It looks aheadOnce a season of records exists, it would show where nights may run short and where rooms may sit empty.
Ahmed · voice note 0:38 · Najdi Arabic
“Thursdays from nine there’s an open mic at a café in Al Dirah. Green door, next to the shawarma place. Go early, it’s small. Nouf is on most weeks, and she’s brilliant.”
Transcribed in his dialect, shown here in English. Illustration of how it would work.
Ahmed · photograph Read by the AI
The record Each fact and where it came from
- WhatOpen mic: stand-up and poetryVoice note
- WhenThursdays, from 9 pmVoice note
- WhereAl Dirah, six minutes’ walk from Winter Al DirahLocation, with consent
- How to find it
Green door. Next to the shawarma place.
Voice note - The roomSmall, about 40 chairs. Arrive earlyPhotograph
- LanguageArabicVoice note
- Who’s onNouf, stand-up, if she chooses to be listedVoice note
The checks Before anyone is sent there
The AI checks
- Location matches the photograph Yes
- Not a place already listed Yes
- The story agrees with itself Yes
- Licensed venue, on GEA’s list if shared Yes
People decide
- People nearby confirm it 3
- The owner agrees to be listed Yes
- A checker signs it off Yes
The AI proposes. People decide.
The knowledge graph Al Dirah, one Thursday
A question Answered from the graph
“After the show. Something small, in Arabic. Walking distance.”
An open mic behind a green door
Green door. Next to the shawarma place.
Why this answer: six minutes’ walk from Winter Al Dirah; on Thursdays from 9; small; in Arabic. Shared by Ahmed, confirmed by three people nearby, owner agreed, licence checked.
Looking ahead Example, after a season of records
- Next ThursdayStand-up in ArabicAl Dirah, after the showMore asks than seats
- Next ThursdayLive oud after 10 pmNear Winter Al DirahNothing listed yet
- Next FridaySomething for children after darkHittinMore asks than seats
- Next SaturdayLive jazzOlayaRooms half empty
GEA could add a night, or point people to a room with space, before the evening comes.
An example of the weekly view. No result is claimed before the evaluation measures it.
06How it works
One night, shared by one person.
- 1SharedAhmed shares the open mic he goes to every Thursday, in his own words, with his name on it.
- 2Checked three waysPeople nearby confirm it, the owner agrees to be listed, and the venue’s licence is checked.
- 3FoundA visitor follows the pulse. No map, no route: the rings tighten as she nears.
- 4ThankedHer thank-you reaches Ahmed, and his name stays on the place for good.
- 5CountedOne more evening out, counted for GEA. Counts, never names.
Green door. Next to the shawarma place.
“Green door. Next to the shawarma place.”
First shared by AhmedOpen mic, Thursdays
Follow the pulse
Thursday 22 October
22:48
+1
evening out, counted
Counts, never names. Example screen.
07Try it
Ask for tonight. See what GEA would see.
Choose when, who and what. The answers come from a sample of places shared by people who know them. A request nobody can answer yet is counted too, with its reason.
Every place, name and quote here is an illustration. In the evaluation, places are listed only with the owner’s agreement and a licence.
08The arrival
You’ve walked past it a hundred times.
Someone who lives here knew where it was.
Until they shared it, in their own words.
You’ve found what a local wanted you to find.
A licensed room, listed with the owner’s agreement.
Open mic, Thursdays
Follow the pulse
Your Riyadh,
found.
09Who gains
One shared night. Four people better off.
Something new on a Thursday, close to home.Weekend and weeknight options she had never heard of, from people she can trust.
What is there beyond the headlines?The Riyadh a local wanted her to find, and a reason to stay one more night.
How do we get found without an ad budget?A full room on a quiet night. Performers are listed only because they asked to be.
What is really working, where we cannot see?Demand, talent and empty nights, district by district, week by week.
Illustrations made with AI. The people shown are not real.
10What GEA would see
The map is what visitors use. The record is what GEA keeps.
Every shared place, every request and every evening out adds to a record of Riyadh’s nights that no ticket, search or social feed holds. It answers GEA’s three questions, week by week.
1Seats beyond the headline events
Where evenings go, counted as people go out.
Small venues and weeknights, around and between the zones. GEA sees which rooms fill and which sit empty.
2Saudi talent, found early
A register of performers who chose to be found.
Alphabetical. Never ranked. GEA sees who is drawing rooms, with their agreement, before their name is on a poster.
- AbdulazizOud · Al Murabba
- AhmedStand-up · Al Malaz
- DanaJazz piano · Olaya
- HessaSpoken word · Al Wurud
- LulwaKhaleeji vocals · Hittin
- MajedNabati poetry · Al Dirah
- NoufStand-up · Al Nakheel
- RakanBand of four · Al Sulimaniyah
3Why people choose
What people asked for, and could not find.
Every week, the requests nobody could answer, each with its reason, so programming can start from what people asked for.
- Live oud after the showNear Winter Al Dirah · Thursday, lateNot recorded
- Coffee and quiet, past midnightAl Malaz · weeknightsOut of date
- Stand-up in ArabicNorth Riyadh · ThursdayFull
- A poetry evening for womenOlaya · SaturdayNot bookable
- Something for children after darkHittin · FridayNot listed yet
4Where to grow
Every light is a night someone chose to share.
4Where to grow
Every ring is a request nobody could answer yet.
4Where to grow
GEA would choose where the record grows next.
A district, a kind of night, a season zone: contributors are invited where GEA needs answers. The record would belong to the public body that commissions it, and be kept in the Kingdom.
10Questions GEA could ask it
Questions GEA could put to the record.
Is there demand for live jazz in north Riyadh?
ProgrammingThe requests for jazz by district and night, how many went unanswered, and which licensed venues nearby sit empty on those nights.
Which Saudi comedians are filling rooms on weeknights?
TalentPerformers on the register whose nights fill, listed alphabetically, with their agreement. Ready for a season line-up.
Where should the evenings around the next season zone be programmed?
SeasonsThe districts where requests after 10 pm go unanswered most often, and the reasons they go unanswered.
Before we back a new kind of venue, is the demand real?
InvestmentWeeks of requests and evenings out, district by district, to test the case against.
How do the events beyond the headlines get found?
The long tailEvery shared place reaches residents and visitors through the people who know it. Coverage requests direct contributors to the gaps GEA chooses.
Example questions and the kind of answer the record would give. No result is claimed before the evaluation measures it.
11Held in the Kingdom
Every night, Riyadh asks where to go. Who should own what it learns?
The AI that reads and answers can come from anywhere, and can be swapped as better models arrive. What it learns about the Kingdom’s evenings is different: which places Saudis vouch for, which nights fill, which talent is rising, and what people asked for and could not find. That knowledge should belong to the Kingdom.
11Held in the Kingdom
Tools, replaceable
- The AI models that read and answer
- The apps and assistants people ask
- The maps and screens that show the answer
Knowledge, owned in the Kingdom
- The checked record of every place and night
- Every question counted, by district and reason. Counts, never names
- The register of performers who chose to be listed
- The knowledge graph that connects them
11Held in the Kingdom
The models can come from anywhere. The knowledge stays Saudi.
The record would be owned by the public body that commissions it and kept in the Kingdom, with personal data under Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law. Any assistant, Saudi or global, could read the checked record on the owner’s terms, so no single platform is the only way in. And a season of checked records cannot be bought or copied overnight.
12Every region
Riyadh first, while the season is on.
12Every region
Then the regions with their own seasons.
12Every region
Then all thirteen. Each region’s record owned by the public body that commissions it.
13The evaluation
One district. Twelve weeks.
Old Riyadh
Around one season zone, near Winter Al Dirah.
Evenings out
Counted week by week, not just listings.
Every venue
Checked against GEA’s licence lists, if GEA shares them as the answer key.
Twice
The desk check, run at the start and again at the end, so before and after can be compared.
One district, one season, measured against the baseline.
The rest of Riyadh, around every season zone.
Each season, each region, each record kept in the Kingdom.
14Next steps
Who would do what, and who would own what.
| Who | Would do | Would keep |
|---|---|---|
| GEA | Chooses the district, the measures and where the record grows next. Could share its licence lists as the answer key. | The record and every report. Kept in the Kingdom. |
| People who know Riyadh | Share the places they love, in their own words, with their consent. | Their name on what they shared, and the right to withdraw it. |
| Venues and performers | Agree to be listed. Performers opt in to the register. | Control over how they are shown. Never ranked. |
| TAG | Builds and runs the service, the checks and the reports. | Its software and methods. No rights to sell the record. |
| Ticketing platforms | Where a place sells tickets, the visitor is sent to buy them where they are sold today. | Their own sales. Nothing here implies any platform has agreed. |
Three steps would start the evaluation.
- 1Name one person at GEA to lead it.
- 2Agree the district and the measures on this page, or tell us what to change.
- 3Review TAG’s price for the evaluation, sent once the details are agreed.
Ask for a private briefing.
You built
the spectacle.
Now let Riyadh map what’s in between.