In the space of a single week, Qatar Foundation managed the diplomatic equivalent of creative multitasking: while its BilAraby initiative was busy charming a few thousand highly caffeinated young innovators at the Misk Global Forum in Riyadh, Education City in Doha quietly unveiled a cultural heavyweight of its own making. The opening of Lawh Wa Qalam: M. F. Husain Museum — the region’s first dedicated to the iconic artist — didn't simply add another institution to Qatar’s cultural map; it signalled that creativity, in all its unruly, unpredictable, and occasionally paint-splattered forms, is very much at the heart of QF’s mission.

Together, these two moments sketch a revealing portrait of an organisation that sees no contradiction in celebrating the legacy of a modern-art visionary while simultaneously coaching the next generation on how to turn bright ideas into social impact. If anything, the juxtaposition seems entirely deliberate.

For three decades (I know, wow), Qatar Foundation has behaved rather like an ambitious architect building a city of ideas, one institution at a time. What began in 1995 as a commitment to quality education has expanded into a 12-square-kilometre ecosystem where learning, research, innovation, and community life mingle with almost suspicious ease.

Today, Education City is home not only to international universities and research centres, but also to initiatives that encourage public engagement, cultural exchange, and the sort of curiosity that tends to lead people into careers their parents barely understand. QF’s remit is wide — progressive education, sustainability, artificial intelligence, precision health, and social progress — yet the thread that binds it all is a belief that human potential isn't a finite resource. Quite the opposite. Creativity, in QF’s eyes, is a renewable energy source, best activated early and often.

Lawh Wa Qalam: M. F. Husain Museum enters Education City with the quiet confidence of an institution that knows it isn't simply a museum, but a milestone. Designed from Husain’s own concept sketch — because naturally he wasn't about to leave architecture to someone else — the building feels less constructed than conjured. It is a place where his lines, colours, and obsessions gather for one final, elegantly orchestrated conversation.

Inaugurated by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the museum presents more than 150 original works and personal artefacts, including pieces never shown publicly before. The galleries unfold like chapters: Arab civilisation rendered in bold strokes, South Asian iconography intertwined with Islamic motifs, and the philosophical musings that shaped Husain’s restless imagination. Even Seeroo fi al ardh — the artist’s exuberant final masterpiece — now sits within the museum as if it always intended to live there.

Yet this isn't merely a retrospective. It is a cultural anchor designed to ignite new inquiry. With multimedia installations, archival materials, learning spaces, and a curatorial approach that welcomes curiosity rather than intimidates it, the museum broadens QF’s creative landscape. It reminds visitors that innovation is rarely born in isolation; it is built on histories, influences, and artistic rebellions that endure long after the paint dries.

While Doha celebrated the legacy of a modern master, Riyadh was busy nurturing its future successors. At the Misk Global Forum, BilAraby took QF’s mission on the road, transforming its activation space into a lively experiment in youth-driven creativity. The atmosphere was part technology playground, part cultural salon, part spontaneous “I have an idea and it might change everything” gathering — which is precisely the point.

Visitors wandered through a virtual reality tour of Education City, experiencing a landscape that appears to have been designed specifically to overwhelm and inspire. Sensory Capsules projected Arab narratives with cinematic flair. The Nominate and Subscribe station invited the sort of bold self-confidence that the region’s creative future desperately requires: apply to speak at next year’s Gathering, host a session, launch your idea into BilAraby’s orbit. Why not.

The BilAraby Majlis added substance to the spectacle. Thought leaders and young innovators analysed the realities facing Arab creators today: limited resources, regulatory tangles, the challenge of sustaining momentum once the initial spark fades. Speakers such as Dr. Ayoub Al-Subaihi and Lina Al-Thakeer brought lived experience to the table — the victories, the hurdles, the necessary stubbornness of creativity in the Arab world.

Through its Riyadh activation, BilAraby extended QF’s creative ecosystem into a regional network. It amplified voices that are often overlooked, encouraged cross-border collaboration, and demonstrated that QF’s commitment to creativity doesn't stop at Doha’s city limits. Instead, it travels — enthusiastically — wherever young people gather to imagine new possibilities.

You get an ecosystem that stretches across borders, generations, and disciplines. The opening of the M. F. Husain Museum honours a master whose imagination shaped modern art; BilAraby’s activation empowers a generation determined to reshape the future. In different ways, both embody Qatar Foundation’s belief that creativity isn't merely a talent but a public good — a force that deserves infrastructure, investment, and a bit of ceremony.

Taken together, these milestones reveal a confident cultural strategy: nurture young creators, preserve artistic heritage, and create spaces where ideas — artistic, technological, and social — can collide productively. It is an approach that anchors regional identity while encouraging global conversation. And, if the energy in Riyadh and Doha is any indication, the Arab world’s creative future isn't only promising; it is already well under way.