Hayy Studios

Hayy Studios are four production spaces on the top floor of the complex, dedicated to artists’ studio rentals, residency programmes, and participatory projects. 

About the rental of studios

The Hayy Studio rentals initiative aims to offer affordable studio spaces for Jeddah- and wider Makkah region-based artists, filmmakers, creative practitioners, writers, and interdisciplinary researchers —  running annually from June until December.

About the 2025 cohort 

This year, the cohort includes: Kindah Collective, Hana Maatouk, Salem Awari and Jawaher Al Amri, Summer Shesha, Sara Mesfer, selected based on the quality of their work, their experience, and the coherence of their current projects with Hayy Jameel’s collective mission.

Kindah Collective

A collective of Saudi artists and artisans united by a shared passion for traditional crafts and cultural heritage.

Coming from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, they work across various mediums and disciplines—from ceramics and porcelain, to woodwork and plaster carving. Based in Jeddah and led by the three artists Ayman Al-Mahawi, Pharaoh AlGhalib, and Wafa Karsha, together they aim to celebrate and expand the role of crafts in our local cultural landscape.

Hana Maatouk

A Saudi-Spanish visual artist whose work explores concepts of time and memory of the natural world.

Workingacross painting and sculpture, Maatouk draws on personal and collective histories to transmute layered narratives, where multiple spatial-temporal realities can take form at once. Maatouk has exhibited internationally at LeRoy Neiman Gallery and NYC Culture Club among others.

Salem Awari

A multidisciplinary artist with a background in mechanical engineering, Awari’s work focuses on exploring social and human relationships, collective memory, and the concept of recycling.

He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Saudi Arabia, including at the Ithra Center, and has led and participated in various workshops and art residencies in Jeddah.

Jawaher Al Amri, Summer Shesha, Sara Mesfer

Jawaher Al Amri: A Saudi screenwriter and director. Al Amri’s latest film, The Last Dismissal, won the Special Jury Award at the Cairo Film Festival and Best Director at Hollywood Short Fest in 2024. She is also one of the directors of the Saudi anthology Becoming (Red Sea Fund).

Sara Mesfer: A Saudi filmmaker known for her fiction-documentary style, blending realism with storytelling. She was selected as one of Screen International’s Arab Stars of Tomorrow in 2021.

Summer Shesha
Summer has starred in many successful films and TV shows and led major cultural projects across Saudi Arabia, including the Diriyah Storytelling Festival. She is currently working on directing her debut project this year.