Ithra's Tanween festival returns for a 5th year and explores the creative power of collaboration

'The launch of the 5th edition of Tanween, its flagship annual creativity season, has been announced by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), inviting creatives, professionals, students, curious learners and more to explore creativity and innovation under the tagline "Collaborate to Create", and will feature an exciting global lineup from October 27 - November 12, 2022.

This edition includes 26 speakers, 7 workshops, 5 masterclasses, 18 talks and panels, the Tanween Hub including 4 hands-on experience stations, 3 installations, 5 immersive experiences, a graduate showcase, 1-to-1 consultation sessions for aspiring professionals and 5 of this year's Tanween Challenge projects. Key speakers include Electronic Arts cofounder Dave Evans and Stanford design professor Bill Burnett, Saudi creative industry "God Father" Kaswara Al-Khatib, Reebok cofounder Joe Foster, audio astronaut Reeps One, the green urbanista Huda Shaka, and the veteran architect of air Alan Parkinson. Other highlights include: Leading Saudi design advocate Princess Nourah Al-Faisal, serial brand collaborator designer Rami Afifi, graffiti legend Carlos Mare, architectural material wizard Marcus Farr and partners contributions including the Academy for Theater and Digitality supported by the Goethe Institute and Netherland Embassy supported artist Arne Hendriks.

Tanween 2022, under the umbrella of "Collaboration", addresses the need for a creative collaborative process of cultures, with nature, by technology and for society. The Business of Creativity track explores new ways of creative collaboration through innovative brand crossovers, while Graphics & Communication takes a deep dive who is collaborating with whom to magnify and reach across cultures and audiences. The third track targets architects and designers building the next generation of spaces and products.

The top projects in the Tanween Challenges, designed to produce practical solutions to real-world issues while promoting design thinking and innovation, will also be exhibited, alongside the Tanween Grad Expo featuring some of the best young design talent in the GCC.

Since its inception, Tanween has welcomed almost 200,000 visitors. For information on Tanween and Ithra's ongoing programs, visit www.ithra.com.