Tanween Factsheet

About Tanween
Tanween enables creatives and the creative sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond by providing a global hub for knowledge sharing, building interest in innovation and the industry, developing local talent and creative professionals, and presenting outstanding experiences for visitors. It runs in parallel with the wider AlSharqiya Gets Creative Creativity movement, another Ithra initiative.

Tanween focuses on the cultural and creative industries (CCI) – which include pursuits in arts, science and design – that have become a vital force in accelerating human development. Tanween empowers people to take ownership of their own development and stimulate the innovation that can drive inclusive sustainable growth. Ithra emphasizes talent development as vital to unlocking the potential of the creative and cultural economy in Saudi Arabia, the region, and beyond. Tanween bolsters this endeavor through a series of programs highlighting the opportunities a creative career can bring, connecting talent with opportunities, and providing resources to support the development of both individuals and the industry at large.

Every year, Tanween takes on a theme delving into an aspect of the creative process where cultural audiences and creative consumers can discover the potential of an artistic career and mindset. The festival reaffirms Ithra’s role as a leading advocate for the power of creativity through high-quality insight and original content creation by providing talks, workshops and masterclasses, exhibitions, installations, and performances. 

In 2023, the Tanween conference explores the theme of “Scale” with the first ever mega challenge during the event. Tanween launched in 2018 with the theme “Disruption: A Creative Response to Change”. In 2019 the festival explored “Play: A Key ingredient to Creativity”, while in 2020 the festival took on a hybrid physical-virtual model due to the Covid-19 pandemic to examine “The New Next: Creativity to the Future”. The theme for Tanween 2021 was “Tools: Build the Creativity”, while Tanween 2022 highlights “Collaborate: Symphony of Creativity.”

About Tanween 2023 
Ithra is set to become centre stage for the next big event in the design world during November 1-4 as thought leaders, cutting-edge brands, industry experts, students and professionals spanning architecture, graphic design, fashion, digital media, and product design descend on King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) for the sixth edition of Tanween, an annual event that promotes creativity, design, innovation and cultural exchange.
Ithra is expecting to welcome hundreds of participants to experience a four-day interconnected journey. Centered on the theme “scale”, this year’s conference will continue to provide a platform for emerging and established designers from across the globe to showcase their work, engage in critical discussions and collaborate on innovative projects powered by a program that includes a wide array of workshops, exhibitions, panels, interactive challenges and talks. 

What’s on offer?
The conference will also feature thought-provoking panels and talks headlined by industry luminaries. On opening day Carlos Moreno, Scientific Director of the Lab “Entrepreneurship Territory Innovation,” Sorbonne University will speak on "The Revolution of Proximities” while Creative Director Dan Goods who leads a team of creatives at a jet propulsion laboratory will discuss “Seeing the Unseen”. 

Architect Carmelo Zappulla, Founder and Managing Director of the Barcelona-based studio External Reference will join Lebanese Product Designer Nada Debs and Ramsey Naja, Chief Creative Director, DDB in providing participants with an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at their creative processes and tricks of the trade in a new program called “A Day With An Expert” where each expert gives a group the opportunity to spend a full day with them including multiple learning and interactive sessions specially designed by them.

Additionally, Isola, in collaboration with Ithra, will present Routes to Roots, a dynamic exhibition featuring 20 international designers who will exhibit pieces that explore the power of scale in the realm of design celebrating those that preserve our heritage and the Earth. Every day, one exhibited designer will perform a live demonstration that showcases their craft.

Mega Challenge to focus on refugee relief
Motivated by humanitarian efforts to change lives of disenfranchised people, for the first time Tanween will challenge 70 innovators from across the globe to design sustainable and empowering solutions that improve the quality of life for refugees inside camps. The Mega Challenge targets three tracks in need of innovative solutions: education, food security, and power. Winning ideas will be submitted by Ithra to a list of qualified sponsors for evaluation and, pending approval, implementation in selected refugee camps in Mauritania, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

Tanween 2023 in numbers 

1 Mega Challenge
12 mentors
8 live demo sessions
8  Speakers
8 Panel discussions
24 panelists
4 Exhibitions4 workshops 
4 installations 
 
About AlSharqiya Gets Creative 
AlSharqiya Gets Creative (Eastern Province “EP” Gets Creative) is the largest creativity movement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. First launched in 2020, in parallel to Ithra’s annual Tanween festival, the initiative is aimed at encouraging creativity without borders. Presented under the patronage of HRH Prince Saud bin Nayef Al Saud, Governor of the Eastern Province, the community-engagement event  has inspired creativity in partnership with more than 200 entities from different sectors and community groups across the Kingdom’s Eastern Province (EP)  through creative activations aiming to position the region as a destination for creativity. The two-week creative integration into the regions major cities has shifted the general population of the EP’s understanding of the creative industries and has encouraged it’s audience to enhance their creative and social development.

• Purpose: AlSharqiya Gets Creative exists to unleash the creative power of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province as a force for the region’s – and the Kingdom’s – economic and social benefit.
• Mission: To enable the creative expression of the community and organizations across the Eastern Province through a combination of Ithra-generated events and community-led activations, and by annually attracting an enviable line-up of supporting partners.
• Participating entities: businesses, corporates, government institutes, non-profits and community groups.
• Sectors: Art, culture, fashion, sports, culinary.