Wynn Corser-Horn, Writer, Editor, Communications Professional
Samples of corporate and communications writing & editing
As a communicator, writer and editor for a landmark cultural center being constructed in Saudi Arabia, I have had the chance to write about initiatives, programs and ideas that would not have been possible even ten years ago. The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture - an initiative of Saudi Aramco - is breaking new ground in the Kingdom, both literally and figuratively. What an opportunity: to be part of the startup team and to contribute to the Kingdom's dramatic transformation toward a knowledge society.
iThra Youth
"When Saudi Aramco’s iThra Youth initiative was named “one of the six best novel solutions to the challenges facing education in the world” by the respected Qatar Foundation last week, it was a seminal moment for a team that didn’t even exist two years ago.
A collaborative effort between Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Ministry of Education, Ithra Youth was selected as one of six WISE award winners from among 500 applicants from around the world – and it all started with an intimidating mandate, a critical need, and a “secret” word.
“Two years ago, I was requested to design a strategy that would bring a qualitative impact to the lives of Saudi youth,” recalls Dr. Khalid Al-Yahya, head of the iThra Youth initiative at Saudi Aramco’s King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture.
The mandate: To design a signature program for Saudi Aramco that would address an increasingly-important gap in science and math skills and critical thinking among Saudi youth.
Dr. Al-Yahya and his small, youthful team knew their strategy depended solely on the ability to deliver an innovative approach through transmedia: delivering programs across multiple platforms and formats.
The team’s secret word – “inspiration” – was to be their guiding light in all their works: “We studied inspiration, analyzed it and excelled at it,” recalls Dr. Al2 Yahya. “After thorough analysis we created our own definition of “inspirational experience...”
Aramco Ithra Knowledge Program
"Picasso in the desert, Chinese and Circassian dancers, Teletubbies and Smurf, family activities and street performers … It’s like nothing ever seen before in Dhahran -- and it will all be gone in just three weeks’ time.
Saudi Aramco’s premier community event, the Ithra Knowledge Program, is proving a hit with Aramcons and area residents alike, with attendance at the six-week event now topping 125,000.
The biggest hits so far? The dramatic modern art exhibit brought to Saudi Arabia for the first time by France’s Centre Pompidou, including a Picasso, as well as a wildly-popular children’s art tent, a lively Energy Efficiency kids’ playground, and over-the-top performances by high-spirited dance troupes from China and Russia.
“I was absolutely amazed that all this was just outside our door,” said Richard Wiggins, a treasury analyst with Saudi Aramco, who lives in Dhahran. “We took our son along and it was an incredible introduction to Saudi culture.”
Creativity Forum
"Industrial design in Saudi Arabia may soon take on a new face, thanks to inspiration arising from a Cultural Center Creativity Forum session by Saudi artist, Ahmed Angawi.
Angawi was the source of inspiration for at least one young female professional in the audience. As Noora Alnujaidi told the audience at the close of the forum: “I always wanted to be an industrial designer or product designer but I didn’t know how. Now I have a focus.”
Her muse? Angawi, who evolved into a product designer, became an industrial designer by default – and is now a well-known artist/designer and a member of the Saudi Industrial Design Association (SIDA).
“There was no product design being taught here, when I came back to Saudi,” Angawi told attendees. ”There are amazing local resources here; you just have to shape it.”
lnujaidi, an interior designer with Jacobs Engineering in Khobar, told the audience that her father was an industrial manufacturer; she used to play around with leftover industrial scraps, wondering what to do with them.
Thanks to Angawi and the Cultural Center’s Creativity Forum, she now knows how to put that wonder to good use: “I want to thank the Center, because today I put my Plan A back on track,” said lnujaidi..."
The Knowledge Society
"The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture and Saudi Aramco made a splash at this week's Riyadh International Book Fair, bringing Saudi Aramco’s Knowledge Society initiative in front of more than two million fair visitors, and directly reaching 75,000 people.
With its modern, curved design, a new custom-made booth shared by the Cultural Center and Saudi Aramco made a dramatic statement on the crowded floor of the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center.
Saudi Aramco President and CEO Mr. Al Falih also launched iRead 2014! nationwide during the book fair, following a tremendously successful pilot in the Eastern Province last year.The iRead competition invites expressions of the love of reading, through writing and professional photography and – for the first time - animated videos and short films...
Center staff kept busy answering questions from an estimated 75,000 booth visitors regarding the Center’s future library and cultural offerings, a major part of Saudi Aramco’s move to develop a knowledge society in the Kingdom. The team also handed out several thousand Arabic children’s books as part of a strategic effort to stimulate reading among youngsters. The joint booth also showcased Saudi Aramco’s corporate social responsibility work..."