Abdullah Al-Rashid has been the head of learning programs at the King Abdul Aziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) since May 2017. Prior to that, he worked on the creation and management of nationwide youth outreach programs in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at Ithra, in Dhahran. Al-Rashid gained a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland in 2008, and a master’s degree in business administration from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, North Carolina in 2017. From 2008 to 2013 he was a contracting representative at Saudi Aramco, and between May and August 2016 headed the Middle East government relations and philanthropy partnerships at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Washington, DC. On Friday, Ithra launched the second edition of Tanween, its highly anticipated creativity season, which will run until Oct. 27. This year Tanween, programmed around the title “Play,” will offer more than 230 events through a range of workshops, talks, cultural activities, dining experiences and performances designed to engage audiences on the unlimited potential of creativity. Al-Rashid said: “Tanween has adopted the concept of ‘Play’ as a key driver of innovation and creative thinking, which our audiences will experience through applied simulations of games in science, manufacturing, and communication.”