Creative Impact Lab Amman
Creative Impact Lab Amman is an inspiring and generative cultural exchange that takes place at a time of heightened conflict in the Middle East, where we recommit to the vital work of cultural exchange. We believe that creative collaboration across differences cultivates mutual understanding and transformative relationships. This undergirds a pillar of our mission:
We serve to empower an inclusive global network, a borderless community where all belong in pursuit of a more vibrant, just, and regenerative world. Leonardo stands for the free and open exchange of ideas. We abhor acts of violence, oppression, and military aggression that replace such freedom with fear and intimidation.
Creative Impact Lab Amman is a creative exchange that utilizes community-driven digital and new media art projects to develop youth leadership in the creative economy.
Leonardo Creative Impact Labs
Creative Impact Labs are international exchanges that utilize innovative, community-driven, technology-powered art projects to address social and environmental challenges. The labs encourage mutual understanding and cross-border collaboration between creative communities around the globe.
Creative Impact Labs are produced by Leonardo with support from U.S. embassies abroad. Each Lab is led by a U.S.-based artist and co-produced with a local cultural organization in the overseas exchange location.
During the exchange, a selected U.S. lead artist facilitates a workshop series introducing creative practices in emerging media that give access to new forms of expression. Local participants then apply the skills they've learned in the creation of project prototypes that address the chosen social or environmental challenge. They present these prototypes at a culminating exhibition and panel review, where they receive feedback on their projects from interdisciplinary experts.
The Leonardo Creative Impact Labs are a continuation and evolution of our strategic partner ZERO1’s International Exchange program, an innovative model for cultural exchange at the intersection of art, science, and technology.
Lead Artist: Olivia Cueva
Olivia Cueva is a multidisciplinary artist, technologist, and designer from Berkeley, California. Her work explores the intersections of fashion, technology, biology, storytelling, and education. Her bio textile work has been featured globally, including The Future Fabrics Expo in London and the Institute of Advanced Architecture in Barcelona. Before entering the world of fashion & textile design, she was the director of the David E. Glover Emerging Technology Center in Oakland, California where she founded a creative studio for youth. She has 10+ years experience teaching media, technology, and fashion to youth throughout the U.S. As a bio textile and fashion technologist, she has invented menstrual tech wearables and designed assistive electronic textiles for elders. She is currently designing naturally dyed bio plastic fashion and footwear that can decompose safely back into the earth. Olivia is a 2023 graduate of Fabricademy at the Institute of Advanced Architecture in Barcelona. She received her Masters from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU and her Bachelors in broadcast journalism from Brooklyn College in New York City.
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In this hybrid in-person and virtual exchange, U.S. lead artist, Jessica Jabr, facilitated a workshop series introducing creative practices in emerging media that give access to new forms of expression. Participants learned rapid prototyping techniques for human-centered interactive media design as they explored the cultural and creative industries in Jordan. They applied ethical design and technology principles to the practice of storytelling through digital and physical media. The Lab is an amalgamation of collective research, experiential learning, and co-design with a focus on local communities to create impactful pieces of media & interactive art.
Lead Artist: Jessica Jabr
Jessica Jabr (she/her/hers) is a Lebanese born-New York based business professional and design technologist. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design - The New School in New York City and a Bachelors degree of Business Administration in Management from Arts, Sciences, and Technology University in Lebanon. Her work experience in programs, entrepreneurship, and emerging technology fuels her projects where she blends art, business, and tech.
She’s currently a visiting assistant professor at Pratt Institute, teaching Transformation Design Studio under the Graduate Communications Design program and a lecturer at the Design&Technology BFA program at Parsons School of Design, The New School, where she gives the Objects Lab which involves interaction design and physical computing.
She has worked in the global startup/tech/media ecosystem while based in the Middle East and helped hundreds of startups and entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses through building and running support programs. Previously, she was in charge of the Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship Center at AUB, and handled programs, activations, entrepreneur & investors engagement at Arabnet (one of the biggest startup/tech ecosystems in the MENA region). She also managed the Lebanese Rural Development Association’s EU fund where she launched their project across Lebanon in 2016.
Her design-tech work is a combination of creating interaction on and off the screen, where the audience is immersed in the built environments. The core of her work is based on human-computer interaction. She designs user experiences intuitively and builds technology with human wellbeing at the forefront.
She brings with her a wealth of experience in global tech-entrepreneurship management, and has a deep understanding of organizational structures, leadership, consumer behavior, marketing, and the corporate space with a global perspective on digital transformation, business models, and hacking growth strategies to push organizations forward.
Creative Impact Lab Amman is a Leonardo international exchange supported by U.S. Embassy Amman and hosted by IDare for Sustainable Development.
Host Partner: IDare for Sustainable Development
IDare for Sustainable Development is a not-for-profit organization established in October 2013. As a social venture, the core of IDare's actions are based on social marketing (community change behavior) from the early stages of idea development to the successful achievement of the desired impact.
IDare believes in youth as the driving force towards development in its comprehensive sustainable concept where social, economic, and political dimensions are equally respected. IDare exists to be the platform for the voice and efforts of young active citizens in transforming their societies to achieve remarkable success in all their endeavors.
Sponsor: US Embassy Amman
The mission of the United States Embassy is to advance the interests of the United States, and to serve and protect U.S. citizens in Jordan.
