The Middle East is experiencing a change in its relationship with the West and with its own cultural heritage. In the emerging economies of the Arab world there are conflicting feelings about globalization and westernization that sometimes manifest themselves in mutually negative misconceptions. Improving channels of communication amongst the two camps can only help to bring about better understanding and tolerance.

On the other hand, there has been an increase in international interest in Arabic typography and hence the necessity of holding such a conference. During the Vancouver conference of the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) in September 2003, a whole afternoon forum was dedicated to Arabic typography with a number of speakers from different educational institutions and with various design specializations. International publications are racing to print articles about Arabic typography and even online forums and email lists are continuously getting into Arabic related topics.

However, there is a lack of knowledge among many Arabic typographers about what is possible for the Arabic script in the new generation of digital text technologies, and a lack of dialog between typographers and calligraphers. The conference aims to portray to the international eye, the beauty and grace of the Arabic culture as manifested in its calligraphic art, and to map a future for the Arabic script that is fully engaged with both the latest technologies and knowledge of its rich past.