The Isan Creative Festival 2026 (ISANCF2026) has officially concluded after nine days, but organisers say its work driving the Northeast’s creative economy is far from over. The festival drew 304,430 visitors from Thailand and abroad across more than 200 programmes at four venues in Khon Kaen and other creative spaces around the region.
With partners from 13 countries taking part, the festival generated more than 800 million baht in economic value, reinforcing its position as a business platform turning the Northeast’s cultural assets and creativity into economic opportunity.
Saksee Phonsantikul, director of the Northeastern Regional Office at the Creative Economy Agency, said the festival’s success went far beyond visitor numbers and economic impact.
“It is also reflected in the tangible outcomes that continue beyond the festival, from creative works reaching the marketplace and new partnerships taking shape to business opportunities that continue to grow.”
He added that the festival would keep connecting creators, entrepreneurs, communities, educational institutions, businesses and urban developers, building an ecosystem that strengthens the Northeast’s competitiveness globally.
Beyond exhibitions and activities, the festival served as a platform connecting people, encouraging knowledge exchange and supporting business development and new partnerships. By creating a shared space for experimentation and cross-sector collaboration, it gave new ideas room to be tested and developed into real initiatives.
Cities are built by people, not infrastructure
Among this year’s highlights was The Good City, Better Living Exhibition, which asked visitors what makes a city truly livable and who shapes its future. Rather than focusing on physical infrastructure, it showed how community participation, co-creation and local leadership are central to building better cities.
Drawing on case studies from more than 25 organisations, the exhibition featured initiatives including We! Park, which looks at how public spaces support healthier cities, Isan Modern Mobility, which highlights the Khon Kaen City Bus as a model for regional public transport, and GIZ Thailand’s Urban-Act/TGC EMC Project, which showcases urban design approaches that strengthen climate resilience.
The exhibition remains open at the Creative Space, 2nd floor, Central Khon Kaen Campus, from July 22 to August 7, running daily.
Tanjira Kaensuwan, project manager of UrbanKraft.co, said the exhibition was not about presenting an ideal city.
“We want people to recognise the potential that already exists within their own communities. Cities are shaped not only by roads and buildings, but by the decisions people make every day,” she said.
“A good city is one where people can live, grow and shape the future together.”
Turning rain into creative inspiration
Another standout, The Isan Rainy Season Exhibition, invited visitors to rethink one of the region’s defining features: the rainy season.
Put together by Nattapong Phattanagosai and Donlaporn Chanachai, co-founders of Cloud-floor, along with Prach Niyomkar of Mann Craft, DANU x inutt and Dr Tanatchaporn Kittikong, the exhibition treated the rainy season as raw material rather than an inconvenience.
Highlights included colour-changing umbrellas activated by rainfall, textiles patterned naturally by raindrops, and sound installations created through water interacting with different materials.
The creative team behind the exhibition said they hoped it would help people see rain differently.
“Without the rain, these works simply wouldn’t exist. Nature isn’t just the backdrop, it’s an integral part of the creative process,” they said, adding that they wanted people to recognise the potential in every place.
“Around the world, many destinations have embraced their natural climate as part of their cultural identity. We believe the Northeast can do the same by turning its rainy season into a distinctive cultural asset.”
From exhibition space to business platform
Kupper Art Fes 2026 Upforce, now in its third year at the festival, showed what that opportunity looks like in practice. Held under the theme “Haeng Hung Detchakhanong,” the programme drew inspiration from the Bun Bang Fai, or Rocket Festival, as a symbol of resilience, ambition and local identity.
It featured more than 200 contemporary artworks by over 50 artists, connecting artist networks from Thailand and more than 10 other countries.
Prapatsorn Sukot, project coordinator of Kupper Art Fes, said artists in the Northeast have historically had limited access to collectors or the market.
“We wanted the festival to put them in front of people who understand what the work is worth,” she said. “Each year we have moved into bigger venues, from hotels to shopping centres, partly to reach more of the public and partly so artists can meet collectors, buyers and business partners face to face.”
She added that the festival had linked up with artist networks in more than 10 countries, including Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Japan, Cambodia and Laos.
“That is not just about swapping artworks. It is about working together and opening doors, so contemporary art from Isan can grow at home and abroad,” she said.
Thai textiles as assets, not just heritage
The festival closed with a look at an industry Isan has lived alongside for generations: Thai textiles, presented through HOMEWORK’s Wonder of Fabric, now in its second year at the festival under the concept of “Uniqueness.”
Visitors were asked to see Thai textiles as a design material rather than only clothing or heritage, with wallpaper, curtains, furniture and lifestyle products on show, all made from cloth and aimed at a contemporary market.
Thaveechai Sirikulthada, director of Goldhouse Decor Co., Ltd., said the goal was for people to see Thai textiles as more than heritage to be preserved.
“They are an asset. Design, creativity and product development can give them new value for the way people live now,” he said, pointing to a reinterpretation of Hoop Taem, the traditional Isan mural painting, as one way of tying cultural roots to design.
“More importantly, the Isan Creative Festival 2026 is not merely an exhibition space but a platform that puts designers, manufacturers and the business sector together to develop ideas, build collaborations and expand market opportunities. It is how the cultural capital of Isan turns into economic value that lasts,” he said.
CEA continues to build the region’s creative economy ecosystem
Saksee concluded that CEA’s goal was not a festival that simply gets bigger each year.
“It is a creative economy ecosystem that can keep growing on its own. The festival has ended, but the networks behind it have not stopped connecting new opportunities,” he said, adding that this would drive a “new Isan” into a region of opportunity, hope and the future, with creativity as the engine of sustainable economic growth.
CEA thanked its partners across all 20 Northeastern provinces, along with the creators, entrepreneurs, communities and everyone who attended, saying together they had proved that Isan can write a new chapter of growth for the country. The Isan Creative Festival will return in next year’s rainy season.
More information is available at www.isancreativefestival.com or via @IsanCreativeFestival on Facebook and Instagram.
Press release
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