Mulenga Kapwepwe holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Zambia. She is currently Chairperson of the ARTerial Network Task Team. In Zambia she is the Chairperson of the Zambia National Arts Council, where she works with a number of networks and funders and civil society organisations. She is a writer and has published a number of books. She also has been actively engaged in promoting various developments in the arts over the last 15 years and was Technical Advisor to the European Union for the Zambia Culture Sector Development Programme, a three-year programme that was aimed at developing the arts and protecting heritage in Zambia. She is also serving as a Commissioner for UNESCO (Zambia) and has been involved in a number of policy developments in the cultural sector.

P. Tade Adekunle holds a Master’s degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan and has acted and directed stage productions in Nigeria’s vibrant theatrical scene, since the early nineties.  While combining his theatrical activities of acting and directing play productions, Tade has worked in various other companies for the past twenty  years, among which are Automania Nigeria Limited, SO&U Saatchi & Saatchi Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc. He joined the Cossse Group in 1999 and currently the Executive Director/CEO of Towncriers Limited – a foremost experiential marketing and brand activation company in Nigeria.

Joy is the Director of The Performing & Visual Arts Centre Ltd, popularly called the Godown Arts Centre, a young nonprofit facility providing subsidized space for Kenyan artists and presenting artistic public programs for local audiences.

Through appointment by the Minister of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services, she has served on the Governing Council of the Kenya Cultural Centre, under which falls the Kenya National Theatre.

Having completed my training course as a Journalist, Sarah enrolled with the now defunct Crusader News Paper as an intern. She later joined Uganda Television as a TV presenter while at the same time corresponded for the Monitor News paper. In 1998, Sarah joined Media Plus an Independent Television Production House that produced New for Light House Television as a reporter. At Media Plus, she was later attached to Parliament as a senior Investigative reporter from where she picked interest in governance issues and pursued a Degree in Democracy and Development. She later Co – founded Native TV an independent Production House that specializes in giving Ugandans their own voice and space on the air waves. In 2005, she joined Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation principally represented by the ten day film festival in Kampala as the Coordinator of the East African Film Congress an annual component of the festival where Film Makers in the region meet to discuss, share views, network but also lay strategies on developing a regional film infrastructure and common policies. she also coordinate the mobile cinema where we take mainly African Films to communities mostly rural and institutions like school as well as the Symposium another component of the festival where students, civil society, legislators and academicians discuss pertinent issues in our society based on the festival theme with intent to raise national conscience on such issues. In 2008 she served as the Chairperson of East African Film Makers Forum.

An intercultural activist and practitioner, El Bennaoui earned her first B.A in Classical and Modern Arabic Studies and Literature (Agadir); a second in Cultural Animation (Casablanca), moved to Paris to study cultural policies and practices in Europe and graduated in Cultural Projects Management with Marcel Hicter Foundation from Brussels.  She has worked as a freelance consultant for organizations active in Africa and the Arab world such as Aides Aux Musiques Innovatrices, the European Cultural Foundation, Roberto Cimetta Fund, and The Information and Research Center at King Hussein Foundation…etc.

El Bennaoui works also as a researcher in the Arts and Culture sector. She participated in researches to map the funding landscape in the Arab World; to establish a placement scheme in the cultural management sector in the Mediterranean and most recently for the establishment of an African Fund for Arts and Culture.

Familiar with the Arab world’s contemporary & urban music sector, as well as the world music sector and its networks worldwide, El Bennaoui is also commissioned to manage International Press Liaison and Communication with prestigious world music festivals in Morocco. El Bennaoui also collaborates with the Young Arab Theater Fund on strategic information and networking in the Arab world and on the international festival Meeting Points.  She has been elected in September 2009 as North African member of Arterial Network Steering Committee. El Bennaoui speaks Tachelhit (mother tongue), Arabic and its dialects, French, English and Spanish.

Filimone holds BA Honours and Master of Arts in Environmental and Development Sociology from the Wits University- South Africa. He started his career first as a History teacher and Journalist. From 2003 to 2008 he served in many capacities as a lecturer, teaching sociologist at several universities including Eduardo Mondlane University and Higher Institute of Science and Technology of Mozambique. He is also a prominent writer who published more than ten articles on different topics including HIV and AIDS and the Arts. He is currently serving as the Director of High institute of arts and culture of Mozambique.

Salma Graduated from Faculty of Arts, English Literature Department, Ain Shams University in 2006. Until 2007 she worked as a program coordinator in the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, one of Bibliotheca Alexandrina projects. Since 2007 she has been working as the press and communications officer in Al Mawred Al Thaqafy. At Mawred she is also the program coordinator for Mawa3eed, an initiative that supports and funds cultural and artistic exchange in the Arab region. Salma is also an actress and has participated in several independent cinema and theatre productions.

Télesphore MBA BIZO has been working with the Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV, since 2000 as journalist-translator. He has started teaching journalism in Yaoundé. Besides a Bachelor's degree in English-French Bilingual Series with Communication, he is a holder of both a Master of Arts with thesis in Translation, and a Masters-DEA degree in Information and Communication Science. He is a Ph D. student at the Doctoral Training Unit, DTU, from the Advanced School of Mass Communication, ASMAC. He is specializing in Arts and Communication Economics. He is part of the International Federation of Film Critics, FIPRESCI, and has been juror in festivals worldwide. People can access some of his contributions, theses and books by googling his name. He owns Multi-World, a Yaoundé-based communication, translation and arts company.

Lassana Igo Diarra belongs to this generation of African cultural operators who are really willing to emphasise on the arts and culture on the continent and in the world.
Igo graduated with a Master’s degree in arts and cultural management. He currently plays a transversal role in the cultural field. Founding Balani’s Editions, specialised in youth literature and comics, he also manages cultural projects and organises various events (i.e. musical Thursdays at the National museum of Mali, cultural initiations at the Palace of culture in Bamako and many big concerts). He initiated recently the Summer University for Culture in Bamako. Since 2001, he’s been planning innovative projects for the African photography meeting (exhibitions in the streets, the African photography anthem, a forum around the theme of “borders”). Igo is also a cultural consultant for the city hall of Bamako, advising towards the implementation of cultural policies in communities and he’s currently working on building the Medina multimedia library and on the Renaissance 2010 project.