After our launch on Gorée Island in Senegal in March 2007, we hosted our second Biannual Conference at the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg from 19-21 September 2009. 114 delegates from 28 African countries as well as a further 17 participants from mainly European countries attended the two-day event, more than double the number of delegates and countries that attended the founding conference.

Korkor Amarteifio, Associate Director of the Institute for Music Development in Ghana set the tone for the conference with her keynote address: The African creative sector: acting locally to be globally assertive. As a model of a continental civil society movement in the creative sector, Ilona Kish outlined the structure and activities of Culture Action Europe. The rest of the time was spent in working groups, discussing and devising concrete recommendations for Arterial Network to take further with regard to building advocacy networks, undertaking campaigns to improve the creative industries and status of the artist on the continent, ensuring greater benefits for Africa (rather than only South Africa) from the 2010 FIFA World Cup and building a festival and touring network.

This conference saw the election of the Arterial Network General Assembly which comprises of representatives of each African country. The list below shows the general assembly members and the countries represented.