Directory for Arts & Culture (Cameroon) Released
May 2010
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| Table of contents: |
| I. What’s new at the ARTerial Network? Girona Seminar on Culture and Development Brussels Follow up Committee Culture and Development Meeting in Bonn Tipping Point Climate Change Conference in Cape Town Swaziland Cultural Policy Seminar Call for Applications for Regional Secretariat II. Calls for Projects/Invitation Reminder: Call for Proposals Based on the Agenda 21 for culture 37th Annual African Literature Association Conference: Call for Papers Date for Submission of Abstracts: May 10 - December 1, 2010 West Africa Peace Initiative, A project of WARA/WARC: Call for Papers III. Meetings and Conferences Highway Africa 2010: African Voices in the Global Media Space 05-07 July 2010 IV. Others Connect CP Database Registration V. Contact us |
| I What’s new at the Arterial Network? |
| Girona Seminar on Culture and Development |
| Following the Brussels Symposium on “Culture as a Vector of Development” in April 2009, the European Commission organised an international seminar on culture and development in Girona, Spain from 4-6 May 2010, in the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union. The seminar brought together more than 250 government representatives, funding agencies, research institutes and arts professionals from the African, Caribbean, Pacific and European regions to reflect on the progress made since the Brussels Symposium and to plan further. Members of Arterial Network’s Executive Committee and representatives of its key funding partners attended the Seminar. Of particular importance was a panel discussion in which a representative of the British Council and the Director of La Francophonie spoke together with the Secretary General of Arterial Network about working together in pursuit of common objectives in Africa. This follows the meeting (reported on in the April newsletter) of 17 European agencies and Arterial Network in Brussels on 22 March. The following “Girona Statement” was read on behalf of these agencies: As a follow-up to the meetings in April and December 2009 organised by the European Commission on the theme of “Culture and Development”, the British Council convened a meeting in Brussels in March this year attended by 17 cultural agencies, mainly based in Europe but working in Africa, to share information and to discuss ways in which they might collaborate in the future. This was a groundbreaking initiative to find ways of working in partnership. As well as EUNIC members and European cultural agencies, the meeting also included ARTerial, which represents 30 member agencies from its own African network, UNESCO, the Commonwealth Foundation, the European Commission, the ACP secretariat and La Francophonie. All agencies agreed that they share common aims in Africa, and see great benefit in working together to pursue these multilaterally. There is considerable synergy between their current programmes, and general agreement that our cultural activity in Africa should be seen as an integral part of the development process. From the information shared at the meeting, we learned about the geographic interests and capacities of each agency, and have drawn up a chart to show these. Few agencies are able to cover all the countries of Africa, but we believe working in partnership will offer much greater support for the development of intercontinental networks, mobility of artists, access to markets and developing a consistent methodology for mapping the cultural industries across Africa. By the end of the first meeting, the group identified four key areas to focus on together: 1.Mapping the cultural industries – to provide essential data to cultural policy-makers on all aspects of the creative sector across Africa. 2.Festivals – an opportunity for intercultural dialogue between north and south, a space for exchange and dialogue, and for greater traffic between European and African artists and their audiences. Working in support of festivals also provides new opportunities for working effectively in conflict and post-conflict societies. 3.Training and Development – developing new models to share learning and information between individuals and institutions; strengthening cultural institutions across Africa. 4.Policy Development – a means of ensuring the long-term sustainability of cultural institutions across Africa. The Francophonie took the initiative of organising a second meeting in Paris in April, to take forward discussions on mapping the cultural industries in particular and to prepare for the Girona meeting. Sharing knowledge about which agencies had already been involved in cultural mapping, their respective methodologies and their assessments of individual countries was particularly revealing. It was clear that a shared approach to the subject is infinitely preferable to individual agencies working in a vacuum. It will also encourage greater efficiency and effectiveness. The group has agreed that it will meet to set targets and deadlines for the four specific activities it has identified, allowing a two-year period to complete and assess its joint endeavours : -Working together to coordinate the mapping of cultural and creative industries in Africa, building local networks to ensure accurate and up-to-date information. -Recognising festivals as significant platforms for artistic exchange and dialogue, and as important tools to help in the development of creative cities and economies. Festivals also provide important opportunities to promote greater intercultural dialogue, and to encourage greater diversity and integration between north and south. -Sharing information on training programmes in order to build a coherent strategy of cultural development in the framework of national cultural policies. -Sharing information and good practices about specific access of financial credit for the cultural and creative industries. This is a new way of working, breaking the mould of bilateral activity in a shared ambition to create greater impact, to develop, amplify and enrich our work through collaboration and partnership. This new approach aims to build and strengthen the cultural and creative industries in Africa, and to convince governments of the crucial role of culture in development and the need to integrate culture as a specific item in the millennium development goals. |
| Brussels Follow up Committee |
| The European Commission appointed a Follow-Up Committee comprising Professionals, institutional representatives, members of the European Commission and Experts. The professionals include: Kofi Ansah (Ghana, fashion/design), Balafu Bakupa (DRC, cinéma), José da Silva (Cape Verde, music), Isobel Dixon (South Africa/United Kingdom, literature), Nicole La Bouverie (Belgium, audio visual), Abdoulaye Konate (Mali, visual arts), Lorraine Mangones (Haïti, cultural promoter), Etienne Minoungou (Burkina Faso, theatre), Letila Mitchell (Fiji, cultural promotion), Opiyo Okash (Kenya, dance), Wayne Sinclair (Jamaica, music) and Mike van Graan (South Africa, theatre/cultural promotion). Institutional representatives are Carlos Alberdi, President of the EU, Gabrielle von Brochowski, Special Consellor of the European Commission in the Directorate of Development, Finn Andersen, President of EUNIC, Alain Godonou of UNESCO, Aya Kasasa, Secretariat of the ACP, Marianne de Tolentino of the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Culture and Desire Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Culture (the latter two being observers). Representing the European Commission are Jean Claude Boidin, Giorgio Ficcarelli, Christoph Pelzer, Gilles Fontaine and Raymond Weber while the Experts Group comprises Francisco d’Almeida, Mary Ann de Vlieg, Ayoko Mensah, Toussaint Tiendrébéogo, Marion Le Boulch, Patricio Jeretic, Jesus Rogado and Dominique Thiange. The Follow up Committee had its first meeting on 4 May 2010 and met throughout the Girona Seminar to assess the implementation of the recommendations included in the Brussels Declaration and the commitments the Commission made on that occasion. The Committee also sought to examine the priority orientations for the cultural cooperation programs that exist between the ACP Group and the European Union. The Committee agreed on its mission as follows: 1-To contribute to the diffusion of the recommendations of the Declaration and the information produced by the European Union regarding the Declaration; 2-To advise on the orientations of the implementation strategies for the initiatives derived from the Declaration; 3-To support the European Union and the ACP Group Secretariat to carry-out the recommendations, as well as to advocate for the strategies adopted; 4- To bring the point of view of artists, culture professionals and entrepreneurs to the European Union and the ACP Group at the main international events devoted to culture and development; 5-To contribute to efforts to recruit complementary human and financial resources. The extract below summarizes the key elements and recommendations of the Follow Up Committee: During our meeting, we were informed of the actions undertaken by the European Commission since 2009. The adoption of the Cultural Protocol as a consequence of the mid-term review of the 10th EDF or the engagement to carry out a similar process in several countries both show that we are moving in the right direction. Thus, we confirm our determination to collaborate with our countries and with the European Union so as to increase the number of protocols. Concerning the Intra-ACP program, we applaud the agreement concluded with the ACP Group Secretariat and we wish to receive further and more thorough information that will enable us to give an informed opinion. We also recommend that the professional groups be included in the discussions, and that this is done before the definition of the sector programs and their main orientations. Finally, we highlight the fact that the simplification of procedures and application processes is an essential condition for the multiplication and diversification of initiatives. In order to ensure the success of our joint action, we wish to bring the attention of the European Union to the following proposals: 1. To engage the necessary political will both at the level of the European Union and in the field to ensure the diffusion of a text clearly stating the commitment of the European Union and the priority of culture as a vector for development, as well as its determination to implement the recommendations derived from the Brussels Declaration. 2. To facilitate the setting up – especially in ACP countries and, above all, in countries where culture is not among the development priorities – of national platforms for following up the Brussels Declaration in order to develop relevant partners in the field. 3. These national platforms would have the role to raise awareness around the Declaration and the importance of culture as a vector for development at cultural events taking place in the country. The platforms would similarly nurture debate around the recommendations of the Declaration in the framework of different professional groups and associations and within society as a whole. Moreover, they could also federate the most dynamic professional groups, to identify issues and priority measures to recommend to public authorities, and to act as a framework for consultation with national authorities regarding strategies to adopt and measures to be taken. In that sense, we wish to constitute a small group in each country, in particular with the national participants of the Colloquium of April 2009. They would be charged with the task of setting up these platforms in collaboration with the international Follow-up Committee. Likewise, we propose the organization of national or regional forums wherever possible. 4. The need for synergies: The current economic context encourages ACP states to seek new sources of employment and income generation. Bearing this fact in mind, several governments have shown an interest for development policies linked to culture and for the articulation of culture with other development policy sectors. Nonetheless, these countries sometimes lack the necessary know-how. Therefore, we propose to articulate the strategy of the European Union with the actions foreseen by UNESCO in order to support ACP countries in the development and the implementation of cultural policies. 5. Close association of professional groups: The success of these anticipated initiatives depends on the close involvement of the different professional groups, associations and cultural entrepreneurs. They are the chief agents of the sector, and therefore, they are the most concerned actors when it comes to the development of culture. They can contribute to the implementation of the recommendations by engaging and dialoguing with the authorities in order to develop the necessary strategies and to define the priority actions to carry out. 6. To constitute the necessary partnerships between the North and the South, and within the ACP framework so as to strengthen their competences and improve the conditions for the development of structures in the South as well as developing South-South and North-South exchanges. 7. The effective accomplishment of our mission depends on the following elements: 7.1 a text transparently confirming how and why we have been give this mandate 7.2 a designated interlocutor in the European Commission and the ACP Group 7.3 timely reception of information necessary to analyze, confer and prepare responses 7.4 the capacity to request supplementary information 7.5 the creation of an evaluation framework to monitor the implementations of the recommendations and 7.6 the setting up of high level reflection groups. Finally, as we did in Brussels, we strongly reaffirm that the success of the process leading to a better integration of culture in the Millennium Development Goals and for the strengthening of the cultural diversity of our common humanity requires our common effort, regardless of the status of the actors concerned. For our part, we are ready to cooperate to bring about a new society where each and every member may affirm their creativity and their dignity and to do their share to contribute to the construction of a better and fairer world. Readers are invited to send queries about or raise any matters related to these issues and the process to any of the participants in the Follow up Committee or, in the absence of contact information, via the Arterial Network Secretariat. |
| Culture and Development Meeting in Bonn |
| Korkor Amarteifio, a member of Arterial Network’s Cultural Policy Task Group, represented the Network at a symposium on Culture and Global Development organised by the German Development Service in Bonn on 11 May. Delegates to Arterial Network’s second conference in September 2009 and participants in the cultural policy seminar in Nairobi, November 2009 strongly recommended that Arterial Network be represented at strategic international forums in order to articulate the Network’s positions on key themes and help to shape international course around these themes. The Cultural Policy Task Group, reading groups and seminars have helped to develop internal positions and the Network is beginning to achieve its aim of engaging and helping to shape national, regional and international discourses that impact on the arts, culture and development in Africa. |
| Tipping Point Climate Change Conference in Cape Town |
| One of the themes being addressed by Arterial Network’s Cultural Policy Task Group is climate change and its impact on development and culture. To this end, the Network facilitated the participation – with the support of the British Council – of six Africans from Egypt, Cameroon, Botswana, Kenya, (insert other countries) in the Tipping Point Conference on climate change and the Arts held at Spier in Cape Town from 24-26 May. A planned outcome of this conference is that these participants as well as interested artists from South Africa, will form a core group dealing with this theme under the Arterial Network banner. The conference coincided with Africa Day which was marked at the conference by a series of planned and open mic performances. |
| Swaziland Cultural Policy Seminar |
| In association with the Bushfire Festival (28-30 May), the Swaziland National Arts Council and the Commonwealth Foundation, Arterial Network organised a one-day seminar on cultural policy in Swaziland on 27 May. The well-attended event included a presentation by Avril Joffe on the proposed cultural policy framework being developed for African countries from a civil society perspective and a perspective on the cultural policy development process in Zimbabwe provided by Farai Mpfunya, director of the Culture Fund and a member of the Arterial Network Cultural Policy Task Group. Dr. Gumbi who led Swaziland’s recent cultural policy formulation process, also presented an outline of that process. The proposed cultural policy is now with the Cabinet and it was stressed that having a cultural policy was only the beginning of securing a constructive environment for national artistic practice. It was crucial for civil society organisations to monitor and to help manage the implementation of cultural policy. To this end, the establishment of Arterial Network structures in each country was imperative. According to Maswati Dludlu, country representative for Swaziland, this seminar contributed greatly towards increasing knowledge about Arterial Network and to the potential establishment of a branch in Swaziland. |
| Call for Applications for Regional Secretariat |
| In accordance with Arterial Network’s Steering Committee’s decision to establish regional secretariats (north, east, west and central) to facilitate the growth and sustainability of Arterial Network continentally, applications are hereby invited for the position of Regional Secretariat, East Africa. The successful applicant will be based at the Go Down Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. The tasks of regional secretariats will include assisting Arterial Network structures to be established in the countries in the region, collecting and distributing information, undertaking research, providing organisational and strategic support to civil society groups, organising regional events, coordinating regional structures, etc. Applicants must have organisational and project management experience, initiative and the ability to work independently, and should be able to travel. Fluency in English and French, and previous participation in Arterial Network would be advantages. While the position will be based in Kenya, it is open to any African. Interested parties are to submit applications that should include a motivation letter, a comprehensive CV, at least two contactable referees and certified copies of academic and other qualifications to Margerie@arterialnetwork.org by Friday 18 June 2010. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed and will be informed by 28 June 2010. Applicants who have not heard from the Secretariat by then, will have been unsuccessful. |
| II Calls for Projects/ Invitation |
| Reminder: Call for Proposals Based on the Agenda 21 for culture |
| The call for proposals based on the Agenda 21 for culture is still open. It is aimed at countries in Africa, Ibero-America and the Mediterranean, for cities and local governments which are direct or indirect members of United Cities and Local Governments - UCLG. The projects would be based on the Agenda 21 for culture, which is the UCLG’s reference document for local cultural policies. The Call is run by Barcelona City Council, in partnership with UCLG (Committee on Culture and World Secretariat), and is economically supported by the Spanish Development Cooperation Agency – AECID. Deadline for projects to be submitted is 22 June 2010. The UCLG recommends that, before people start drafting the projects, they should send an e-mail to agenda21cultura@bcn.cat , with a brief explanation of the project contents. For more information check: http://www.bcn.cat/cooperacio/eng/bcn_solidaria/subvencions_cooperacio_cultural.html |
| 37th Annual African Literature Association Conference: Call for Papers Date for Submission of Abstracts: May 10 - December 1, 2010 |
| The 37th annual conference of the ALA will be convened at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio on April 13-17, 2011. The conference theme is: "African Literature, Visual Arts, and Film in Local and Transnational Spaces." Critical studies of African literature and arts in the past few decades have primarily focused on the categories of 'post-coloniality', 'hybridization', and 'syncretization' in their methodology and theorization of the fields. While these notions have been salient and useful, there is a wide recognition that they may not be adequate to map the contemporary concerns and forms of African literature and arts in a time chiefly defined by proliferating dynamics of trans-boundary cultural and material formations. According to contemporary critical thought, it is no longer possible to think of the "local" simply as a fixed entity within a nested global hierarchy or as an enclosed space, event, or cultural expression, just as it is impossible to imagine the "global" without recognizing (at least) its "partial embeddedness" (Saskia Sassen, 2003: 4) in the "local," which itself is complex, specific, and "thick" with its own particular conditions and histories of "struggles" (Samir Amin, 2002). The success or failure of impacting transnational forces, images, ideas, artistic genres, cultural products, and globalizing technologies, etc., generally depend on the structure and scale of the linking fostered and/or forced upon "those more local communities, tactics, and symbolic strategies of cultural location that confront and challenge them in the production of locality, local subjects, national situations, and the making of everyday space and public spheres of existence." (Rob Wilson & Wimal Dissanayake, 1996: 1) The conference aims to initiate important academic and intellectual conversations about the complex interconnections of local and transnational practices and articulations, as inscribed in African literary, visual arts, and filmic representations. It particularly invites scholars and practitioners to identify and address the varied strategies of how local variants, contingent contexts, influences, agencies, or even trans-local and neo-global power circuits, reconfigure themselves to recast, facilitate and, sometimes, contest the effects, limitations, and excesses of the economy of material, social, and cultural production. At the same time, presuming that the "local" is more than an ossified or silent victim of the "global" but instead a space in motion, the conference encourages nuanced and engaging/provocative contributions on the historical and continued structural (material, cultural, and political) hegemony of the global on the local, and the consequences thereof for the future material and cultural well-being of the African continent as we, hopefully, move from a monocentric world-system to a polycentric world-space. Sub-Themes: The sub-themes of the conference include, but are not limited to: •Globalization and effects of denationalization of the African nation-state •African memoirs and autobiographies (including narratives of conflict and reconciliation, writings by and on child soldiers, war children, orphans, street children, and by children parenting children, etc.) •African film and images of global incorporation/disputation/local contestation •Border-crossing of bodies, borderzone identities •Politics and aesthetics of writing in local/transnational languages •Translation as transnationalization •Gender in the local/transnational •Class, culture, and specific environments as elements of localization and/or transnationalization •Ecological degradation/disasters •Urban and rural space subjectivities •African literature and arts in cyberspace •Cultural practices of mobility and new African identities in world cities •Translocal agents and spaces (NGOs, tourism, religious movements, solidarity groups, refugees, migrant hostels, diasporic neighborhoods, etc.) •Aesthetics of local violence, memory and forgiveness •Cre'olite'/transculturality •Diasporic incarnations/interventions as sites of alternative normative visions •Production, reception, and teaching of African texts, and images in local and transnational contexts •Local and transnational flows of texts, arts, narratives, ideas, memories, cultures, symbols Following the ALA tradition, papers and panels on all other aspects of African literature, arts, and film are also welcome. Please send panel proposals or individual paper abstracts as a Word Document or PDF by the deadline (December 1, 2010) to the convener, Ghirmai Negash, at: ala2011AthensOH@gmail.com. The email must include: •Name •Affiliation •Complete Mailing Address •Country •Telephone If proposing a panel, please also include: •Panel Chair •Panel Title •Panel Members, Affiliations, and Paper Titles |
| West Africa Peace Initiative, A project of WARA/WARC: Call for Papers |
| Peacemaking in West Africa: Faith Communities and Their Role in Conflict December 12 ‐ 15, 2010 Freetown, Sierra Leone Spirituality and religious faith have been the stable factors, the central unifying factors in so many African communities. At the same time, they have also been key factors in terrifying division, marking members for ostracism or even death. The power of faith in West Africa may shape family structure, employment, and politics. The faith of a community is even in evidence as we approach it from afar, noting its religiously-inspired architecture. We seek in this international conference to explore the capacity of communities of faith to be part of West African reconciliation efforts. How does this process work? Who are the affiliated actors and which are the affiliated institutions to interact here? Conversely, what paths to destruction are embedded in ties to faith? WARA/WARC is seeking paper proposals from African scholars, researchers, policy‐makers, and members of civil society on the following themes: •Historical background of religious leaders in political and social dynamics of conflict in West Africa •Interaction among various religious communities, including indigenous African religions •Contemporary roles of religious leadership in consolidating peace Proposals should be submitted via email to faithfreetown@gmail.com and should consist of •A one‐page abstract of the proposed conference presentation •A two‐page resume or CV The deadline for receipt of applications is July 15, 2010. Applications received after that date will not be considered. Notification of acceptance will be made by mid-August. Those selected will be expected to submit a final draft of their presentation by December 1.
Conference academic coordinators: Steve Howard Penda Mbow Director, African Studies and Institute for the African Child Professor, Department of History Professor, Media Arts and Studies Universite Cheikh Anta Diop Ohio University President, Mouvement Citoyen Peace Project Coordinator For more information, please contact Peace Project Coordinator, Henri‐Pierre Ko |
| III Meetings and Conferences |
| Highway Africa 2010: African Voices in the Global Media Space 05-07 July 2010 |
| Highway Africa is an annual conference hosted by Rhodes University (School of Journalism and Media Studies) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of several partners, development agencies, and sponsors. According to the organisers, the media arena has seen unprecedented expansion of global media networks paralleled by the explosion of the internet, centred on the World Wide Web, as a major media platform. African media entrepreneurs and other parties have sought to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by technology, economics, markets, and other factors. Under the theme, African Voices in the Global Media Space, the 2010 conference will be both a celebration and an interrogation of African journalism and media and how these are opening up and expanding spaces for engagement, using plenary sessions, keynote addresses, training workshops, book launches, networking dinners, and debates. Key questions to be addressed include the following:
Registration Information The conference is open to journalists, academics, bloggers, students, publishers, and other interested media professionals. A limited number of scholarships will be made available for participants who are unable to cover their costs. Conference fees for Highway Africa are ZAR 4,000. Deadline for registration: June 4 2010. Contact Chris Kabwato Conference Director Highway Africa Conference, Tel: +27 (0)46 603 7138 or +27 (0)82 582 9534 (mobile) c.kabwato@ru.ac.za |
The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) has established a database of cultural policy experts from around the world. The database – www.connectcp.org – currently comprises 762 entries from 102 countries with fewer than 60 entries from Africa. Given our intention for Africans to be more actively engaged in discourses that affect us, we would strongly like to encourage those active in the cultural policy arena to register on this database. |
