Aims
The main aim of the conference is to discuss what role the study of culture – here creative cultural expressions – plays and could play in understanding change in contemporary Africa. The title of the conference should read as: What’s culture got to do with African studies, which in the North almost invariably has been synonymous with social sciences and a utilitarian view on how to contribute to the solution of development problems. There will also be room for discussion on how to continue and strengthen the Nordic-African network created by the Cultural Images programme.

This conference concludes the long-lived “Cultural Images in and of Africa” programme at the Nordic Africa Institute, started 1995. It has built up a large network of scholars and cultural workers in the Nordic countries, Africa and the African diaspora. These activities have been led by Mai Palmberg, whose work at the Nordic Africa institute will end January 2010. The activities and research have spanned the genres of music, film, literature, dance, pictorial arts, and theatre. It has resulted in five books, countless articles, a tricontinental mailing list (NAI-Images list), four African guest writers’ grants, a website publication with interviews with artists in Zimbabwe. A book in Swedish on cultural dynamics in Africa is forthcoming. The conference looks ahead to make cases for a continued and strengthened role for studies on culture in the Nordic countries and elsewhere.

Themes
The themes range from ways in which cultural expressions intersect with political and socio-economic issues; ways in which the arts offer another language and vision than the political language and media; the links between cultural expressions, audiences or readership, and activism; the concept, and role of popular culture; modes of ‘reading’ culture; art as aesthetics and as ‘informer’; ways in which arts in Africa as ’witness’ has been understood or construed; what happens in translation and export, cultural exchange or distortion? For more information contact;
The Nordic Africa Institute
P O Box 1703,  SE-751 47 Uppsala, Sweden
E-mail: nai@nai.uu.se
Mai.Palmberg@nai.uu.se; Caroline.Kyhlback@nai.uu.se.
Link: http://www.nai.uu.se/events/conferences/culture/index.xml

15TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
APRIL 1-3, 2009
University of Cheikh Anta Diop-Dakar
Title: Re-thinking the Idea of Africa in the Twentieth Century

Over the past two centuries, Western educated Africans have attempted to
explain African societies, to define African societal and political
organizations, and to imagine “Africanness” from an African perspective. 
Yet, rather than producing an Afri-centrist representation of things African, African thinkers frequently react to Western definitions of the African subject, which have, since the 16th century, equated Africanness with inferiority.  This reactionary tendency has led African thinkers and artists to acknowledge that one of the major challenges of African thought is to go beyond the reaction to Western definitions of the old continent in order to imagine Africa from an Afri-centrist perspective.  As early as the 19th century, Edward Wilmot Blyden, for example, championed the possibility of going beyond the paradigm set by Western imperialist philosophers; more recently, thinkers such as Kwazi Wiredu pondered about how not to compare Africa with Europe, while Vincent Mudimbe and numerous postcolonial African thinkers call for the conception of an Africa that is neither an inventionnor an idea.
 
ISAPS 15th annual conference, organized in collaboration with Cheikh Anta Diop University, welcomes papers that examine the extent to which discourses on Africa  have evolved from the 19th to the 21st century.  We invite participants to submit proposals that revisit the implications and possibilities of Afri-centrist conceptions of Africa.  Papers that explore questions of identity, history, language, the arts, democracy, economic development, and otherness are particularly welcomed.
 
SUBTHEMES:
The Idea of Africa
Re-engagement/Collaboration between Academics and Traditionalists
Indigenous languages as Expressions of Authenticity
Africa and the Diaspora
Africa, Globalization, Poetics, and Aesthetics
Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Post-colonial Laws
Class, Caste, and Gender
Territories, Borders, and Creativity 
Nomadism, Transnationalism, and Cosmopolitism
Language, Culture, and Globalization
Cultural Hybridity and New Ethnicities
Nation and Nationalism
Colonialism, Postcolonialism, and African-ness
The Future of African Thought
Senghor and Cheikh Anta Diop
Bridging the gap between Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, and
Lusophone Africa 

As always, the conference will also welcome panels on other unexplored or inadequately explored aspects of African and African Diaspora literature, philosophy, art, history, sociology, law, economics, etc.

Please send a short abstract in English or in French to: http://www.linfield.edu/directory/results.php 
Cheikh Thiam, Linfield
College, Oregon, USA submissions@isapsonline.com

• International Study Tour for Arts Managers - International Chamber-Choir Competition, Marktoberdorf, Germany, 29 May – 3 June 2009
Offering young managers a chance to combine musical impressions and experiences with a seminar on how to organize an international choir competition. The work in a small group, the observation of the competition, the direct contact to its director and manager and the possibility to talk to the staff and to have a look back stage, are an excellent opportunity for young organizers to improve their skills and knowledge. The closing date for applications is 15 March 2009.
• Youth Event Management Programme - EUROPA CANTAT, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 10 - 26 July 2009
A special training programme for young organisers and managers including workshops and presentations offered by an international group of experienced managers. Participants will get extensive insider information on dealing with the essentials of running major international events, ranging from production to fundraising and communication. A personal coach will guide them as they work as part of the international festival team and take on an important part of the festival organisation. Closing date for applications is 15 December 2008.
Contact information: Christina Kühlewein, Programme coordinator, International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM), Avenue Jean 1er, 25000 Namur, Belgium; e-mail: ckuehlewein@ifcm.net; www.ifcm.net

The Euro-African Campus for Cultural Cooperation, a five-day meeting which will be held between the 22nd and 26th of June 2009 in Maputo (Mozambique). The main aim of the Campus is to provide a meeting, training and exchange point for cultural agents in Africa and Europe to reflect, transfer knowledge, exchange experiences and discuss possible joint initiatives in the field of cultural cooperation, in the broader context of the contribution of culture to sustainable development.
The proposal has been designed by the Interarts Foundation and the Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa (OCPA), in the framework of a cultural cooperation programme initiated in 2003 that involves research, awareness-raising, training and networking activities. Both organisations share an aim to further integrate cultural elements in development strategies and promote the transfer of knowledge and practices in the field of cultural policy. The Euro-African Campus for Cultural Cooperation aims to build on other relevant initiatives and involve other partners and organisations with shared aims, in order to guarantee the relevance and effectiveness of the event.  

General objective:
To provide a meeting, training and exchange point for cultural agents in Africa and Europe to reflect, transfer knowledge, exchange experiences and discuss possible joint initiatives in the field of cultural cooperation, in the broader context of the contribution of culture and cultural dialogue to sustainable development, human rights, democracy and poverty reduction.

Specific objectives
► To generate networking dynamics among participants, both during and after the event.
► To provide agents active in the field of culture with training opportunities which take advantage of the diversity of contributions gathered .
► To raise awareness about the relevance of cultural cooperation and the role of culture within local and international development among a diversity of agents.
► To give rise to cooperation projects in the field of culture, that shall bring together agents from Africa and Europe.

For further information, please contact:
Interarts
Carrer Mallorca 272, 9th floor
08037 Barcelona
Tel: (+34) 934 877 022
Fax: (+34) 934 872 644
E-mail: africa@interarts.net
URL: www.interarts.net
Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa (OCPA)
725, Avenida da Base N'Tchinga
P. O. Box 1207
Maputo, Mozambique.
Tel: (+258) 21 418 649
Fax: (+258) 21 418 650
E-mail: secretariat@ocpanet.org
URL: www.ocpanet.org

The Secretariat for the International Conference on African Culture and Development (ICACD) has re-scheduled the 2009 Conference with the new dates being November 15th to 18th 2009. In announcing the new dates, Secretariat Chairman (and former Director of the Secretariat) Mr. Kojo Appiah-Kubi also announced the appointment of the new Executive Director for the Secretariat, Mr. Tony Duke.  Mr. Appiah-Kubi has recently been appointed by the President of Ghana as the District Commissioner for the Offinso North District and will support the Secretariat through taking on the role as Chairman and providing a workplace in Akumaden, where he is based.

Appiah-Kubi said, ‘It is an exciting time for ICACD and we are very pleased to have Mr. Duke working with us to develop our organisation and to coordinate the 2009 Conference. He worked with us on the inaugural Conference and comes to us with a background in working with Indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico and he has a breadth of experience in managing large cultural events and working in the creative industries’.

The 2009 ICACD conference will take place in Accra, Ghana and will bring together academics, policy makers, artists, cultural workers and representatives from NGOs and Government agencies. The themes for the 2009 Conference will address the impact of culture on achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Duke said, ‘For ICACD 2009 we are additionally negotiating to host focus events on Culture, Governance and Traditional Leadership as well as Art and Culture as tools for conflict resolution. The 2008 Conference highlighted the importance of this initiative and we are heartened at the initial support and interest that has been pledged for 2009.

The 2nd International Conference on African Culture and Development is a timely and important event for Africa and the nations of the world that support a just and equitable future for the people of Africa. For too long those wishing to help us have denied our culture and thereby denied our voice in finding the solutions and strategies that will take Africa forward. I invite you to attend ICACD and work with us to give us that voice, added Appiah-Kubi.

For more details and information please visit: www.icacdafrica.org or contact:

Kojo Appiah-Kubi                                     Tony Duke
kojo@icacdafrica.org            or              tony@icacdafrica.org.
+233 244 634 960                                   +233 542 943 833.
 

Date: 02- 06 March 2009
Venue: Sao Tome, Sao Tome e Principe
Organisers:
AFRICA 2009 Programme, Ecole du Patrimoine Africain, African World Heritage Fund, Direction Générale de la Culture de Sao Tomé et Principe.
Background:
Africa 2009 is a ten-year capacity building programme launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in 1998. It is the result of a survey and needs assessment carried out in 1996. The programme is a joint effort of African cultural heritage organizations, EPA, CHDA, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ICCROM, and CRATerre-ENSAG. It is rooted in the notion that the problems facing conservation in Africa must be addressed not only through technical solutions, but also through a better understanding of the relationship between the immovable cultural heritage and its social-economic and environmental aspects. The programme which, closes at the end of 2009, has during its various phases continuously contributed to the improvement of national capacities in the management and conservation of immovable cultural heritage in sub Saharan Africa. Africa 2009 is supported by following sources: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) through the Swedish National Heritage Board, the Ministry Foreign Affairs of Norway, Italy, Finland, UNESCO World Heritage Committee and ICCROM.
A study of national economic policies of various African countries has shown that most African development policy makers generally view cultural heritage as a barrier to poverty eradication and economic development and as a result, most African development policies do not mention culture or only mention culture in a negative way. Heritage practitioners on the other hand, argue that cultural heritage can directly contribute to poverty eradication by acting as a resource that cultural practitioners and local communities can use to generate income, create employment for themselves and others, and ultimately improve living conditions.
Objective:
This seminar seeks to show how preserving and promoting cultural heritage is fundamental to the eradication of extreme poverty in Africa and how local communities in these countries can harness cultural heritage to stimulate sustainable economic growth and, thus, help meet some of their country’s Millennium Development Goals. This exchange forum will also identify mechanisms and possible partnerships for a better use of heritage as a development tool.  
Participants:
15 to 18 heritage professionals from sub Saharan Africa will be selected for the seminar.
Applications from qualified women are encouraged.
The Africa 2009 programme will offer successful candidates sponsorship to cover travel, accommodation and modest living expenses in Sao Tomé. However each participant is required to pay a registration fee of $25 (US dollars). This payment can be done during the seminar.
Applications:
Applicants should submit:
. Duly completed application forms; 
. A letter of endorsement from the national Director in charge of immovable cultural heritage in the applicant’s country;  
. A summary of the key points of the applicant’s proposed presentation.  
Deadline:
Completed application documentation should be sent to the Ecole du Patrimoine Africain (EPA) by 15 January 2009 on the following addresses:
Africa 2009 Special Regional Seminar on Heritage and Poverty alleviation
Ecole du Patrimoine Africain (EPA)
B.P. 2205, Rue de l’Inspection
Porto Novo, Bénin
Tel. +229 214838
Fax: +229 212109
Email: africa2009@epa-prema.net with copies toafrica2009@iccrom.org

The main objective of the colloquium on “Africa and the African Culture in the Globalized World of the 21st Century” is to raise awareness on and highlight the major problems faced by the African culture, namely its preservation, its valorization and its modernization. The purpose of the meeting is to seek the most appropriate means of ensuring the relevant documentation and textualization of the
African vision of the world in a planetary context subjected to the law of diversity of cultural expressions. This is supposed to lead to the formulation of a programming and action platform for use in the relevant regional and national
institutions.

This call for papers is intended for specialists, researchers and operators of all walks of live concerned with the “Africa” issue in its vast complexity as well as all those who are particularly concerned with the cultural reawakening of Africa. Participants are invited to submit papers relating to one of the following four core areas:
• Knowledge of African peoples and cultures
• Formal, informal and non-formal education centred on Africa and the
African
• Socialization and dissemination of repositories of the African thought
• Valorization and promotion of languages, arts and cultural products

Authors should submit a draft paper in Times New Roman, font size 12 and in single line spacing, no later than 10 March 2009. The drafts should be sent to the following addresses: makasso2@gmail.com and cerdotola@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.cerdotola.org E-mail: cerdotola@cerdotola.org and cerdotola@yahoo.com

In May 2009, the 7th edition of Afrika Heritage will be held in Enugu, east of Nigeria. The 7th edition will feature some innovations, which will become permanent features of Afrika Heritage. The innovations consist in the introduction of craft, literature, and theatrical performance into the biennale. Henceforth, the biennale will function as a holistic platform for the promotion and dissemination of
the plastic, literary, and performing arts.

The goal of Afrika Heritage has been to create an alternative forum for the dissemination of art and culture in the continent and to utilize a good deal of local content in its organization as a token of PACA’s insistence on propagating Africa’s art on Africa’s terms. There will be two major art exhibitions, a book fair, sessions of poetry reading and theatrical performances. Discursive circles will also be organized to provide participants the opportunity for exchange of ideas. The book fair will feature works/books by young writers, poets, and playwrights. For enquiries, write to : obarigomba@yahoo.co.uk or helen@panafricanartists.org or contact Frank Ugiomoh ugiomoh@panafricanartists.org, Simon Ikpakronyi (simon@panafricanartists.org) or Dr Abel Diakparomre (abel@panafricanartists.org).
For on-line submission of abstracts at http://www.panfricanartists.org.

The symposium, organised by the Development Directorate of the European Commission (EC) had two aims: to set out what the cultural sector can contribute to development, and identify ways to strengthen cooperation between the EU and the ACP in this field. Its objective was to highlight the importance of culture for the identity of people, peace and stability of societies and the economic development of ACP countries.
 

Speeches and summaries of the different sessions of this meeting, in English and French, can be downloaded from the following link:
Link: http://www.culture-dev.eu/website.php?rub=accueil&lang=en 

After its founding conference on Goiree Island in March 2007, the second continent-wide conference of the Arterial Network will take place from 20-22 September in Johannesburg, just before the World Summit on Arts and Culture. Between 50 and 75 delegates are expected to attend representing all the regions of the continent.

The theme of the conference is “Advancing the rights and status of African artists through the Nairobi Plan of Action on Cultural Industries”. The Nairobi Plan has been adopted by the African Union and African Ministers of Culture and it represents an opportunity for civil society organisations to promote their interests and better conditions for artists working and living in African countries.

Delegates who attended the inaugural Arterial Network meeting as well as delegates linked to national, regional or continental artists’ networks on the continent are invited to apply to attend the conference by submitting a letter of application and motivation to Margerie Vacle, margeriev@africacentre.net, by 31 March 2009.
 

The first winter school to provide in-service training to build sustainable artists networks and advocacy groups in Africa, will take place from 1-10 June 2009 in South Africa. We have received numerous applications from some regions and a lack of applications from other regions. Given our aim to have at least two countries per region represented at the Winter School, we have extended the deadline for applications till 10 March, particular for applicants from Central Africa and North Africa. Send applications to margeriev@africacentre.net.

IFACCA’s World Summits are triennial events intended to provide national arts councils, ministries of culture and other agencies with an opportunity to discuss key issues affecting public support for the arts and creativity. The 4th World Summit to be hosted by the National Arts Council of South Africa.
Members and affiliates are invited to participate and most sessions will also be open to the public and it will attract more than 400 delegates from around the world. Previous World Summits have been held in Ottawa, Canada (2000); Singapore (2003); and Newcastle Gateshead, UK (2006).
The theme of the 4th Summit is Meeting of Cultures: Making Meaning Through the Arts.
The head of ARTerial Network’s Secretariat, Mike van Graan, has been appointed as the Programme Director this World Summit. He is responsible for helping to devise the programme and speakers for the event.
The context for the theme is a world which is increasingly divided by ‘cultural’ rather than political ideology, where feelings of being threatened by ‘other’ are largely based on ignorance about ‘other’. Increased globalisation, through economic integration, is often criticised for ‘homogenising’ the views and interests of economic and militarily powerful nations, at the same time that diversity and the desire to build ‘multicultural’ societies has become increasingly important. The implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is just one example of this.
In this context, the Arts are seen by some as a possible bridge between cultures, to provide safe, non-threatening points of entry into understanding ‘other’.

World Summit website: www.artsummit.org
Contact : Rosie Katz, World Summit Co-ordinator
Email: rosie@artslink.co.za
Phone: +27 11 838 1383

Arts councils and ministries of culture have a key role in working to minimise the negative impacts of the downturn on the arts and in helping artists and arts organisations navigate such uncertain times. They also have a key role in advising on and coordinating the arts and cultural aspects of the much-publicised central government responses to the downturn.

The aim of the report is to consolidate the collective expertise of IFACCA members as quickly as possible in order to help members respond to the downturn in a timely and informed way. This report presents the results of a survey of members of IFACCA on the likely impacts on the arts of the global downturn, and on how arts councils and ministries of culture around the world are helping arts sectors meet the challenges of the downturn.

 

This feasibility study was commissioned by the Arterial Network after a realisation of the need for an accessible, independent and efficient fund to promote African Creativity and its regional and International distribution.
 

This year Drama for Life (DFL) will host its second Africa Research Conference in Applied Drama and Theatre, running from the November 12 – 14, on the Wits University campus.  Introduced in 2008 to stimulate research in Drama and Theatre in Africa, the Conference will provide opportunities for theatre and health practitioners, academics, trainers and community workers to engage in compelling dialogue regarding their work. It also aims to inspire networking, and debriefing and will showcase new work in this field, within a supportive and focused environment.  It will highlight on the role of Drama and Theatre in HIV/Aids education, prevention and intervention, underpinned by the central theme, “Interrogating drama and theatre research and aesthetics within an interdisciplinary context of HIV/Aids”. Dialogues concerning this theme will focus on research paradigms, the aesthetics of the art form, and interfacing with other disciplines.

Contact: Inge James  Inge.James@wits.ac.za Website: www.dramaforlife.co.za

This Seminar was organized in the framework of the series of subregional courses realized by Programme ACERCA (Programa de Capacitación de la AECID para el desarrollo en el sector cultural) of the Spanish Agency of International Co-operation for development and OCPA with the support of the AECID, in co-operation with the CERDOTOLA for strengthening the capacities in the region for the design, implementation and evaluation of cultural policies, programmes and projects aimed at the develoment of cultural industries as well as for strengthening the co-operation in the sub-region among the parties concerned.

At the end of the seminar the participants adopted a declaration and a series of recommendations.

The report in French can be found on: http://ocpa.irmo.hr/activities/meetings/meeting2009-002-fr.html