Arterial Network First Conference on the African Creative Economy: Call for Papers

Arterial Network will host its first annual continental conference on the African Creative Economy in September 2011, which will coincide with its third biannual conference. The aims of the conference are to provide a theoretical and statistical overview of the African creative economy as a basis for future interventions and advocacy purposes, and to identify and develop African expertise in this area.

Interested speakers are invited to submit expressions of interest in the topics listed below. While anyone is invited to submit such expressions of interest, preference will be given to African speakers who are based on the continent and who have the relevant expertise, experience or potential in these fields. Where necessary, Arterial Network may fund research and the preparation of papers on particular subjects.

Interested parties are required to submit:

a. a letter expressing interest in a particular theme (interest in more than one theme may be expressed);
b. a Curriculum Vitae (CV) detailing relevant expertise, your contact details, city and country of current location;
c. the methodology of the approach that will be taken in dealing with the subject (not more than one page) methodology?;
d. the names and contact details of two referees familiar with your work;
e. the language in which you will present (English, French, Portuguese and Arabic are the preferred languages);
f. an indication of whether you are a member of Arterial Network or not;
g. whether you will require funding to undertake research in preparing the paper or not.

Submissions are to be send to Espera Donouvossi at espera@arterialnetwork.org by 17 June 2011

The topics and formats are:

1. Keynote addresses (30 minutes maximum each)
1.1 An overview of the contemporary global creative economy in the context of global political and economic conditions;
1.2 An overview of the African creative economy;
1.3 Building international markets for African creative goods and services – the possibilities and constraints;
1.4 Building regional African markets for local creative goods and services – the possibilities and constraints.

2. Panel discussions (15 minutes maximum each, up to five case studies)
2.1 The contribution of creative cities to regional and national economies (actual case studies);
2.2 The contribution of arts festivals and events to national and regional economies (case studies of actual festivals).

3. Roundtable discussions (up to two presenters per theme; 20 minutes each)
3.1 The UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity and its relevance to the African creative economy;
3.2 An introduction to the African Union’s Plan of Action on Cultural Industries;
3.3 Developing cultural policy in support of the creative economy;
3.4 Culture and Development: what does it mean in and for Africa today?
3.5 The challenges of north-south cultural collaboration and exchange in the context of inequitable resource allocation and power relations;
3.6 Old colonialists, new colonialists: what BRICS could mean for the African creative sector;
3.7 The state and challenge of cultural statistics and creative economy research in Africa;
3.8 Creative industries in Africa: what conditions are necessary for their viable sustainability?;
3.9 Intellectual property rights from an African perspective and their relevance to the creative economy;
3.10 The challenges and possibilities of the emphasis on the creative economy to artists’ rights, freedom of expression and art for its own sake.

Suggestions for alternate or additional topics under the broad theme of the African Creative Economy are welcome, in which case, provide the same information as required above.

ZIMBABWE CREATIVE SECTOR ADOPTS NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION

News from Nhimbe Trust by Josh Nyapimbi:

Thirty five (35) Zimbabwe’s leading creative sector leaders convened in Harare on 26 May to deliberate and adopt the creative sector’s National Plan of Action for Arts and Culture (NPAAC) for the next 5 years. The NPAAC National Conference was a culmination of three high profile Regional Consultative Meetings held nationally; to explore the National Cultural Policy of Zimbabwe and formulate and the creative sector’s Action Plan, which will inform and guide the creative sector in Zimbabwe. A total of 120 cultural workers participated in the consultative meetings nationally, and a further 500 were consulted through emails and other social media.

The main highlights of the NPAAC National Conference were a key note address on the Role Of Civil Society Organizations in Shaping the Creative Sector in Africa by Paul Brickhill; A SWOT Analysis of the Arts and Culture Operating Environment by Dudu Manhenga and Cont Mhlanga; and A SWOT Analysis Artists Mobility in Zimbabwe and Africa by Farai Mupfunya.

Key delegates at the Conference included Daves Guzha, Dr Susan Heins, Walter Muparutsa, Professor Hebert Chimhundu, Dr Jacob Mapara, Priscilla Sithole and Ericah Gwetai.

Professor Mbuyamba the executive director of OCPA was the respondent for the plenary discussion to deliberate and adopt the NPAAC.

A Steering Committee comprising of Daniel Maphosa (Chairperson) Virginia Phiri, Dudu Manhenga and Dr Jacob Mapara was set up to lead the implementation of the Creative’s Sector’s NPAAC. Nhimbe was mandated to continue its role of secretariat.

The immediate key priorities of the Steering Committee are to:

 1.      Inform and seek buy in (on the creative sector’s NPAAC born of the National cultural policy) from the Arts Council and the government’s Department of Art and Culture.

2.       Inform UNESCO about the NPAAC and seek buy in through the new UNESCO country strategy. We are grateful to Professor Mbuyamba for recommending the NPAAC to UNESCO and facilitating the meeting.

3.      Appraise our partners, British Council and MIMETA.

4.      Finalise the NPAAC Document with technical support from Farai Mupfunya, Professor Mbuyamba and Professor Hebert Chimhundu.

5.      Convene an Action Planning Retreat for the Steering Committee.

6.      Launch the NPAAC

7.      Rollout the NPAAC 

Mimeta Monologues: Where do we go from Tahrir?

At the end of April Basma El Husseiny from Cairo visited Norway and Sweden. Mimeta had set up presentations at different venues in Kristiansand, Oslo and Stockholm where Basma talked about the revolution, the role of culture and shared her thoughts on Egypt’s near future.

“It was the young and liberal democracy activists who started the revolution in Egypt. Quite soon the Salafist’s joined but the Muslim Brotherhood caved in later – it is not their revolution”, Basma told a huge audience in Kristiansand.

Cato Litangen and Basma El Husseiny in Kristiansand

El Husseiny is currently the managing director of Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy) and a UNESCO expert in cultural governance. The cultural activist was concerned with the attitude of the West:

“I have heard that the West fears religious fundamentalists will steal the revolution. I think that is a sad attitude. Egypt is an ancient nation but has never experienced democracy. Now we are giving it a serious try for the very first time. It doesn’t mean we are going to look like Europe after the elections in September; however we are starting a process now that will continue over the next few decades and slowly will make Egypt a better place to live”.

What are your biggest concerns regarding this process?

“We do have little time and a difficult process a head of us before the election in September. I would have preferred an extension so that the new political parties had time to organize and campaign”.

In Norway El Husseiny met with the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre and several members of the Ministry and the Arts Council. In Stockholm Basma met with the Ministry of Culture, Swedish Arts Council and SIDA.

Sustainability for creative Africa

Pamberi Trust is a Zimbabwean art NGO that operates Book Café and the Mannenberg venue in Harare, stages 900 arts events annually and manages the widest-ranging arts development program in Zimbabwe.  African Synergy Trust is an African cultural network started by Pamberi Trust, Johannesburg. 

The dependency trap is dangerous.

Gradually, cultural development is turning towards partnership with creative ‘enterprise’ – that is the full gamut of non-grant funding income, creative economy, commercial resources and corporate linkage in culture , as an alternative to grant funding, which is spiralling headlong towards dependency according to  Paul Brickhill, creative director at Pamberi Trust:

  - The dependency trap is dangerous in Africa. State support to cultural advancement is weak outside South Africa. Without viable state support, while an art output in Africa is increasing, it remains patchy and fragile, evidenced by the emergence of arts festivals in the last decade, some of which have already collapsed (within 2-3 years).  The signals are clear, too much art output and infra-structure in Africa is sustained by external funding, and when this reduces, art initiatives collapse.

Brickhill is addressing three questions in particular:

How does the ‘creative economy’ adopt strategies that sustain growth, where external funding is a source of expansion, and not the bottom line in survival? Can this ‘creative economy’ nurture the emergence of a generation of young artists, rather than sustain only the top 15% of established stars? What is the right linkage between ‘cultural space’ and democracy without compromising artistic integrity?

The Hybrid Partnership

Pamberi Trust represent the single largest arts program in Zimbabwe, however the NGO is not large or well-resourced.  Its strength lies in innovation and strategic use of its resources. The level of output and audience development is achieved by a ‘hybrid partnership’ between a development NGO (Pamberi Trust) and two venues (The Book Café and The Mannenberg) which are currently 85% self-sustaining.

The gross profit from this commercial turnover is applied such that it effectively serves development outcomes.  A formal agreement between Pamberi Trust and the commercial venues is necessary and a close relationship between the two, under the same management.  The venues provide stages, rehearsal space, workshop and training facilities, office space, services, such as support staff, café space that is de facto the ‘artists meeting place’ free of charge for the artists supported by the NGO. This is funded by the commercial income from the venues.

  - To conclude, venue operating expenses and fixed assets are applied to project outcomes. The venues themselves are not funded; however they operate currently at a 15% deficit, and this only as a result of economic collapse in Zimbabwe – we would normally expect the commercial operation to be entirely self-supporting, says Brickhill.

The Impact for Pamberi Trust and the Artists

Pamberi Trust, unencumbered by a large proportion of institutional and project overheads, is able to apply a greater proportion of its resources to projects. The hybrid system has proved resilient in extremely harsh conditions (the local currency, banking system, and much of the economy collapsed in 2008 while political crisis resulted in 4 million people leaving the country, including two-thirds of all professionals). 

  - The model has taken 13 years to fine-tune.  It is unprecedented in Africa. It is challenging in terms of management, systems and some aspects of financing, but the results are indicative – Pamberi Trust has - at minimum – achieved three-fold increase in project output, artist facilities and support, and number of artists supported in projects, given the level of external grant funding to development. In other words, if Pamberi Trust did not have the support of the venues in a ‘hybrid’ relationship, project output would fall at least 60-75%.

 In Pamberi Trust they now refer to the development a sustainable model for an African ‘creative economy’ as ‘Creative Africa’. For them, it is based around the hybrid partnership model, a pioneering model in Africa, which can already show that every dollar of grant funding received is matched by equivalent self-generated income and resources. The systems have been created over painstaking years but the results have proven to be fruitful and sustainable.

Mimeta newsletter April 2011

Agreement with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs supports Mimeta’s work and strategy. The parties entered into a frame-work agreement at the end of 2010, valid over a three year period. The agreement is geographically limited to Africa and the Middle East. The target groups are service providers to the arts- and creative sectors. The purpose of the agreement is to strengthen structures through organization, information and advocacy, through platforms and mobility and through the development of creative economies.

New partnerships

Since the beginning of 2011 Mimeta have signed agreements  with KYA network (Mali), Busara Promotions (Zanzibar), Kuona Trust (Kenya), Nhimbe (Zimbabwe), Culture Resource  (Al Mawred, Egypt) , Bayimba Cultural Foundation (Uganda)  and FAME! (Malawi). We are also prolonging our cooperation with Art Moves Africa (Pan-African), ARTerial Network (Pan-African), APAC (Bolivia) and African Synergy (Zimbabwe and SA).

Collaboration Cecilie Melli and Basecamp Maasai Brand (BMB)

Mimeta visited BMB in the Masai Mara, Kenya last week together with profiled Norwegian designer Cecilie Melli. BMB was set up in 2003 to empower women in the Talek region of the Masai Mara, and to maintain and enhance the handicraft traditions and designs of the famous Masai bead works. The BMB initiative includes 118 women. Mimeta is participating in this by engaging Cecilie Melli to collaborate and further investigate into developing products targeting the Scandinavian market. Cecilie designed six products with BMB and these products will be available for sale from late May.

Culture and Urban Development

Nairobi City and Metropolitan are in the process to create a master plan, embracing the country’s 2030 vision, and making Nairobi a World Class City. This vision 2030 is limited as the role and possibilities from arts and culture has not been included. Between 21^st and 25^th of March, Mimeta and the GoDown Arts Centre with support from the Swedish Institute arranged a series of workshops with city council, local government, UN Habitat, artists, cultural organizations, creative industries to explore cultural sector relations to the development of the city. We invited the Culture Centre in Stockholm and the Swedish Museum of Architecture to participate in these workshops to share their experiences and how Stockholm and Sweden view the scope of culture and urban development. These workshops was designed and facilitated by White Architects who have an assignment from the GoDown looking to develop their premises. It was acknowledged that preserving cultural heritage buildings and supporting the establishment of a cultural zone could be two critical initiatives to place Nairobi as a world class city. The UN Habitat proposed to partner with the GoDown and White Architects to continue this conversation with Nairobi City and investigate if this process can be show cased at the World Urban Forum 2012.

Economy of Creativity

Mimeta has since 2009 partnered with the GoDown Arts Centre in the process ‘Economy of Creativity’ with the objective in deepening our understanding of the creative and cultural industries in Kenya and improve awareness of the sector amongst business leaders and government officials. This process has contributed to an initiative from the Kenyan ministry of Information and Communication recognizing the scope of the creative and cultural industries to stimulate entrepreneurship and job creation. The ministry has put together a Creative Economy Task Force with representatives from the media, film, animation, arts and music sectors in Kenya. The task force is governed under the Kenyan ICT Board, implementing and utilizing ICT infrastructure for development of the country. On March 23^rd Mimeta met with the task force, sharing the experiences and learning’s from the process with the GoDown. The task force will be officially launched on the 6^th of April in Nairobi.

Swedish members of parliament visit to Kristiansand & Mimeta

The cultural committee of the Swedish parliament visited Kristiansand and Mimeta in February 2011. The municipality and county have progressively invested in culture and arts both locally and through its partnership with Mimeta, which was the subject of interest for the cultural committee.

Events:

Aïda Muluneh exhibition

Mimeta have in collaboration with Belgium foundation Africalia, Vest-Agder County and Christiansand Arts association presented the expressive photo exhibition of Aïda Muluneh: Ethiopia: Past// forward. A hundred people turned up for the opening and the exhibition have received great reviews from the press. A smaller selection of this exhibition has also toured schools in Vest-Agder County (http://vaf.ksys.no/pub/vaf/main/?aid=9282&cid=567).

Sufi

Iranian artist Mahsa Vahdat and Norwegian producer Erik Hillestad have been translating one hundred Hafez poems into Norwegian. Forlaget Press (publishers) released the poems in both Persian and Norwegian language in a gorgeous book “Vinspeilet” which recently was awarded “The most beautiful book of the year” by Grafill – a Norwegian organization for visual communication (http://www.fpress.no/index.php?ID=Nyheter&counter=160).

The poems were performed by Mahsa Vahdat and Norwegian choir SKRUK. This collaboration was recorded and the CD “I vinens speil” was released by Kirkelig Kulturverksted. 

Stunning concerts (“I vinens speil”) have been set up at several venues in Norway, among them during the International Church Festival in Kristiansand and on Lindesnes National Lighthouse museum. The performance has also been touring schools in Vest-Agder County (http://vaf.ksys.no/ksys/?eid=0&fid=0&kid=0&sid=0&lag=&hag=&cri=&typ=0&vie=prd&fil=&pid=9485&sam=8A25E135E31B5C297CDA9714C0887895#top_7092).

Where do we go from Tahrir?

Mimeta is launching a new concept named Mimeta Monologues where we will set up lectures with interesting guests from our partners. The first appearance will be presenting Basma El Husseiny – an arts manager and a cultural activist who has been involved in supporting independent cultural projects and organizations in the Arab region for the past 20 years.

Basma is a UNESCO expert in cultural governance and was previously the Media, Arts & Culture Program Officer for the Ford Foundation in the Middle East and North Africa, and the Arts Manager of the British Council in Egypt.  Basma has also worked as a theatre director, script-writer, organizer of cultural events and arts critic and reviewer.  She is also active in the women's rights movement in Egypt and has initiated and participated in campaigns to enhance women's participation in public life. Basma El Husseiny is currently the managing director of Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), a regional non-profit organization that aims at supporting young artists and writers, and stimulating cultural exchange within the Arab region and with the world. She has also co-funded and is a trustee of the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture, an independent regional foundation.

Under the theme “Where do we go from Tahrir?” Basma El Husseiny will be telling stories from the days of the revolution, how she sees the participation and role of “the creative class” – and how she view the Arabic/ Egyptian democratic movement in the process forward.

Kick Café, Kristiansand Tuesday 26^th April at 21:00

Litteraturhuset, Oslo Wednesday 27^th April at 20:00

Södra Teatern, Stockholm Thursday 28^th April at 19:00

The UN Resolution on Culture and Development was Adopted 20 Dec 2010

The UN Resolution on Culture and Development has been adopted on 20 December 2010 "which emphasizes the important contribution of culture for sustainable development and for the achievement of national and international development objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This represents a major breakthrough at the international level in so far as there is no explicit mention of culture in the MDGs. This new resolution will encourage stakeholders to more fully integrate the cultural dimension into development processes thereby ensuring their sustainability.

Read more http://www.arterialnetwork.org/news/fourth-international-conference-on-african-culture-and-development-24-july-2011-to-27-july-2011

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs supports Mimeta

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs supports Mimeta’s work and strategy. The parties entered into a frame-work agreement at the end of 2010, valid over a three year period. The agreement is geographically limited to Africa and the Middle East. The target groups are service providers to the arts- and creative sectors. The purpose of the agreement is to strengthen structures through organization, information and advocacy, through platforms and mobility and through the development of creative economies.  

Mimeta will achieve this in particular through organizing the culture practitioners’ move towards better living conditions by strengthening the sector locally, nationally and regionally, to improve mobility of artists through supporting the cultural networks in Africa and the Middle East, to improve platforms’ resources and strengthen artistic representation at major events, and foster cooperation between culture and the business sector.

Mimeta sees this agreement as a solid recognition of our past efforts and support to a focus on partnering with successful culture managers to make results in improving “the living condition of the arts”. Mimeta will continue contributing to development, to human rights and democracy and to the eradication of poverty.

Booklet "Culture and Development: Action and Impact"

Something seems to change in the international and, particularly, in the European debate on development and development policy. During the past decades, culture has been having, unfortunately a marginal role in the development policies of international institutions and donors. Still today, culture is too frequently the last item of long policy wish lists and is often left out of the development policy strategies due to lack of funding. However, in the last years, the European Union (EU) has been taking steps towards a redefinition of the relation between culture and development, to the point that for the European Union, culture is now increasingly recognized as an important part of its main development policy. 

Launching a new publication on the synergy between culture and development came as a genuine impulse of the European Commission and the Belgian Presidency, that were highly encouraged by the significant latest achievements made in upgrading the cultural dimension.

The booklet contains a contribution from Mimeta on African Tour Circuit (African Synergy). Download the booklet here: http://www.culture-dev.eu/pdf/fr/BD-Unesco-EN-DE.pdf

First General Council of Arterial Network hosted in Marocco

The first General Council of Arterial Network comprising elected country representatives from sixteen national chapters, Steering Committee members and interim country representatives from a further ten countries met in Casablanca, Morocco from 30 Nov-1 December. Also attended by core Arterial funding partners, the meeting was highly successful with delegates sharing experiences and learnings, adopting a full Constitution as well as other policies to guide the future development of Arterial Network. The General Council also coincided with the official launch of the Moroccan chapter, bringing the regional subtotals of national chapters to 3 in North Africa, 5 in West Africa, 2 in Central Africa, 2 in East Africa and 4 in Southern Africa.

Tradition re-mixed

Basecamp Maasai Brand was set up in 2003 to empower women in the Talek region of the Masai Mara, and to maintain and enhance the handicraft traditions and designs of the famous Maasai bead works. 118 women are included in the BMB initiative.

Photo: Anna Lewart

 All products are based on traditional designs, with a modern twist. The pieces are handmade with traditional beads, recycled thread and scrap metal. The BMB works with high quality standards and strive to appeal to the Western export market. Today 118 women work for the initiative and free trade agreement ensures that 75% of the sales price goes back to the crafters.

Typically the crafters earnings are used to improve housing and health care, and for children’s schooling and clothing. Some of the women in the initiative now have higher income than the men in their communities.

Each Maasai necklace has a special meaning and marks a significant stage in the women’s life. Not only jewellery but also accessories are made from or decorated with beads.

In the past Italian designer Roberto Cavalli and the English Matthew Williamson brought Maasai jewellery and accessories onto the world’s fashion stage: Cavalli for example paraded models clad in Maasai necklaces and bracelets.

The potential for East African bead artisans to export their designs has recently been uncovered by the Africa Inspires Initiative of the International Trade Centre. The project serves as a platform for local craftspeople to promote their wares to European fashion brands. They work together in developing the designs and integrating it into the collection.

The BMB has managed to set up an export scheme by having the women developing styles that appeal to the Scandinavian market.

Photo: Anna Lewart