4th World Summit On Art & Culture

South Africa Mon 21-09-2009

4th World Summit On Art & Culture
By David Kaiza

The 4th international Summit on Arts and Culture opened Tuesday in Johannesburg South Africa, the first time it is being in Africa offering the opportunity for development of arts and culture on the continent.

The key representatives from the Kenyan art scene include Joy Mboya, the director of the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi who along with Ugandan Journalist, Sara Nsegaye, were chosen to represent East Africa on the Arterial Network task force team.

Judy Ogana will speak on behalf of Art Moves Africa (AMA).

Interesting among these proposals is a demand in a shift in Aid disbursements to the continent, 1-5 % of which the delegates said, should go towards the support of such areas as the music industry, literature and publishing, fine arts and others.

S.African play - 'In the beginning was desolation' | photo by Caroline Kaminju

The proposals from the African representatives largely focus on education, policy and infrastructural support for artists across the continent.

The summit, running from 22 to 25 under the theme Meeting of Cultures: Making Meaning Through the Arts, is aiming to find ways in which culture can be used as a bridge in a world the organizers described as “increasingly divided by ‘cultural’ rather than political ideology”.

It is one of the rare opportunities during which artists, policy makers and arts journalists from the African continent meet in one place. A day before the conference opened, Africans from across the continent attending the summit elected representatives to the steering committee.

Efficiency of infrastructure, accommodation and international air-connections mean that South Africa is a lead destination for international events taking place in Africa.African representatives to the event met in a number of pre-summit events at which they formulated a ten-point proposal capturing the African position on arts and culture.

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