From March to September, Africalia is joining forces with Le Forum Culturel to organise seven webinars. Every second Saturday of the month, three speakers will address topics related to the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). The first session, which will take place on March 8th, will focus on gender representations in the arts and culture.
Le Forum Culturel
Le Forum Culturel, a programme of the platform noocultures.info, is a virtual forum for exchange and reflection on contemporary issues relating to arts and culture in Africa. The panels of Le Forum Culturel, which are held online every Saturday and can be followed live, bring diverse voices to the fore and promote the structuring of cultural professions on the continent. In the past, discussions have focused on topics such as art criticism, the financing of culture, and the dissemination of contemporary artistic works.
Last season, Africalia and Le Forum Culturel already collaborated on the organisation of the panel entitled 'Industries culturelles et créatives : l’entrepreneuriat, un allié pour le développement économique et social' (Cultural and creative industries: entrepreneurship, an ally for economic and social development). The two organisations will now be working together for the entire new season of the Forum Culturel.
Seven panels dedicated to CCIs
Every second Saturday of the month, from March to September 2025, from 10am to 11.15am GMT, Africalia invites three actors from the sector to explore current themes related to the development of the CCIs. The panels, held in French or English, will be broadcast online via Facebook Live and available to watch on Facebook and YouTube in replay. The audience will be able to ask the experts questions in real time.
Here are the proposed panels (indicative calendar):
- March 8th : Gender representations in arts and culture (English)
- April 12th : Mobility of African artists and operators (language to be defined)
- May 10th : African diasporas and Afro-descendant creativity (French)
- June 14th : New technologies, digital arts, and CCIs (French)
- July 12th : Investing in CCIs (French)
- August 9th : Investing in CCIs (English)
- September 13th : Africalia, 25 years of creativity (French and English)
First panel on gender representations
The first panel in the series will take place on March 8th. To mark International Women's Day, the panel, entitled ‘Gender representations in arts and culture: Challenging the narratives’, will explore the need to make the cultural industry more gender inclusive. Africalia has invited the following speakers: Harold George (choreographer and artistic director of Dunia Dance Theatre, Sierra Leone and Belgium), Yarri Kamarra (policy consultant and researcher, Sierra Leone and Italy) and Karima Grant (founder of Imagination Afrika and Ker Imagination, Senegal). The panel will be moderated by our Programme Manager for Belgium, Laura Ganza.
Closing panel on Africalia's anniversary
The collaboration between Le Forum Culturel and Africalia for this new season ties in with the activities celebrating our 25th anniversary. The series of panels Africalia x Le Forum Culturel will conclude in September 2025 with a special panel on ‘25 years of Africalia’, reflecting our long-standing commitment to the development of the cultural sector in Africa and of Afro-descendant expressions in Belgium.
Image ©Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab
