Victoria, Creative City – Arterial African Creative Cities Programme in Seychelles

On June 16th, the launch of the continental pilot programme ‘Arterial African Creative Cities’ (AACC) took place in Mahe, Victoria (Seychelles) at the Cafe and Art Gallery, Kaz Zanana owned by the artist and vice-president of Arterial Network Steering Committee, George Camille.

The event welcomed three speakers: Mamou Daffe who, as the chairman of Arterial Network and founding director of Festival sur le Niger, shared the vision for an Arterial African Creative Cities (AACC) Network; Jenny Mbaye who, drawing on the past launches in Harare and Pointe Noire as well as insights from the successful experience of Segou, Creative City, discussed the concept, advantages and implementation of the AACC; and George Camille who, as the initiator of Seychelles’ enrollment into the programme, introduced a Victoria, creative city programme.

The individual presentations were followed up by a creative seminar organised as a roundtable conversation, which invited participants and attendees – across cultural sectors (including tourism, design, visual art, music and performing arts) and generations – to exchange ideas and discuss on how to enhance the creative and cultural scene in Seychelles for both residents and visitors.

One of the expected outcomes of this pan-african AACC programme is to encourage networking practices among and across African cities, through cultural and artistic circuits. This orientation was already confirmed with, on the same day of the launch, the opening of the collective exibition ‘Message in a Bottle’  by Seychellois and visiting African artists (including Abdoulaye Konate, Wadi Mtiri and Houda Ghorbel) at the Eden Art Space.

Note Spanish media coverage on the programme: http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/20/seres_urbanos/1497950583_822809.html