Namibia hosts the first Arts Summit of Southern Africa

On August 21-23, the National Arts Council of Namibia hosted in the capital city, Windhoek, the first Arts Summit of Southern Africa (ASSA). Under the auspices of the highest representatives of the national public institutions, the event was inaugurated by the Honourable Excellency Vice President of Namibia and closed by the Honourable Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

Organised with the support of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, this event aimed at providing a crucial platform to build a framework for the integration of the creative economy into regional government policies. Entitled ‘Human creativity is a vital economic, social & cultural resources’, ASSA 2018 thus welcomed creative practitioners, academics, researchers and policy-makers from all over the African continent and beyond.

Knowledge exchange and peer-learning were at the centre of this event, composed of focused presentations by experts and academics as well as interactive panels with entrepreneurs, key brokers and other ‘value creators’ active in the cultural sector. Among the invited guest speakers, Dr Jenny Mbaye gave a talk on ‘New opportunities for the creative economies (technology, marking, partnerships and multi-sectoral approaches)’.

The event concluded by reporting back on resolutions for endorsement – in regards to SADC creative economy legislation and policy; private sector involvement; arts education as well as regional integration and cooperation – which were presented to the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture to be championed by Namibia as new chair of the SADC Council of Ministers.

Artistic practices were omnipresent throughout ASSA 2018, with a gala dinner that introduced some of the finest artists of the ‘Land of the Braves’ that is Namibia; an art battle that offered a steppingstone and interactive public exposure to emerging visual artists; as well as a celebratory closing ceremony that presented a diversity of high quality performances, ranging from contemporary dance, fashion design and popular music.

For more information on ASSA 2018, please see:

https://www.assa2018.org

https://ifacca.org/es/noticias/2018/07/12/namibia-host-arts-summit-southern-africa/

https://www.facebook.com/events/239779580152222/