Arterial Network

The Arterial Network is an informal, dynamic network of individuals, institutions and funding partners, linked through a website, working to support the effectiveness and growth of African arts and culture in civil society and to enhance the sustainability of creative industries in Africa. It is a continent-wide network of artists, activists and creative enterprises active in the African creative sector and its contribution to development, human rights and democracy on the continent. He is also the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO based in Cape Town that harnesses expertise, resources and markets in the service of Africa’s creative sector. He is considered to be one of his country’s leading contemporary playwrights.

The organization
It was launched at a conference on Goree Island, Senegal in March 2007, with the theme Vitalising African Cultural Assets. The Conference took place against the backdrop of the adoption of UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions; the challenge was to position African artists, creative practice and cultural industries so that they could benefit from the recommendations of the Convention and assert their place on the global stage and in the global creative economy.

From 2014 to 2016 the Secretariat of the Arterial Network was based at Harrington House, 37 Barrack Street, Cape Town, 8001, moving to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, on the 1st of February 2017.

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network.

African Creative Economy Conference
The Arterial Network's Second Biannual Conference took place at the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg from 19-21 September 2009.

Since 2011 they have hosted an annual itinerant meeting, called the African Creative Economy Conference (ACEC).

The first took place in Nairobi (2011), followed by Dakar (2012), Cape Town (2013) and Rabat (Morocco, 2014).

The aim of these meetings is to enable dialogue, information exchange and the strengthening of partnerships between creative communities, government, business, NGOs and academia. Its purpose is to develop theory from within Africa to feed the international discourse on the strategic contribution that the creative sector can make in advancing human rights, asserting fundamental freedoms, and alleviating poverty.

The Arterial Network Bulletin
This is a newsletter sent to subscribers free of charge, detailing arts and culture activities in Africa.

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