For “Action Africa Culture” (AAC55) the platform dedicated to cultural and creative industries (CCI), co-founded by Seynabou Dia, CEO of the firm Global Mind Consulting and by the journalist Fatimata Wane, culture remains one of the best ways to boost the economy while creating meaning.
La Tribune Afrique – What does the AAC55 Initiative that you co-founded in 2019 with Seynabou Dia Sall cover?
Fatimata Wane, co-founder and president of AAC55: The initiative was born in Senegal, from our respective observations. The structure of AAC55 [“55” for the 54 African countries, the members of the diasporas and the Caribbean] is a GIE based in Dakar. We have also created “Les Amis de AAC55”, an association under the law of 1901 in Paris, to manage the promotional part with the diaspora and internationally. [As a journalist for the past fifteen years, I have been able to measure the enormous potential of the world of culture in Africa, which remains underfunded and cruelly lacks promotion and dissemination at the international level. Our objective is to organize a major annual event, which will allow actors in the visual arts, music, cinema, books and live performances to be seen, recognized and to meet. We have added the media, because artists only consult them when they have to promote themselves, whereas it would be more judicious to involve them upstream.
Seynabou Dia Sall, co-founder of AAC55 and CEO of Global Mind Consulting: In terms of dissemination, the media are indispensable, because they contribute to making culture accessible to as many people as possible. In addition, beyond the valorization of CCI actors, AAC55 seeks to accompany them. The challenges they face are numerous and often focus on training, access to funding, distribution and dissemination of their work. We want to provide them with concrete solutions, by promoting synergies with different actors and potential strategic partners of the ecosystem [private sector, institutes, media, …].
Finally, Africa still invests too little in its cultural activities. Yet it is a strategic economic lever in its own right, capable of contributing significantly to the development of GDP in our countries. Cultural activities and industries are emerging as real engines of growth, allowing the diversification of national economies, income generation and job creation. There is the example of Nigeria which has invested massively in its CCIs to the point of positioning itself among the top three film producers in the world. As of the first quarter of 2019, Nollywood accounted for 0.27% of the national GDP, contributing to the creation of over one million jobs.
Is culture an investment topic in its own right in Africa outside of the South African and Nigerian locomotives?
Seynabou Dia Sall: Yes, it is already a topic in many African countries and within the African diasporas around the world. Morocco, for example, has launched the “Cultural Morocco 2020” strategy, which aims on the one hand to provide local communities with cultural infrastructure, and on the other hand to create a fund to support culture to help both the creator and the company. We are talking about a fund that amounts to 40 million Dirhams (nearly 3,800,000 euros). We must now ask ourselves the question of structuring sustainable ecosystems through the construction of value chains, which will feed the economic development of the continent tomorrow.
How can we bring out the continent’s CCIs, particularly through technology, which conveys African creativity to the greatest number, without falling into the trap of standardization?
Fatimata Wane: To a certain extent, the “survival” of African CCIs will depend on a wider distribution and on a form of “popularization” of African cultures, thus on a form of “globalization”. But it will also survive through a more individualized dimension. This is why we need to accompany the CCI actors in their diversity, including linguistic diversity, because if we do not do so, they will disappear one after the other, as soon as the giants of the digital sector arrive in Africa. These actors are very useful for a part of the CCIs, because they provide an answer to specific problems. Nevertheless, it is not possible to delegate the entirety of one’s cultural and creative industry to foreign players, whoever they may be, because it is a question of national sovereignty.
How can we get away from the “folklorization” of African cultures, which is still widely reported in the media or on social networks?
Fatimata Wane: The “folklorization” allows to put African culture in a small box, in an undifferentiated way. When it comes to starting to take an interest in African CCIs, one must enter into multiple and sometimes complex histories. AAC55 has set itself the goal of opening windows that will allow as many people as possible to discover the creative potential of the African continent, in all its subtlety.
Who are the members of the board of the AAC55 Initiative?
Seynabou Dia Sall: In this wonderful human adventure, we are happy to be able to count on the support and advice of key figures in the African cultural scene, such as Aminata Dramane Traoré, the former Minister of Culture of Mali, the Ivorian singer Tiken Jah Fakoly, the Cameroonian academic Achille Mbembe, the Moroccan writer Mahi Binebine, and the French-Senegalese dancer and choreographer Germaine Acogny. We are fortunate to work with a team of professionals extremely involved in the AAC55 initiative, such as Sandra Agbessi, contemporary art consultant and curator of the Palais de Lomé, who created this space dedicated to design in West Africa, Aisha Deme, CEO of SIRIWORO Agency, founder of PEYTEL and cultural activist who accompanies many artists – she is also co-founder of agendakar. com, a web portal dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of Senegalese art, Olga Ahouansou Sanvee, Honorary Consul of Benin in Mali or Marine Salmon, lobbyist and consultant in institutional communication.
With what means will AAC55 participate in strengthening the CCI ecosystems in Africa?
Seynabou Dia Sall: First and foremost, we need to take the pulse of the sector by establishing an inventory. This is a long-term task that will soon be the subject of an in-depth survey, aimed at cultural actors, but also at lovers of African culture, to find out their expectations and define their priorities. We will soon launch a crowdfunding campaign for this purpose. [In December, our annual event, which will be held in 2021 in Paris, and which will bring together scientific committees, will be the synthesis of all the work of reflection and information gathering, and will present our roadmap. We are accompanied by Unesco, thanks to which we will be able to reach the African States directly.
If the general public is aware of the worldwide success of Senegalese singers Akon and Ismaël Lo, the golden voice of Malian Salif Keita or the career of Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o, according to your observations, what is the basis for the contribution of the diasporas to the CCI in Africa?
Fatimata Wane: The link between a diaspora artist and his or her country of origin is first and foremost personal. It depends on each story. Some have kept tenuous links with their country of origin while others have cut their ties, and it would be wrong to judge one choice over another. There are some profiles that are willing to get involved on the continent, but do not know how to do so. AAC55 is also an invitation to the diasporas -like the singer Akon or the actress Aïssa Maïga- to get involved in projects with an impact on the continent.
Seynabou Dia Sall: I would also mention Youssoupha in Côte d’Ivoire or Mamane in Niger […] That said, we must stop waiting for an African artist to become famous in the United States to be validated in Africa. We are losing talented artists who do not see a future in their own country of origin.
Does the presence of Marie-Cécile Zinsou, president of the Zinsou Foundation, on your advisory board reflect AAC55’s commitment to the restitution of African art?
Fatimata Wane: She is above all a woman entrepreneur, the bearer of a cultural project that works well in Benin, supported by mixed financing. Her point of view on visual arts is very valuable in view of her years of involvement in the CCI sector in Africa. The impact she has had goes far beyond the borders of Benin, in terms of promoting African artistic productions, but also in terms of accompanying artists. (…) The question of the restitution of works will be raised within AAC55. Beyond the legitimacy of recovering works that have been stolen from them – and this has been documented – the question of the ability of Africans to preserve them is regularly raised. This is an argument of a racist nature according to Marie-Cécile Zinsou, who reminded us that these works have crossed the ages outside of the screened windows of Western museums. […] Research must continue to document the works of the past, but it is also necessary to establish a cartography of the works of the present, some of which are dilapidated in nature and disappear from the circuits, because of a lack of support for artists. In 50 years, we will still be asking ourselves where the contemporary African works have gone! The restitution must go beyond the symbolic dimension of a colonizer guilty of having seized the treasures of Africa. [To date, 26 works have been returned to Dahomey, but there are still 90,000 works left. It is symbolic, but it is a start.
What do CCIs represent in terms of economic contribution to global GDP?
Fatimata Wane: As a whole, the sector represented 3.4% of the world’s GDP in 2007 and was equivalent to nearly $1.6 trillion, which is almost double the revenue from international tourism for the same year. Another telling example: today, Hollywood is as big as American agriculture. This gives an idea of the economic development potential of culture in Africa, which is 10 times lower than in most other regions of the world. African countries perceive these opportunities, but because of the lack of synergy between the actors, which would allow to lay the foundations of cultural ecosystems in Africa, the sector is not evolving. It is precisely at this level that we intervene.
Seynabou Dia Sall: In view of their contribution, it is essential that these cultural actors be fully valued in what they do and in the impact they manage to have, both on the economy and on society in general. As we have seen, cultural actors shone through their ability to reinvent themselves and innovate during the health crisis, and were extremely supportive and involved in the awareness-raising effort, even though they were among those hardest hit economically by the pandemic. This tangible link between culture and economy is what drives AAC55, with a strong conviction that culture is one of the best ways to boost the economy while creating meaning.
