So, what have we been up to since we last saw you?

Around the beginning of September full-time staff count leapt to three as we were joined by Philipo Njaidi as an Arts Administration Intern, on a six month contract sponsored by Ford Foundation. He was just in time to assist Yusuf and Kwame with reviewing the mountain of “Call for Artists” CDs. This year was 5 times over subscribed and the quality was generally very high… such difficult decisions to make.

Throughout the year we have been providing assistance for the Bi Kidude film project (undertaken by ScreenStation UK) as it has been going through the final editing and post production stages: translating transcripts, deciphering ancient recordings, and giving feedback on early edits. At one stage Philipo was playing an MP3 down the phone to Kwame who was in Nairobi with Bi Kidude doing a sound check – and no she couldn’t recognise what she was singing 30 years ago either!

We have also had a few opportunities to meet and network with like minded organisations. Yusuf went to Brazzaville to talk about “Developing Pan-African Cultural Synergies” at a South-South Networking Meeting on Cultural Diversity organised by UNESCO; he presented a paper on “Music Festivals and Cultural Tourism” at the ACP festival in Dominican Republic and on the way back participated in “Encounters Africa Now!” (in Paris) organised by CULTURESFRANCE. In Zanzibar, he gave a presentation on Cultural Tourism at ZATI Roundtable meeting and sat on a panel “to help set up an agenda for EU arts funding for Tz”.