AfroInnova in Cali

“I'm thankful to have been included in such a dedicated and structured Pan-African discursive space. The thinking and conversations around the facilitation, financing and sustainability of creative industries and artistic practice as conduits to social justice and bulwarks against global anti-blackness will be indelible - on all of us.” - Baff Akoto

AfroInnova II brought 14 experts - from Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States - together in Tumaco and Cali to leverage strategic connections and build movement for the empowerment of the entire African Diaspora. You can read up on our experts and their backgrounds here.

In our intense and focused week together, we connected some of the great leaders of creative sectors from across the African continent and its diaspora, who each brought their perspectives and experiences in changing narratives, telling our community stories, finding new ways to distribute content, funding audiovisual projects and building audiences.

At the end of an extraordinary few days, we asked this group of brilliant minds to map out what might come next for us as a group: as a hive of creation and activity, as an advocacy group, as an organization.

Our task: to share and connect our stories, our intentions, our work - and what we hope to see for our own organizations and communities and the entire diaspora in the coming years across the arts and culture worlds.

With the help of AfroInnova expert Rafael Murta of Ashoka, we diagrammed this cohort’s interests, work and abilities, split into groups and dove deep. Check back soon for our final conclusions and map of future actions.