West Africa

Revolutionary festival networking model creating transnational clusters across fifteen West African countries. Hub festivals lead sectoral networks, building sustainable international partnerships, developing professional capacity, and transforming regional cultural infrastructure through collaborative internationalisation strategies.

Festival Networks: Transforming Regional Cultural Infrastructure

The West Africa Component breaks new ground by recognising festivals as the backbone of West African cultural life and investing in their collective power to transform regional and international cultural cooperation. Rather than supporting individual events, we're building transnational networks that fundamentally alter how West African cultural content reaches audiences and how cultural professionals develop international careers.

Our cluster-based approach reflects a deep understanding that sustainable cultural development requires peer-to-peer cooperation and shared learning. By creating six transnational, sectoral festival clusters spanning all fifteen West African countries, we're establishing permanent infrastructure for cultural cooperation that transcends national boundaries and linguistic divisions.

Each cluster functions as a collaborative network anchored by a major festival with demonstrated capacity and vision, supported by approximately seven mid-scale festivals representing diverse countries and cultural approaches. This isn't a hub-and-spoke model but a genuine network where smaller festivals contribute equally to collective internationalisation strategies while accessing resources and expertise that individual organisations couldn't achieve alone.

The sectoral approach ensures deep specialisation while promoting cross-pollination. Whether focused on music, cinema, performing arts, visual arts, heritage, or literature, each cluster develops expertise specific to its cultural sector while participating in broader learning that connects all West African festival networks.

Capacity building operates at multiple levels simultaneously. Festival managers, producers, marketing professionals, and artistic directors participate in comprehensive training programmes while artists and their managers develop internationalisation skills through sector-specific courses, mentoring, and international mobility opportunities. This holistic approach ensures that festivals have both institutional capacity and artistic content capable of succeeding in international markets.

European partnerships develop through structured exchanges that create lasting relationships rather than one-time events. Hub festivals receive intensive mentoring support to develop EU internationalisation strategies, participate in study visits during European festival seasons, and host return visits that establish ongoing cooperation agreements. These partnerships benefit both continents by creating new platforms for cultural content and professional development.

The artist development component recognises unique West African needs. Through three cycles of comprehensive support including English language training, formal coursework, individual mentoring, and international mobility, we address specific barriers that prevent West African artists from accessing international opportunities while building on cultural strengths that make their work distinctive in global markets.

What makes this component transformative is its systematic approach to building lasting cultural infrastructure. Rather than funding temporary projects, we're creating permanent networks, developing professional capacity, and establishing partnership models that continue generating opportunities long after initial funding ends. This represents a fundamental shift from project-based cultural support toward ecosystem development that transforms entire regional cultural landscapes.