Cultural leadership training for Southern Africa

Similar training hubs will be established in Morocco, serving six North Africa countries; in Senegal, serving 15 West African countries; in Cameroon, serving nine Central African countries; and in Kenya, serving 13 East African countries.

Southern African candidates can now apply to participate in training at the Johannesburg hub, based at the Goethe-Institut. From 13-19 May, Train-the-Trainer sessions focusing on cultural leadership and covering arts advocacy, marketing, fundraising and project management, will be presented.

Training will be facilitated using a series of toolkits on these subjects, developed by Arterial Network (AN) in 2011. AN is a continental network of arts professionals with representation in 34 African countries. The programme is aimed at training trainers in the use of these toolkits; and for these trainers to return to their respective countries and/or organisations, to train others.

The course is limited to 20 applicants. Ten bursaries will be provided.

Applications

Applications should include the following:

• Letter of motivation highlighting previous experience as a trainer and a commitment to working as a trainer;
  
• Information pertaining to and elaborating on practical experience in at least one training area, advocacy, marketing, fundraising or project management;
  
• 3 reference letters applicable to your training experience; and,
  
• An indication of whether you are applying for a bursary, with a brief motivation.

having an Arterial Network membership would be an advantage. The cost is ZAR 1500 or EURO 150.

Applications must be received by 13 April 2012, at the following email address az.gro.iafa@ofni. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday, 20 April 2012.

The project

Funding for the project was secured last year from the European Union's 500 million euro strong Investing in People programme. Project partners are the GoDown Arts in Nairobi, Kenya, Groupe 30 Afrique in Senegal, Doual'art in Cameroon, Casamemoire in Morocco and the Goethe-Institut.

The project's ultimate goal is to advance the cultural dimension of development and cultural diversity in Africa through improved cultural governance. The Institute proposes to capacitate skilled leadership to effectively formulate and implement policies and strategies, and to effectively manage civil society organisations and public institutions.

The project will target leading arts professionals, government officials responsible for culture, those responsible for implementing cultural policy and others. Skilled leadership and effectively managed policies will benefit artists and cultural entrepreneurs as well as the general public.

"This project will promote not only regional and inter-regional partnerships but also international networking. We will link institutions in five African regions with each other as well as with the Goethe-Institut which has been providing similar training programmes in 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa since 2008," says Mike van Graan, executive director of AFAI.

"We envisage a core group of high-level trained personnel in cultural policy, cultural entrepreneurship and project management in the arts, spread over five African regions and in turn supported by a core group of mid-level trained personnel," he continues.

"Most importantly this proposed action will be undertaken by African players for African players, thus reinforcing local ownership and building strong leadership within the African creative sector."

For more, go to www.afai.org.za/projects