PANEL 1 - DIGITAL ACCELERATION: NEW HORIZONS FOR THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Destiny Tchéhouali
A professor in the Department of Social and Public Communication at the University of Quebec, Tchéouali is also Director of the Observatoire des réseaux et interconnexions de la société numérique (ORISON) and co-director of the Groupe d'études et de recherches axées sur la communication internationale et interculturelle (GERACII) in Canada. His research focuses on the digital transformation of cultural and creative industries and on online access and consumption of a diversity of national/local content. He is the author of several scientific publications and study reports dealing with these issues. Destiny sits on the scientific boards of the Observatoire de la langue française of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie (OIF) and the Agence francophone pour l'intelligence artificielle (AFRIA).
Melisa Achoko Allela
Melisa is a designer and teacher of interactive media at the Technical University of Kenya. She is also a distinguished illustrator, animator, researcher and eLearning specialist. Her creative and research work explores the convergence of experimental animation and emerging technologies in storytelling. Melisa is the co-founder of LESO Stories, an interactive media startup that investigates how emerging technologies can be used to digitise works of African orature and contribute to the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. She also promotes the active participation of women in the field of technology and their contribution to the animation and interactive media production sectors.
Braden Chin
Braden is the Executive Director of the CHM Group, a leading multi-sector group of companies based in Papua New Guinea. He is also the head of CHM Supersound, the largest record label and music intellectual property owner in the South Pacific, with a catalogue of over 15,000 songs and videos. An expert in digital transformation, he is passionate about getting traditional businesses to adopt digital technologies to reinvent their business models. In the music industry, he has harnessed the power of digital platforms to pioneer and champion Pacific Island music and artists on the global stage.
Aladji Kamagate
Aladji Kamagate holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Burgundy. In 2011, he joined the French National Research Agency where he managed a portfolio of projects in the digital sector. Since 2018, Aladji has been a teacher-researcher at the Ecole Supérieure Africaine des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), where he contributes to the setting up and running of research teams. The author of some thirty scientific productions of international scope, Aladji is also the local coordinator of an educational project set up within the framework of the Debt Reduction and Development Contract of Côte d'Ivoire in partnership with the French Agency for Development.
PANEL 2 - GENDER AND CULTURE: DIVERSITY, PARTICIPATION AND LEADERSHIP IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Njoki Ngumi
A general practitioner, Njoki has brought her vast knowledge and expertise to the creative sector to advance socio-economic equality and progress for all, including youth, women and the marginalised. She joined the HEVA Fund at its inception and has held a variety of roles, from programme design and implementation to organisational strategy development and gender mainstreaming. She is heavily involved in public engagements.
Simone Harris
Simone Harris is a Jamaican marroon, activist and consultant in tourism and arts management. An alumnus of the Duke of Edinburgh's Emerging Leaders Dialogues, she promotes social and economic rights for members of the LGBTQ community in Jamaica. In 2008, she founded 360ARTISTS, an arts and cultural agency dedicated to empowering her clients regardless of race, colour, religion, nationality, gender, disability, age or sexual orientation. She helped found the Jamaica Association of Diverse Businesses, the only LGBTQ business network in the English-speaking Caribbean, comprised of professionals committed to the economic growth of LGBT businesses. Simone currently serves on the advisory board of Open for Business Caribbean, whose mission is to advance the economic rights of LGBT+ people in the Caribbean.
Yemisi Mokuolu
Yemisi is an accomplished creative industries consultant and independent producer. In 2002, she founded HATCH Events, with the aim of raising the profile of African arts and artists. In 2006, she integrated business support and professional development into the company's remit to better support the sustainability of African culture. In 2012, it established HATCH Africa to provide services specific to the needs of the continent. Today, HATCH is one of the leading agencies supporting individuals and organisations in developing innovative businesses and projects in terms of cultural change and social impact. As an independent producer, she is the founder of Out of Africa in the UK, co-founder of the Asa Baako - One Dance festival in Ghana and co-producer of Oliva Tweest: An Afrobeats Musical.
Katya Aragão
Journalist by profession and producer by passion, Katya made her directorial debut in 2017 with a first short film entitled "Mina Kiá". She will continue with the direction and production of the mini-series "Nas Nossas Mãos" and a recent short film "Agora Podemos". She has a degree in Communication and Cultural Sciences from the Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies in Lisbon (Portugal) and has spent more than 10 years of her career in the communication and journalism sectors. She has also worked for Televisão Nacional (TVS) as a producer, presenter, reporter and head of programming.
PANEL 3 - UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES: SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND DECENT JOBS
Andrea Dempster-Chung
Dempster-Chung is the co-founder and executive director of Kingston Creative, a not-for-profit arts association dedicated to the success of Caribbean creatives. She has held senior positions in strategy development and project management in the Jamaican private and public sectors. Andrea has served on the boards of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, the National Land Agency and the Public Health Committee. At the British Council, where she managed the arts portfolio, Andrea implemented a series of key projects in the fields of literature, film and other visual arts. She holds a Master of Science in Structural Engineering and studied at the Sotheby's School of Art in London and the Stanford School of Business in California.
Luc Mayitoukou
Luc Mayitoukou is the director of Zhu Culture, an arts and culture agency based in Dakar, Senegal. An expert in cultural and creative industries (CCI), Luc is the author of several studies on the creative and cultural sectors in Africa. He is an expert on the 2005 UNESCO Convention and has directed the Art Moves Africa Mobility Fund and coordinated the Programme for the Promotion of Cultural and Creative Enterprises in Senegal. With Zhu Culture, he is involved in the implementation of the AFRIQUE CREATIVE incubation programme. He teaches at the Gaston Berger University in Senegal as well as in various Institutes of Arts and Culture in Africa including the Koré Institute of Arts and Crafts in Segou. Luc also works as an agent for African artists.
Valeria Marcolin
Valeria began her professional career in the theatre sector with the Italian director Maurizio Scaparro. For six years, she worked as project manager and coordinator of international and institutional relations for institutions that Scaparro directed. Between 2005 and 2009, in addition to her responsibilities in the fields of communication and public relations for the European network "Union of European Theatres", she worked as a consultant for various international cultural projects and organisations both in Europe and in developing countries. Since 2006, she has been a lecturer in the framework of the Master II in "management of cultural organisations" at the University of Paris Dauphine. Since February 2014, she has been co-director of Culture et Développement, after having served as the association's administrative and development manager.
Moses Turahirwa
Moses Turahirwa, who is part of the new generation of African designers, is on a mission to usher in a new era of slow, thoughtful fashion. His brand Moshions is an ever-evolving creative manifestation of his love of discovery, play and the beauty found in the details of the environments and culture around us. In the unique aesthetics of his creations, Turahirwa pays homage to the tradition of visual storytelling found in Rwanda and throughout the African continent. Through innovative design that often involves meticulous craftsmanship and hand-printing techniques, Moses reinterprets continental heritage through contemporary fashion, thrilled to be able to celebrate Africa's vibrant stories with the world. Turahirwa is currently studying for a Master's degree in collection design at the Polimoda School of Fashion.
PANEL 4 - TOWARDS A MORE INCLUSIVE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRY. FROM PRINCIPLES TO REALITY
Chao Tayiana Maina
Chao Maina is a Kenyan digital heritage and digital humanities scholar working at the intersection of culture and technology. She is the founder of African Digital Heritage, co-founder of the Museum of British Colonialism and co-founder of the Open Restitution Africa project. She holds an MSc International Heritage Visualisation and her research has explored the possibilities of embedding intangible histories in 3D digital environments. She is a recipient of the Google Anita Borg Fellowship for Women in Technology. She has worked as a heritage consultant for the British Council, Hivos, the Heva Fund and Nordicity. Her work has been featured in a variety of media including The Art Newspaper, Deutsche Welle, Reuters, BBC News, BBC Arts, Ntv and 3Sat.
Josh Nyapimbi
Nyampibi is the founder and executive director of Nhimbe Trust - a civil society creative watchdog and advocacy organisation on cultural and political rights and artistic freedom, based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He is a member of the expert team of the Rome 2020 Charter on the Right to Participate in Cultural Life and a member of the expert team of the 7 Keys Workshop, which aims to integrate the cultural dimension in the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2020, he launched the Bulawayo Arts Festival, an event that promotes the city's rich and diverse cultural heritage. Joseph is the current Zimbabwean Ambassador to the International Regulatory Authority for Cultural and Creative Industries - ICCIRA.
Refilwe Nkomo
Refilwe Nkomo is an artist, curator, educator and producer of social practices working at the intersection of the arts and social justice. Her work has been recognised in Germany, Brazil, South Korea, Ghana and the United States, among other countries, and has won numerous awards. In 2010, she founded the platform We Are Here through which she fights against gender-based violence by working to raise awareness among men and boys. Refilwe holds an MA in Arts and Politics from New York University and was named one of the Mail and Guardian's 200 Young South African Leaders of 2020. She currently leads the Visual Arts Network of South Africa.
Michael Uwemedimo
Michael is co-founder and director of Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform and a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University. As a founding member of the film collaboration Vision Machine and producer of the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning documentary The Act of Killing, he has developed innovative documentary practices to combat political terror and official impunity. As co-founder of the Human City Project, a community-based media, architecture, urban planning and human rights initiative in Nigeria, Michael explores the design processes by which violently marginalised urban communities gain greater control over the representation and design of their cities. Michael has curated major programmes at the National Film Theatre, Tate Modern, the Architecture Association and the Institute for Contemporary Art in London and has also served on juries for international film festivals. His work and research has been presented internationally.
PANEL 5 - YOUTH AND CULTURAL LITERACY: INVESTING IN THE FUTURE
Oumar Sall
Oumar is the director and producer of Cinekap, an independent production company based in Dakar, Senegal. His skills as an economist and his expertise with the World Intellectual Property Organisation have enabled him to build a network of young writers and directors. Cinekap acts as line producer or executive producer in several short and feature film projects and other documentaries. Among its filmography, we can highlight the films "Aujourd'hui (Tey)" by Alain Gomis or "Des Étoiles" by Dyana Gaye in co-production with Andolfi. In addition, Cinekap provides executive production for many foreign films shot in Senegal, including "Quai d'Orsay" by Bertrand Tavernier, "Cessez le feu" by Emmanuel Courcol, "Fidelio" by Lucie Borleteau (nominated for a César award in 2015). Cinekap also runs an annual film training programme, UP Courts-Métrages.
Deborah Hickling Gordon
Deborah is a senior lecturer and coordinator of cultural studies at the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies and is the author of the book Cultural Economy and Television in Jamaica and Ghana: decolonization2point0. In addition to her academic activities, she sits on various groups and mechanisms for the promotion of culture and creativity in the Caribbean, including the CARICOM Expert Group on Cultural and Creative Industries, the UNESCO Expert Mechanism on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and the Jamaica Chapter of Women In Film and Television International, to name a few.
Ayeta Anne Wangusa
Ayeta is a Ugandan author and social entrepreneur with interests in the creative economy, cultural policy and the environment and sustainable cities. Ms Wangusa is also a member of the UNESCO Expert Facility for the 2005 Convention and Executive Director of Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA), a creative think tank based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From 2009 to 2012, she represented East Africa on the Commonwealth Civil Society Advisory Committee (CSAC). She holds an MA in Literature from Makerere University and an MA in New Media, Governance and Democracy from the University of Leicester, UK, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Media and Communication at the University of Leicester, UK.
Philippe Dodard
After training in the plastic arts, Philippe Dodard chose to embark on a quest for a deeper knowledge of spirituality in human beings. This search led him first to the Kripalu Ashram, a yoga centre, where he studied with Master Yogi Darshan. He then spent several years studying healing techniques, including Reiki with Master Ishaia: Bernadette Amazan. Since 2011, he is the General Director of the National School of Arts in Haiti and exhibits his work around the world. He is also the interim Master Artist of the International Caribbean Festival CARIFESTA.
PANEL 6 - ACP-EU CULTURE PROGRAMME: BUILDING THE RESILIENCE OF THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE SECTORS IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC
Damien Helly
An independent cultural advisor and director of DH Creative Partnerships, Damien is also a visiting professor in the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, where he teaches and supervises master's theses. He has worked for a number of international agencies and think tanks such as the British Council, the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), the European Union Institute for Security Studies and the Crisis Group as a programme manager. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris and has published numerous books on EU external action and international cultural relations.
Enrico Chiesa
Enrico coordinates the CLAP ACP action, which aims to strengthen film and series co-productions between African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, on behalf of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). For 10 years, he worked in the digital distribution of African and Caribbean films and series. In particular, he led the mobiCINE project, a mobile screening initiative on motorbikes; AfricaFilms.tv, a VOD portal; and africaLOVE, a YouTube channel of African films and series. Previously, he headed Majestic Cinémas, a 50-screen circuit in France, and the International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE), an association promoting cultural diversity in cinemas and festivals active in 30 countries. Enrico is a graduate of the Haute École de Commerce (HEC).
Dr. Marielle Barrow Maignan
Marielle Barrow Maignan is the Coordinator of the Caribbean Development Bank's Innovation Fund for Cultural and Creative Industries. Marielle Barrow Maignan is a Fulbright Scholar, social entrepreneur, arts management consultant and visual artist. Her passion and calling is to achieve true social transformation through arts-based socio-economic interventions in high-risk communities. She has worked in the Caribbean, the United States and Africa in cultural programming and as a creative industries consultant for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), CARICOM and Broward County, Florida. She founded Caribbean InTransit in 2010, an organization that provides a creative meeting place for Caribbean artists to share their ideas and work within a community of cultural producers, students, researchers, activists and entrepreneurs. It has produced arts festivals, research projects and the This is ME programme.
Mercedes Giovinazzo
Mercedes currently heads the Interarts Foundation, a role she combines with the presidency of the Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean. Prior to joining Interarts, she held a management position with the Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona, Spain, and managed the Directorate of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Teatro di Roma (Italy) and President of European associations and projects promoting and providing access to culture. Mercedes co-directed the international campaign for the inclusion of culture in the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and co-founded the Alliance of Women Leaders in Culture.
Eddie Hatitye
As Executive Director of the Music In Africa Foundation, Hatitye has given numerous presentations at most of the world's music promotion events, including MIDEM, WOMEX, Music Exchange, Moshito, Musikmesse and the Arterial Network's Creative Economy Conference. Before founding Music In Africa, Eddie worked for the Goethe-Institut as a project manager. He also worked for Music Industry Online, South Africa's leading online music industry portal, as an editorial manager. He has been involved in a number of music promotion projects in South Africa, including the launch of Pro-Systems, a leading publication for the audio-visual, events and broadcasting sectors. An active music producer and member of the house music duo Epic Minds, Eddie has produced records with some of Africa's most talented underground acts.
Cristina Bosch
Cristina Bosch Pla is a cultural expert working in international development cooperation. She is currently working at the Interarts Foundation as a programme manager. She has coordinated several projects such as Culture at Work Africa, an initiative promoting intercultural dialogue and social cohesion. She has previously worked as an external consultant for the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Cooperation and Policies at the University of Girona (Spain) and as a project coordinator for the UNESCO Office in San José, Costa Rica, on issues related to heritage protection and the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods.
