The African Culture Fund (ACF Academy), in partnership with the Institut Kôrè des Arts et Métiers (IKAM Ségou), is calling for applications to its pan-African program LEWO (Leadership and Empowerment for Women). The aim is to select 16 female artists and cultural entrepreneurs from West Africa and Central Africa to take part in BOOT CAMP #3, scheduled in Ségou from March 2023.
These participants from West and Central Africa will take part in a professional training camp to learn capacities in cultural management, leadership, personal branding, and emotional intelligence (which will be followed by a mechanism of mentoring and coaching for one year).
The aim is to strengthen the leadership and contribution of female artists, which will empower them by providing the tools necessary for access to international markets.
This capacity-building initiative is based on the premise that Africa today is full of young artists and cultural entrepreneurs who evolve on the job, and very often in the informal sector as many find it difficult to make their voices heard.
The urgency today is to strengthen the leadership and empowerment of women in Africa, but also to create favourable conditions for their freedom of expression.
LEWO is a continuation of the ACF ACADEMY program, launched in July 2021. It has so far enabled the incubation and capacity building of 20 cultural managers from West Africa and 12 young visual artists from North Africa.
Program structure: This third boot camp (training camp) of the ACF ACADEMY, will offer participants innovative educational content, coaching, and mentoring adapted and focused on specific leadership skills for 2 weeks, in the creative city of Ségou (Mali).
In the program, there will be thematic workshops, practical case studies, and scenarios, but also one–on–one sessions with recognized African personalities in the field of culture and entrepreneurship.
At the end of the boot camp, the program will grant a scholarship of 2,000 euros to each of the winners and the monitoring of their development will be done for a year in the form of mentoring, provided by experienced professional men and women, great managers and leaders from all parts of Africa.
Participants will benefit from a Professional Aptitude Certificate called Kôrè–Qualité at the end of the ACF ACADEMY training, providing them with the skills, after which a certificate will be given.
Evaluation criteria: The selection committee evaluates applications based on three (03) criteria:
- The commitment/motivation of the artist or cultural entrepreneur,
- The technical quality and originality of the applicant’s previous artistic and cultural projects and,
- The experience/background of the postulant
How to apply: The file should include:
- A Resume
- Copy of your identity document or other equivalent documents
- Cover letter (350 words maximum)
- Brief presentation of the artistic approach (for artists) or biography (for entrepreneurs)
- Portfolio: presentation of works and/or photos of previous projects (12 pages maximum)
Applicants are invited to send their files written in English or French to the email address: applications@africanculturefund.net, no later than November 25, 2022.