Soft power is the new hard power. It is in Africa that this transformation to soft power can take place and become strategically valuable. Africa is experiencing an exceptional cultural revolution through fashion, film, visual arts, cultural sites, media, design, video games, entertainment, music, literature, and even the launch by the NBA of an African Basketball League whose last investor was President Obama.
On October 15th, 2021, the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, made possible by the sponsorship of ADS Group, OCP Africa and Prosper Africa, welcomes you to the Africa Creative Industries Summit. In partnership with the Smithsonian Museum of African Art and Trace TV, the Summit provides a unique and timely convening of leaders and stakeholders in dialogue to discuss the many opportunities, pathways and challenges in the creative industries. The relationship the U.S. has with African culture and creative industries is full of potential and promise. In a time of global recovery and transition, the creative and cultural industries can foster collective security and prosperity.
Join us as we engage in critical conversations anchored in a series of high-level dialogues between leaders, icons and cultural and creative industries experts and investors. The program will include a combination of moderated panels, remarks, digital media and performances that share expert insights, tackle problems, generate new ideas, and help to identify innovative recommendations. This high-profile event explores the most important elements of African culture and creative industries, along with the associated challenges.
African cultural soft power has always existed. From Dior to Louis Vuitton, H&M to Zara, fashion weeks from Johannesburg to Lagos, fashion has been renewed with African inspirations. Films like Beyoncé’s Disney-produced musical, Black is King, is a celebration of Africa dreamed up in line with the global success of Black Panther, which featured award-winning African actors in Hollywood such as Lupita N’yongo and Daniel Kaluuya. In the music industry, Nigerian artists such as Burna Boy, Davido, and Wizkid have signed with Sony, won Grammy awards and have been featured in President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The continent and the NBA’s commitment to the new Basketball Africa League, or BAL, shows the strong belief in using sports as a driver for growth across an array of sectors.
In 2050, one in four people on earth will be African. Africa’s population will be five times larger than that of North America and Europe. The middle class is expected to grow from 355 million in 2010 to 1.1 billion in 2060. The future is African. However, African cultural and creative industries face a myriad of challenges. African creative industries counts for less than 1% of the African GDP. African cultural and creative industries need support to enhance the incredible work already being done by creatives because those in this industry largely do the work on their own with little support.
The African Cultural and Creative Industries provide a platform to resolve conflicts, increase tourism, combat climate change, support the rule of law, diversify economies, create new infrastructure, increase media and technology opportunities and change outdated narratives. Africa will be able to benefit from U.S. investment in its cultural markets and find unprecedented ways to enhance its exceptional cultural historical assets, enabling it to take advantage of its current strengths (digital economic growth and the dynamism of an urban and enterprising youth) to embody an innovative Africa.
