Festivals best practices toolkit

I feel privileged writing this forward on behalf of my colleagues on this Festival Toolkit which serves as reference material for all festivals. It must be noted that festivals are an integral part of the cultural and creative economy of any society and it therefore becomes important that academic material such as this toolkit becomes imperative study for emerging and established festivals on the continent.

The toolkit will be a major reference point and there is therefore a need to discuss the origin of this publication from AFRIFESTNET as it was in 2010 that the British Council, working in partnership with Arterial Network, supported a meeting for a small number of festivals from across Africa to meet at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. The group was tasked to decide on projects that would support the development and sustainability of festivals across the continent and one of the recommendations from the Zanzibar Meeting was a proposal to create a continental network of festivals.

This network, which is today known as AFRIFESTNET with over 160 members from different disciplines and regions across Africa, decided on capacity building through which best practice can be shared – and this has resulted in the festival toolkit. Different sections of the book have addressed the WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, WHEN and HOW of Festivals, including detailed explanations of the business aspects of Festivals through the use of a business plan.

On behalf of the steering committee of AFRIFESTNET, I would like to express our appreciation to British Council for supporting the production of this toolkit and I hope this toolkit will go a long way toward solving some of the challenges faced by festivals on the continent.

Thank You
Fidelis DUKER
President, AFRIFESTNET