Racines’ participation in meetings and conferences, in Morocco and abroad

Within the framework of its partnership with the Rwandese organisation Ishyo Arts Centre, Racines participated to the third meeting held by the association in Kigali, from 27 to 30 November 2017, in preparation of the National Action Plan for Culture in Rwanda. Aadel Essaadani, general coordinator of Racines, attended the meeting with Carole Karemera (Rwanda – Ishyo Arts Centre)

Within the framework of its partnership with the Rwandese organisation Ishyo Arts Centre, Racines participated to the third meeting held by the association in Kigali, from 27 to 30 November 2017, in preparation of the National Action Plan for Culture in Rwanda. Aadel Essaadani, general coordinator of Racines, attended the meeting with Carole Karemera (Rwanda – Ishyo Arts Centre), Mike van Graan (South Africa – African Cultural Policy Network) and Joshua Nyapimbi (Zimbabwe – Nimbe Trust).

Four members of the Steering Committee of the African Cultural Policy Network – ACPN attended the 11th ordinary session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2005 UNESCO Convention for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions held in Paris from 12 to 15 December, at the UNESCO headquarters. Thus, Mike van Graan (president), Dounia Benslimane (deputy-president), Aadel Essaadani and Joshua Nyapimbi (regional representatives), attended the different civil society meetings, the meeting with the Bureau of the 11th IGC and the several working sessions of the States Parties at the Convention. Dounia Benslimane also presented the ACN report « 2005 Convention priority challenges and recommendations : an African perspective ». 
Useful links: 
ACPN presentation 
Full report of the ACPN (annexe II, page 36)
Decision of the 11th IGC
UNESCO’s 2018 Global Report “Re-shaping cultural policies”

Racines was invited to take part of the forum “Entreprendre dans la culture”, initiated by the french Ministry of Culture and coordinated by “Arcade“. The forum was held on November 6 and 7 in Aix-en-Provence, France. Mehdi Azdem, general manager of Racines participated to the panel of the meeting “Entreprendre autrement”, along with other cultural actors from Portugal, France and Belgium. He presented the main themes of Racines’ work, as well as the incubator “Racines Carrées”. Click here, to view the restitution of the meeting.

The Southmed CV program organized a closing meeting for the projects supported by the European Union, on December 1st and 2nd, in Amman, Jordan. During this meeting, Racines was represented by its general manager, Mehdi Azdem, along with different project holders from the MENA region. Mehdi presented the publication “Why culture is the solution?“ and the website www.marsad-observatory.org that were made during MARSAD’s project, as the results of a year of research and collaboration between “Racines“, “Notre Culture D’abord” (Tunisia), “ElMadina for performing and digital arts” (Egypt) et “Me’zaf” (Lebanon).

Attijariwafa Bank foundation organized a conference-debate on “Citizenship : what model of transmission to Moroccan youth?“, on Thursday, December 14th, at Actua art space in Casablanca. Mehdi Azdem, general manager of Racines, participated to the panel with Mr.Mohamed Alami Berrada (essayist and co-founder of TIZI), Mrs. Ghitha Triki (responsible of art and culture at Attijariwafa Bank foundation) and Mr. Abdelhak Najib (journalist, writer and art critic), who was the conference’s facilitator.
Mehdi Azdem’s intervention was focused on the transmission of citizenship values to youth in all the regions of Morocco, through artistic expression in public space and online. 

Anna Lindh foundation invited on December 16th and 17th many cultural and associative actors from the north and the south of the Mediterranean. The meeting was on interculturality, and took place at Bac Art Center in Tunis. The theme of the meeting was “Translation for dialogue“, within the framework of the foundation’s strategy “Working together for 2025“. Mehdi Azdem, general manager of Racines, participated to this conference to discuss the challenges of translation between the different Mediterranean countries.