Last night I was at Friday Night Jazz at the High Museum of Art.  The music was kicking and the vibe was cool.  I bumped into a college classmate who I have not seen in many years.  As we quickly caught one another up on the past four years I told him that I managed artistic programming at the National Black Arts Festival.  He was surprised that producing the Festival was a full time job and keeps me busy.  I was laughing hysterically in my head.  Busy?  That is an understatement.   Realistically his response is not out of the ordinary.  Audiences see the finished product and have no idea about the process of creating art.  Those of us in the Arts have to do a better job of sharing that process.  It will be through the sharing that artists, audiences and presenters connect in a more meaningful way.  From a NBAF standpoint, our sharing begins NOW!..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

In addition to the work the National Black Arts Festival does to produce our annual 10-day Festival and year-round programming in Atlanta, we are also very active on the national and international arts scene.   The National Black Arts Festival is a member of the Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium which is comprised of 11 US arts organizations.  Each member organization has made a long-term commitment - on a curatorial, institutional and personal level - to cultural exchange with Africa.  Within the collective, our membership has expertise in creative residencies, scholarship, producing, touring, presenting and collaboration with African partners.  Last week I went to our Consortium meeting in Tunisia, which was the site for Danse l'Afrique Danse, a dance festival and competition which draws dancers, choreographers, festivals and organizers from all over Africa and Europe. 

Along with my colleagues, I saw new work and had amazing conversations with artists from Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon, Congo, Madagascar, Senegal, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Beirut, Egypt and Nigeria. Yes, I said Beirut and yes, I know it is not in Africa but they were a part of the competition.  As with any festival, the performances ranged from fantastic to slightly confusing to "needs more development".  The language barrier impacted my ability to fully appreciate the messages that were being delivered in certain performances.  I really need to work on my French.  There were moments that I found myself thinking ... so this is what contemporary dance looks like in Africa?  There was work that was inspiring and work that was inspired by something --- I'm just not sure what. But that's all a part of it- a part of the artistic process. Sometimes the audience does not get it and sometimes they absolutely connect to what you are saying.

In speaking with artists and festival producers, I saw clearly that the struggles many artists face creating new work and developing art in Africa are no different than the struggles faced by American artists. The struggles they face developing audiences for new work are the same struggles artists and arts institutions face in the US. Funding, space and other resources are all at issue. Unique to the African artist is the necessity of living abroad in the US or Europe to work and study. Many voiced the preference of staying in Africa to work, build community, develop work that is relevant to their own aesthetic and build a contemporary arts scene. It is difficult to do however.

Following the week of a million dance performances the Consortium met with a group of artists and then with one another.  We compared notes and discussed which artist consortium members were interested in working with over the next few years.  The next part of our process is for each consortium member to visit the country of the artist of their choice to engage in further research.  How are they creating work in their countries?  What are the challenges?  What US artists could they collaborate with on work that will be appreciated by audiences in both the US and Africa?  Etc.  

I walked away from this experience with a new understanding of the contemporary arts in Africa.  The artists I met in Tunisia have a contemporary mindset and are creating a new artistic language.  I look forward to watching this language develop and figuring out with them how NBAF is able to cultivate that development. 

Peace,
Leatrice