- 50 - iiiMP ...AHD, EZEGVSIQB OF cusriiRix POLICIES Pi AFRICA 3. 0. Apronti* . ' • . . : Among Cultural Administrators in Africa? the African Cultural Institute (ICA) will probably best be remembered for the pioneering work it did in proposing a draft cultural policy for the continent, which was eventually adopted by the OAU as the Cultural Charter for . Africa, This was in Port Louis, Mauritius in 1976. It was a bold attempt to pose the problem of the future of culture in continental terms, and to focus the entirety of the ramifications of what cultural development should mean to a newly emancipated continent at this end of the twentieth century, in terms that transcend the peculiar colo- nial experiences of the different regions of our continent, 'An attempt was. thus ma.de, a decade or more after the attainment of p o l i t i c al independence by the majority of our peoples, to refleot on the challenges that revealed themselves after the auphoria of newly acquired nationhood had cooled down* This writer was privileged t o serve on the staff of the African Cultural Institute from 1979 t i ll 1984V f i r st as Director of Research and of Cultural Patrimony from April 1979 for four months, and thereafter as Deputy Director 3-eneral from July 1979 u n t il g ebruary, 1984._ former Deputy Director-General, African Cultural I n s t i t u t e s, Dakar, S enegal» -r .51 Concurrently with the post of Deputy Director General, h e , m« as Director of'the Regional'Research and Documentation Centre for Cultural Development (CRSMG) based in Dakar. Shis annex organisa- tion of IGA shared many facilities with the parent body in Dakar in . a v?ay that ™3s inrpossible -f or the CRAG in Lome,. To^o and the GIEPJO? xn Aboney, Benin. There Vere thus a total of three annex organisa- tions in addition to the African Cultural Institute proper. The definition of cultural policies was a first challenge - and a continuing one - that faces Africa's peoples. Under the inspi- ration of UNESCO arid:: in 'association with other regions of the world, this has been'a fruitful search over "the years,, beginning with the Venice Conference in 1970* on the Institutional, Administrative and financial Aspects of Cultural Policies} followed by 'Regional Gonferen-* oes in Helsinki in 1972, Ygyakarta in 1973,-Accra in 1975? Bogota i& 1978, Baghdad in iy8t, culminating1 in the World Conference on Cultural Pilioies in Mexico in ..4982, She f i r st angle of attack that IGA adopted; was the training of personnel. "Aloaj svifliUN3S0G, the definition of culture adopted was one that went' beyondffia§io and dance to embrace not only the performing a r ts as such but also the languages, the belief systems, dress, social organisation, value systems, taboos etc. of _each people. So bring these notions'before the consciousness of the various peoples, •"•:.•. ' it became imperative to t r a in personnel for the ..specialised area of * lo do this -h&& f i r st afi»«pfe-.ea?gani5ation of the Institute, Segioasl Oolttasal Actioa Centre (0RAO) was established in Lome, Togo, 52 The task of the GEAC -.fas to jive specialised trair.in;-" to c r l t u r ?! animators and cultural administrators from the ir-anfoer s t a t e s. The simultaneous need for the two categories of personnel would be appreciated better if one looked in detail at the profiles of the two. The cultural animator is best defined as a man of the t e r r a i n, an agent at the local or district level who, thanks to intimate contact with community-level artistes, opinion leaders e t c, has his fingers on the pulse of local populations. On the other hand, the cultural administrator functions at another levels of conception and management. He is caLlesd upon to exercise skills of a different sort. He is expected to have a wider, experience of -world forces, of the role of culture, in-national, and ,....• regional development. Eis administrative capacities • are. expected, to enable him to master the interplay of different ..sections of-the--. •.••::• governmental machinery, and to appreciate, their relationship -one with the others so as to appreciate the relative roles of the pfayaie,alv; aspects of cultural administration and the. associated but congruent .-.,, • aspects. His experience of the world.Is likewise expected to be ..les » vifnl ^ + • A yeujjxes a v i t al factor in tracing sub-systems of the zone? '' ' " . In the 1981 ta t r - i t l. t h e a t re to ; griots have ma£e an indelible i West Africa sxib~re.fion and . .. vations In the region. cultural development had earlier in iw?ft the peaf awrfag arts of the had a 3?epatation for Inno- • the of a oxS workshop In Cote d^Ivoire* Reflexion and action have a l ^s baen. the tiro legs on which the Institute had sought to walk* The IOA experience was rich in Instruction. At a time when U1E3CO was seeking to decentralize i ts operations, IOA became a ready-made instrument to enable air region, of the world to take on several of the operations of the world body. In particular,,.^-con- ference assembling East, Central and Southern African countries in Nairobi In August 1979 enabled that sub-region to pronounce itself for the f i r st time as to i ts own perception of priorities in the •• cultural f i e l d. Three years later, in 1982, the next.step.was taken to give a chance to the Africa region as a whole to ponder in Dakar on the positions to take on issues of culture in the region in preparation for the UHSSCQ World Conference in .Cultural .Policies held in Mexico in August 1982. Without a. doubt,,, the continent's impact on the world conference was well appreciated. . . Side by side with these moves to enhance the internal cohesion' of the region, other strategies came into play to promote-the-dia- logue of cultures. Cooperation with Radio France International led to the organisation of competitions In the fields of music and theatre through the medium of BFl's award-granting activities, in these two a r t i s t ic fields, With Yugoslavia, a fruitful interchange of cultural personnel and programmes was Instituted as from..1980, .. • In. which year an exhibition of one thousand publications in African and other languages was held* She publications were donated to this - -6a-* non-aligned country/ Subsequently/ an exhibition of films was held, while the granting of a few scholarships to African cultural personnel from a number of ^ er stages nade for a fruitful exchange of expe- riences. Some joint studies and publications were also undertaken, in the spirit of south-south cooperation. Sub-regional co-operation has shown itself to bs the way of the future; The increasing integration of z o nes of the continent has a lot to recommend i t, So that EOm&S in v7est Africa, SADGC in Southern Africa, the Preferential T ar r if Area in Eastern Africa are" " a ll seeking to group together neigbouring countries which seek to make of their economic grouping unit- rrM«' - ' o -^-UITTS units whicn can re-inforce their common action in the cultural field as well. The celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of " '' the Cultural Charter for Africa'at the Conference of African Minis- ters of Culture in Mauritius in IQPA initiative of ten years a T O. Tbe ^s m ,986 was anple vindication of ICA'S I n H- ^1 1+ e lrioi^"Ute and, indeed, the whole . . » 1988 . 4eoMe of integration of Culture with tb* - ,m the economy, As far as ICA iS concerned, an evaluation of its'own actions +ha+ ' ' ions that was undertaken at the end of i ts first decade, with the help of TWqnn P 01 uwtoCO, provides ample evidence of the les-sona to be drawn from its experience ^ ' ' - 63 A global uture of ICA consists of the wish that ?n organic relationship could be forced between the Institute arid the OfilT, so that its services and experience could be placed at the disposal of the, continental organisation. This indeed was the desire formulated by more than one delegate at the Port Louis tenth anrjiyexsaiy celebration of the Cultural Charter. I 0 I S S 1. =-Cultural,development? Ehrperienoes and Policies, 1983< BTBLIOSRiPBY ICA-Information Mo.13 1981, Ten Years in the Service of Cultural Development« ICA Information So,14 1982S Special Issue in Cultural Polioies. ICA Information So, 15 1982S Special" Issue on Cobperation., ICA Information !IO»16 1982? •:- ' ' "'• Special Issue- on ACl'-arid- 'its Institutions»