Following intensive training since October 2015, eleven participants from World Cultures Connect workshops in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific have been selected to convene in the UK for a networking week to showcase their work during the Edinburgh Festivals and Visiting Arts annual International Producers Breakfast in partnership with Creative Scotland.
During their time in Edinburgh the participants will be involved the World Cultures Connect Professional Exchange workshop day alongside Scottish artists and cultural managers, which will draw on the experience and ideas of participants to seed new collaborations, share resources and cultural insights. They will also receive a special opening reception where they will have the opportunity to network with key stakeholders.
The training programme forms part of a larger project, Culture Works Connections, connecting artists across Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific to international networks, led by Visiting Arts, in partnership with The Africa Centre, South Africa, The Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, Trinidad and Tobago, and The Pacific Arts and Culture Foundation in Suva, Fiji. The initiative is funded by the ACP Cultures+ ACP-EU Support Programme to ACP Cultural Sectors, financed by the European Union and implemented by the ACP Group of States, and aims to build a community and lasting network of creative businesses in more than fifteen countries in the Pacific, the Caribbean and Africa over three years from 2014-2017.
Find out more about the full list of participants below and follow the programme on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #WCCtraining.
Ethiopia
MIHRET KEBEDE
Founder of Tobiya poetic Jazz, Manager of Ethiocolor traditional band and Director of Netsa Art Village
TESFAYE WELDEMEDHIN
Educator, storyteller and promoter
Malawi
MCARTHUR MATUKUTA
Founder of Solomonic Peacocks Theatre
GEORGE KALUKUSHA
Singer/ songwriter
Trinidad & Tobago
DAMIAN WHISKEY (AKA Midnight Robber)
A folkloric Carnival performance artist, storyteller and tutor
MTIMA SOLWAZI
Founder and Festival Coordinator of Caribbean New Voices International Festival of Spoken Word & Cascadoo/Roots Foundation
PATRICE BRIGGS
Artistic Director of Arts in Action
ROCHELLE AMOUR
Non-fiction culture writer and co-producer & co-host of local podcast T&T Unpacked
Solomon Islands
ALICIA VAVATAGA
Founder of Solomon Islands Arts Alliance (SIAA), visual artist and fashion designer
Fiji
NAVI FONG
Contemporary dancer and Nadi School Manager at VOU Dance Company
Tonga
EBONIE FIFITA
Creative Director of ON THE SPOT
