The UNESCO DigiArts Project is a community-driven web initiative which is aiming to promote interdisciplinary research and activities related to digital cultural practices. UNESCO, in the context of this project, particularly attaches an important regional focus and are working towards building relations between role players in various development hubs (such as Kenya, Senegal and South Africa), so as to contribute to the possible development of an integrated digital arts programme, reflecting the specificities of cultural practises in Africa.
The online discussions are foreseen to identify, motivate and engage digital artists from Africa to debate and understand digital art in the continent.
The outcome of these discussions will hopefully increase communication between artists, industries & educators and build capacities in digital cultural expression in Africa. Ultimately the DigiArts AFRICA initiative could have a larger impact in nurturing the creative industry, publicity platforms and exchange arenas through creating communication bridges and creative communication languages. It can assist in giving online voices to communities that are not heard in a free creative space of expression.
The online discussions will be moderated by Marcus Neustetter of the Trinity Session, an independent contemporary arts production team based in South Africa, directed by Stephen Hobbs and Marcus Neustetter.
Invited participants in the discussions include the DigiArts Team, UNESCO Field Offices in Nairobi, Dakar and Windhoek, as well as key network agents in Kenya (Eastern Africa), Senegal (Central and Western Africa) and South Africa (Southern Africa). Participation will be open to the public of the network and interaction is encouraged to develop debate and exchange.
We would like to encourage in existing participants to recommend individuals that can be directly invited to join the discussion.
Online discussions will take place through a listserve africa-trinitysession-digiarts-clt@lists.unesco.org. The listserve is composed of e-mail correspondence addressed to a LISTSERV mailing list, which is broadcasted autom atically to everyone on the list.