Vanessa Obioha
President and Executive Producer of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), Mike Dada, was part of art and cultural experts invited to the 5th African Union Pan-African Cultural Congress (PACC5) held at the African Union (AU) Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was elected second Vice President of the PACC Bureau.
He will occupy the position for three years and will be subject to the PACC objective of proposing policies towards the contribution of culture and arts in the development of the continent. PACC is a platform for Pan-African Cultural Institutions and Civil Society Organisations working on the arts, culture and heritage field to provide their contributions to the policy making process of the AU.
Dada, drawing from his experience and knowledge in destination marketing, perception management, media and law, presented a paper with the theme ‘Advancing the African Union Agenda 2063 through African Culture and Creative Economy’ at the three-day meeting.
With the aim of delivering best practices for the promotion of the AU Agenda 2063, he shared practical knowledge on actions AFRIMA employs in showcasing great potentials and values of the African musical and artistic heritage, while also promoting the positive image of Africa to the world for global competitiveness.
He was highly commended by the former Cultural Director of Rockefeller and the Ford Foundations, Damien Pwono, for the immense effort of AFRIMA at showcasing the potentials of Africa through its creative industry.
“AFRIMA is doing a great job at promoting African culture using its arts, talents, and music, it provides a platform that popularizes the dynamism in our culture, thereby creating a sustainable competitive creative economy,” said Pwono during his keynote address on ‘Cultural Diplomacy’.
In its effort to promote the AU agenda 2063, which is to garner strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years, the 5th African Union Pan-African Cultural Congress enables creative and cultural experts, researchers, creators/producers of culture, policymakers and cultural promoters to come share ideas, tackle challenges, and formulate best practices towards programmes in Africa in the area of cultural and creative economy and development.
Also elected into the PACC5 Bureau were Daves Guzha, President of Arterial Network; Vuningoma James, Executive Secretary, Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture; Florence Majachani – Cultural Policy Consultant and Research among others.
