A Cultural Economies Conference will take place next month as part of the Fak’ugesu African Digital Innovation Festival.
It will be held at Johannesburg’s Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct on September 5 and 6 and presented by the Goethe-Institut South Africa.
The Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival will explore and celebrate technology and creativity by Africans for Africa. This year, the festival has cast its central theme as ‘Own Your Force’ which invites digital makers in Africa to stake their claim on their talent, industry and creative economy.
In the spirit of this year’s festival theme, the Cultural Economies Conference will bring together a spectrum of contributors within the cultural and creative industries (CCI).
The Cultural Economies Conference will feature future-focused and solutions-driven sessions that unpack the possibilities that tech and innovation offer the creative sector, with interrogation of topics such as the changing nature of storytelling and blockchain as highly anticipated highlights.
“Stakeholders from across the CCIs are invited to take part in this exciting opportunity for engagement; in the hope that they will be able to gain insight into the thinking of the CCI around their practice, realities and visions, particularly from an African and future-focused perspective,” said Bandile Gumbi, Cultural Economies Conference Project Manager.
Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival Director Dr Tegan Bristow added: “We are looking forward to welcoming some of the continent‘s leading digital thinkers and practitioners to share with us at this year’s event.”
Just two of Africa’s leading lights joining the Cultural Economies Conference in 2019 are C.J. Obasi and Babusi Nyoni. Hailing from Nigeria, Obasi is film director, screenwriter and editor.
He is best known for his debut feature, a zero budget film titled Ojuju, which premiered at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in November 2014, and won the award for Best Nigerian Film and earned Obasi the Trailblazer of the Year award in March 2015, at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards.
Zimbabwean-born Babusi Nyoni is design strategist and innovator currently living in Amsterdam. In 2016, he created what Forbes magazine described as ‘the world’s first AI football commentator’ for the UEFA Champions League final on behalf of Heineken.
More recently, Nyoni created an app for the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease using computer vision. The findings we presented of which were presented at Oxford University on the Skoll World Forum stage in April this year.
Lesley Williams, CEO of Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, which will host the Fak’ugesi Festival for a sixth year, says the precinct is a natural meeting point for the digital arts community in Africa and across the globe.
“This is where African digital artists interact with counterparts from around the world, collaborate around best practice and create something truly memorable,” she said.
The Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival takes place from August 30 to September 8. For more details, visit here.
