First Pan African Cultural Congress




	Addis Ababa , Ethiopia 13-15 November ,2006

THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE
The General theme of PACC-I is *“Culture, Integration and African Renaissance”* with the following themes: • Theme 1 : Memory and Heritage; • Theme 2 : Culture, Language and Education; • Theme 3: Culture, Youth and Gender; • Theme 4 : Cultural Development; • Theme 5 : Cultural Rights, Freedoms and the Protection of Cultural Intellectual Property Rights; • Theme 6 : Culture, Development, and Social Transformation; • Theme 7 : Cultural Policies in Africa; and • Theme 8 : Cross-cutting theme-African Culture, the Media and New Technologies.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Africa is rich in cultural diversities and life ways. These rich and untapped cultural resources need to be appreciated and developed so that they continue to provide spiritual, material and artistic stimuli to the ongoing continental effort towards integration, sustainable socioeconomic development, durable peace and stability in Africa. In this regard, the AU Commission deems it imperative to create a forum that brings cultural experts, producers, literary figures, policy makers, and civil society representatives to re-examine the challenges and opportunities in the cultural sector, especially in the context of globalization and the new information and communication technologies as well as some of the devastating conflicts whose impact on African cultural heritage needs to be understood.

Over the past few years, the African Union has been working very hard to organize a major continental gatherings such as the forthcoming Pan African Cultural Congress (PACC) with the view to foster exchange of views, ideas and experiences thereby to create a common understanding on the way forward in reviving African cultural values and making culture serve the larger cause of African renaissance. The idea of holding the Congress dated back to the early 2000, but different circumstances, including the transformation from the OUA to the AU, delayed its implementation.

The Congress was preceded by major cultural events over the past year, notably, the 1 st Conference of AU Ministers of Culture held in December 2005, in Nairobi, Kenya, and the 6 th AU Summit of January 2006 in Khartoum, Sudan. The Summit endorsed the decision of the Ministers of Culture to convene PACC which will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 13 to 15 November 2006.

The sequence of meetings on culture organized by the AU is testimony of the fact that culture has emerged as an important element of institutional transformation. No doubt that the deliberations of the Congress will provide a special focus on important cultural issues with significant impact.

It is expected that the PACC I shall bring together about 200 -300 cultural practitioners and administrators. The event will take place at the African Union Conference Center in Addis Ababa.

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@2006 The African Union Commission