BEYOND HORIZON: International Roundtable Program: Mobility, Innovation, and Sustainable Cooperation in Arts and Culture

Held under the umbrella of the DECONFINING project, the BEYOND HORIZON conference aims to present the initiative to public and civil stakeholders while building a dynamic network of engaged actors committed to decompartmentalizing cultural policies in Africa. Organized by the Institute for Transmedia Design (Slovenia) in collaboration with cultural and creative manager Mrs. Vydia Tamby (Senegal), the conference encourages a more direct and constructive dialogue between African and European policy experts and cultural professionals.

Bringing together cultural and creative operators, artists, organizational representatives, and key stakeholders from both continents, BEYOND HORIZON seeks to:

• Strengthen African-European networks, engagement, and cooperation
• Connect active players in the cultural and creative sectors to support collaboration
• Increase awareness of mobility opportunities for African cultural and creative professionals
• Present the UNESCO 2005 Convention, enhancing the existing cultural ecosystem and fostering the establishment of new tandem cooperations and actions.

By uniting voices from Africa and Europe, this conference aims to inspire new perspectives, deepen cultural dialogue, and catalyze lasting transcontinental collaborations.

• DATE AND LOCATION: April 10th, 2025, The Wallonia-Brussels General Delegation in Dakar, Senegal

Who was the conference for?

The conference brought together cultural and creative operators, artists, organization representatives and cultural stakeholders from two continents, Africa and Europe.

→ Find the CONFERENCE REPORT HERE ←

↓ Find the full programme below ↓

Programme:

• 9 – 10 AM Welcome coffee
• 10 – 10:15 AM Opening words
  • Jean-François Pakula, General delegate of the Wallonia-Brussels Delegation in Dakar
  • Thomas Engel, International Theatre Institute, Germany
  • Sara Božanić, Institute for Transmedia Design, Slovenia
  • Vydia Tamby, Cultural and Creative Manager, Senegal
• 10:15 – 10:45 AM Opening remarks
  • Jean-Marc Pisani, Representative of the European Union
  • Dimitri Sanga, Representative of UNESCO
  • Mouhamadou Mawloud Diakhaté, Deputy Mayor of the City of Dakar for Culture
• 10:45 AM – 11:15 AM Presentation of the project: DECONFINING Arts, Culture and Policies in Europe & Africa
  • Thomas Engel, International Theatre Institute, Germany
  • Vydia Tamby, Cultural and Creative Manager, Senegal
• 11:15 AM – 12:45 PM Presentation of the tandem artistic creations within DECONFINING Arts, Culture and Policies in Europe & Africa (with Q&A)
  • Karolina Bieniek, Fundacja Art Transparent, Poland
  • Samba Yonga, Women’s History Museum, Zambia
  • Barna Petrányi, Pro Progressione, Hungary
  • Q&A session
• 12:45 – 2 PM Lunch
• 2 – 3:30 PM Presentation of mobility studies: opportunities and challenges for African artists and creative professionals
  • Barbora Novotná and Pavla Petrová, Arts and Theatre Institute, Czech Republic
  • Ukhona Ntsali Mlandu, Makwande Republic, South Africa
  • Film presentation: Stories of Visa Inequality (15’) with Kenji Maghoma, Lago Collective, UK
  • Q&A session
• 3:30 – 4:50 PM Roundtable: Mobility – a catalyst for innovation and sustainable cooperation
  • Barbora Novotná and Pavla Petrová, Arts and Theatre Institute, Czech Republic
  • Amadou Fall Ba, Impact Senegal Centre, Senegal
  • Karolina Bieniek, Fundacja Art Transparent, Poland
  • Dr. Stefanie Peter, Director Goethe-Institut Senegal
  • Kenji Maghoma, Lago Collective, UK
  
  Moderated by: Samba Yonga
• 4:50 – 5 PM Closing remarks
  • Thomas Engel, International Theatre Institute, Germany
  • Sara Božanić, Institute for Transmedia Design, Slovenia
  • Vydia Tamby, Cultural and Creative Manager, Senegal
• 5 – 6 PM Cocktails, conversation, networking and co-creation

Interested in more?

→ Find the CONFERENCE REPORT HERE ←

KEY PANELS & SPEAKERS

Opening Remarks

A cordial introduction to the conference, setting the stage for discussions on cultural mobility, policy cooperation, and artistic collaboration between Africa and Europe.

Presentation of the DECONFINING Project

An overview of the project’s mission, objectives, and expected impact on transcontinental cultural policies and mobility.

Why this project? In physics, DECONFINING describes the act of ending a period of confinement. Forty three years after MONDIACULT, the first Global Conference on Culture, the Global South still only accounted for around 5% of global trade in cultural services. So, what is this project about? Who are the partners and what is the story of the project which was first drafted at the end of 2021, when COVID had just passed its peak?

Speakers:

Thomas Engel, International Theatre Institute, Germany

Thomas Engel received his PhD in Theatre Studies from the Humboldt University in Berlin in 1988. He has worked as a dramaturg at German municipal theatres and, since 1988, as a project manager for the International Theatre Institute (ITI). From 2003 until January 2025, he was Managing Director of the German centre of the ITI and worked in various national and international networks in the field of theatre, cultural policy and the performing arts.

Vydia Tamby, Cultural and Creative Manager, Senegal

Vydia Tamby is a key figure in Senegal’s cultural scene, serving as Cultural Advisor to the Mayor of Dakar and co-founder of Éditions Vives Voix. With a background in publishing, she is committed to promoting African culture and literature while preserving Senegal’s heritage. She is a consultant in cultural project management, a founding member of the African Capitals of Culture, and Secretary-General of Africapitales. Alongside Ghaël Samb Sall, she launched the African Archives Fund to safeguard and promote African memories. With over 15 years of experience at the City of Dakar, she actively shapes cultural policies and fosters cross-disciplinary collaborations. Through her work, she strengthens cultural networks, supports artists, and contributes to the preservation of Africa’s tangible and intangible heritage.

Sara Božanić, Institute for Transmedia Design, Slovenia

Sara Božanić is a CEO of the Institute for Transmedia Design. Her wide-ranging participatory projects center on innovation, education and engagement. Ideas inhabit varied media and platforms as a vehicle for engagement, using co-production as a form of collective action that encourages diverse audiences to think critically and act creatively. In 2019, she was awarded  a prestigious SozialMarie prize for the method of participatory teaching Twisted Tales, honoring projects that provide innovative answers to urgents societal challenges In 2015 she has been chosen among 40 EU consultants who work on audience development via digital means to take part in policy debates under the project The Voice of Culture ‒ a Structured Dialogue between the European Commission and the cultural sector. In 2011, she received a Young Creative Entrepreneur Media Award by the British Council for her achievements in the development of the interactive media design sector in Slovenia.

Sara is an Expert Evaluator of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, strand Culture & Creativity.

Tandem Artistic Creations within DECONFINING (with Q&A)

A presentation of artistic collaborations fostered within the DECONFINING project, highlighting the creative exchanges and their influence on cultural dialogue.

Speakers:

Karolina Bieniek, Fundacja Art Transparent, Poland

Dr. Karolina Bieniek, ART TRANSPARENT, has over 20 years of experience in the cultural and creative sector (CCSI). She is involved in the production of numerous cultural events of national and international importance and in the management of large European projects. She uses her experience in political science as an expert in international cultural policy. Regional specialization: CEE and ACP. Thematic specialization: EU/rope – Africa, sustainable development, local community development, resilience. Since 2024, she has been a Delegate to the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum for the 2024-2026 cycle. She coordinated the regional group of the Bosch Alumni Network and is also a member of the core group of the project ‘Deconfining – Politics, Art and Culture in Africa and Europe’.

Samba Yonga, Women’s History Museum, Zambia

Samba Yonga is a communications and media specialist and founder of Zambian based Ku-Atenga Media, a company that specialises in developing bespoke communication platforms and tools with a focus for Africa. The company has consulted for international, regional and local corporate and development firms but her heart is set on using communications as a way to positively affect the collective narrative of Africa’s development in a positive and productive way. She is also co-founder of the Zambian Women’s History Museum whose mandate is to  research and restore African indigenous narratives, knowledge and ’living histories’ focused on women. She is a proud graduate of Evelyn Hone College School of Journalism and holds an MA in Transnational Communications and Global Media from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Barna Petrányi, Pro Progressione, Hungary

With an academic background in economics, Barna worked as controlling director for Sziget Ltd., the organizer of the most important outdoor festival of the region. After becoming the manager of Cie Pal Frenak, a well-known Hungarian-French choreographer’s company, he founded Pro Progressione a decade ago. The socially engaged creative hub has become the most important link between Hungarian independent art organizations and artists and international collaborations. Pro Progressione’s focus is on cooperation and collaboration between artists coming from different artistic backgrounds and having an interdisciplinary approach.
They are working with both emerging and established artists as well as small scale independent organizations and recently with bigger public institutions also, in order to foster their international relations and implement new types of contemporary artistic projects together.
Personally active in the art community, he served as board member of the Association of the Hungarian Independent Theatres and was the advisory board member of the IETM, the most important European network for the independent performing scene. Since 2019 he is the board member of MitOst e.V., one of the most important German NGO in the field of culture and civil fields

Mobility Studies: Opportunities and Challenges for African Artists and Creative Professionals

An exploration of mobility frameworks, funding opportunities, and policy barriers that affect the movement of artists and culture professionals across borders.

Speakers:

Barbora Novotná, Arts and Theatre Institute, Czech Republic

Barbora Novotná heads the Czech InfoPoint for mobility at the Arts and Theatre Institute. With her background in English Translation Studies and Theory and History of Theatre at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno, she works as a translator, researcher, and cultural manager. She gained professional experience working on various international projects in the Czech Republic and abroad. Since 2014, she has been based at the Arts and Theatre Institute, where she launched CzechMobility.Info in 2017.

Petrová Pavla, Arts and Theatre Institute, Czech Republic

Dr. Pavla Petrová is the Director of the Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague and General Director of the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space. Since 2020, she has been appointed as the Assistant Professor at the Department of Arts Management of the Prague University of Economics and Business.

With a background in economics and management, and years of working experience for large cultural institutions and projects, she is a member of different expert teams and working groups on cultural policy in the Czech Republic and abroad. She is the national author of The Czech Profile in the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe. She is also the author of several articles and book chapters on different topics related to culture and cultural policies. 

Dr. Petrová is a member of the Board of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, a member of the Czech Commission for UNESCO, and Chairwoman of the Czech Sector Skills Council.

Ukhona Ntsali Mlandu, Makwande Republic, South Africa

Ukhona Ntsali Mlandu is the director of Greatmore Studios in Cape Town and founder and head curator of makwande.republic in the Goshen Village, Eastern Cape.  She is 2021/22 Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity and was Global Cultural Relations Fellow 2021. 

Her work is interested in artist mobility and mobility justice for artists and cultural goods. Mlandu also has a special interest in the politics of public space and place-making, spatial and gender justice, heritage and memory. All her work is concerned with decoloniality and a black radical feminist position as central to transformation and imagining of justice, repair, care and equity.

She has curated a number of festivals, programmes and public art interventions including the  public art live installation #100AfricanReads.

Mlandu insists on creating work with her children and or finding spaces that are deliberate about acknowledging her role as a mother as an act of survival and resistance against an art world and world of work that invisibilises this aspects of one’s identity and the labour associated with it.

Round Table: Mobility – Catalyst for Innovation and Sustainable Cooperation

A dynamic discussion on the role of mobility in fostering artistic innovation, cross-cultural collaborations, and sustainable cultural ecosystems. The roundtable brings together cultural practitioners and policy makers from Europe and Africa to explore and present new ways of intercontinental cooperation The UNESCO 2025 Convention will be in focus. It aims to open discussion and present an overview of current initiatives and best practices in cultural cooperation, highlighting the role of civil society in implementing the UNESCO 2025 Convention recommendations.

Panelists:

Dr. Stefanie Peter, Director Goethe-Institut Senegal

Stefanie Peter is Head of Cultural Programmes South East Europe at Goethe-Institut Athen. She studied Cultural Anthropology and African Studies in Hamburg and Cracow and was awarded her PhD in Frankfurt/Oder. She has written for newspapers and magazines. Since 2007 she has worked for the Goethe-Institut in Warsaw, Novosibirsk and Munich.

Kenji Maghoma, Lago Collective, UK

Kenji Maghoma is a Senior Producer and Communications Manager at Laho Collective (UK). Kenji’s experience includes engaging leaders across various sectors on SDG progress during COP, WEF and UNGA. In addition to working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation whilst at Project Everyone, she’s held roles at NBCUniversal, Linstock, Sofar Sounds and on consulting projects with the BFI, Creative Futures and the Mayor of Kolwezi in DRC. Kenji holds an MPA in Public Management and Administration from the UCL School of Public Policy and has an interest in the cultural and creative economies. Her approach is rooted in music and storytelling; she sits on Theatre Troupe’s Board, is a DJ and a recipient of Pocc’s Artist Residency award.

ABOUT THE DECONFINING PROJECT

The DECONFINING Arts, Culture & Policies in Europe & Africa, a four-year EU-funded project, brings together cultural practitioners, artists, policymakers, and audiences from Europe and Africa.  Aiming to understand and deconstruct the multifaceted constraints (social, political, and economic) that limit cross-continental exchange, the project seeks to develop new forms of intercontinental artistic and cultural collaboration. Crucially, DECONFINING aims to enhance access and information for cross-continental mobility and co-creation.  

Drawing inspiration from the fruitful collaborations between European and African Capitals of Culture, from Lusaka to Bodø, the project transcends the historical frameworks of colonialism and paternalism. Instead, it strives for a strong participatory approach that fosters mutual understanding and shared discovery. Through the combined efforts of over 250 artists, 2,500 representatives of cultural organizations, and 400 cultural actors from more than 30 countries, DECONFINING is developing a sustainable and inclusive framework for cooperation between Europe and Africa.