Bridging continents through culture: an interview with Vydia Tamby

Culture is not just an expression of identity—it is a powerful tool for development, dialogue, and transformation. Few understand this better than Vydia Tamby, a key figure in Senegal’s cultural landscape and a driving force behind initiatives that bridge Africa and Europe through arts and policy. As Cultural Advisor to the Mayor of Dakar and co-founder of Éditions Vives Voix, she has dedicated her career to advocating for culture as a pillar of sustainable development.

In this conversation, she shares insights from her years shaping cultural policy in Dakar, her work with the African Capitals of Culture, and her vision for fostering equitable international collaborations. She also discusses the upcoming Beyond Horizon conference, an event dedicated to rethinking Africa-Europe cultural relations and strengthening the role of culture in policymaking.

• Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what inspired you to become involved in cultural policy making and international cultural exchange, particularly in Dakar?

My commitment to culture in Dakar has been forged over fifteen years of service to the Mayor, first as a personal assistant, then as a cultural advisor. This experience, coupled with my work as a publisher at Éditions Vives Voix and my collaboration with the African Archives Fund, has solidified my deep conviction that culture must be a pillar of development, not a mere annex. It’s time to give it the place it rightfully deserves, to break down the barriers within cultural policies for a sustainable and lasting development of our territories.

• As a cultural advisor to the mayor of Dakar, can you describe your role and key contributions to the city's cultural policy development? How can cities better integrate culture into their development efforts for the benefit of intercontinental relations?

My role as cultural advisor involved defining and implementing Dakar’s cultural policy. This task demands a constant struggle to have culture recognized as a political priority, rather than a simple addition to more immediate concerns. It’s imperative to go beyond the mere rhetoric of “creative industries,” particularly relevant in Africa where economic realities are often closer to craft and local economies. The 2005 UNESCO Convention offers an important framework for cooperation, which it’s crucial to implement and deepen.

• What strategies or initiatives have you implemented in Dakar to strengthen the cultural sector and promote local artistic expressions, and how have these initiatives impacted the city's residents and cultural identity?

To fully integrate culture into development, we must invest in training and professionalizing the creative sectors, build a cultural policy of resistance to social and digital challenges, and value African knowledge, know-how, and heritage. It is essential to rethink funding models to build truly equitable partnerships and to use data to demonstrate the economic impact of culture. International networks and access to cultural archives are essential levers for sustainable policies and fairer narratives. The emergence of African artists exploring innovative paths, such as “new materialism,” offers us creative solutions, and it is our duty to support and disseminate them. It’s not about opposing the local and the global, but about harmoniously articulating them.

• Could you share a specific example of a successful cultural initiative or project you've been involved in that contributed to more equitable and just cultural relations? What principles or values should guide international cultural collaborations to ensure fairness and mutual benefit?

The Dakar Urban Culture House perfectly illustrates this integrated approach, combining training, production, and distribution, and managed by local actors themselves. This success and this inclusive vision of cultural policies, empowering the actors themselves, demonstrates the value of equitable partnership and respect for all cultural specificities. For international collaborations, we need the same demand for equity and mutual benefit, going beyond assistance to build exchanges based on cooperation and respect. The goal is to create a constructive and enriching dialogue between Africa and Europe, based on mutual recognition and the sharing of knowledge.

• In your role as a founding member of the African Capitals of Culture, how do you see ACoC fostering stronger cultural ties between Africa and Europe, as well as promoting diversity and inclusion in the arts and culture?

As a founding member of the African Capitals of Culture (ACC), I see this network as a powerful lever for strengthening cultural ties between Africa and Europe, promoting diversity and inclusion in the arts. It’s not just about celebrating African cultures, but about engaging them in dialogue with the world, fostering truly egalitarian and enriching exchanges. It’s also about working on endogenous development of our territories, with creative sectors serving as powerful levers to develop our cities in a sustainable, lasting, and diversely valuable way.
Our objectives are multiple and aim to achieve a vision that is both ambitious and concrete:

Celebrating Diversity: Highlighting the richness and plurality of African cultural expressions, going beyond clichés and stereotypical representations. It’s not a mere folkloric celebration but a true exploration of the continent’s multiple and dynamic identities.

Strengthening Capacities: Supporting cities in implementing territorial cultural policies, providing them with the tools and resources to develop their own projects and integrate culture into their sustainable development strategies, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Fostering Collaboration: Facilitating networking among African cultural and creative actors to build a strong continental market open to the international arena. This requires breaking with traditional cooperation methods and creating truly egalitarian collaborative spaces.

Promoting Cooperation: Strengthening understanding and cooperation between African cities and countries, as well as with international partners. Africa shouldn’t be passive, but an active player in its own cultural dialogues.

Enlivening the Shared Space: Activating heritage, stimulating creation, and confronting imaginations to create a more vibrant dialogue and a more inclusive future.

• What strategies are being employed to achieve these goals, and can you share any notable outcomes or initiatives?

The strategies implemented are based on partnership, support for creation and innovation, training, networking, and dialogue with European actors. We are actively working towards mutual recognition and the development of fruitful cultural exchange. We must concretely demonstrate that these exchanges are drivers of development and constitute a force for building a common future, both local and global. We measure our successes by the concrete impact of our actions on territories, by the active participation of communities, and by the international recognition of the richness of African cultural expressions.

• Finally, you and the Institute for Transmedia design are organizing an event in April titled “Beyond the horizon”. Could you share the primary objectives and themes of the event? What outcomes do you wish to see from the event?

We are organizing a high-level meeting in Dakar, with my colleague Sara Božanić from Slovenia, on April 10, 2025, under the evocative title “BEYOND HORIZONS.” This event marks the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and will allow us to reiterate the crucial importance of its Article 16.

This is a unique opportunity to bring together African and European cultural actors around a common goal: making culture an essential lever for the policies of tomorrow. “BEYOND HORIZONS” suggests precisely this ambition to transcend borders, both geographical and ideological, to build a fruitful and equitable dialogue between continents. We aim to build. This meeting will be an opportunity to create a strong network dedicated to promoting culture as a driver of development, cooperation, and inclusion. We want to work together to build concrete strategies to strengthen exchanges and promote equitable access to the creation, production, and distribution of cultural works. The event is in line with our commitment to a truly partner-based and respectful cooperation, a partnership that places African creativity and cultures at the heart of building a fairer and more equitable future for all.

About Vydia Tamby

Vydia Tamby is an influential figure on the Senegalese cultural scene, cultural advisor to the Mayor of Dakar, and as editor of Éditions Vives Voix editor of Éditions Vives Voix, a publishing house she co-founded in 2009 with Ghaël Samb Sall.

With an advanced degree in publishing from France, she is committed to promoting African culture and literature through publications that combine aesthetics and literary literary quality, as evidenced by their catalog. Under her leadership, Vives Voix strives to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of Senegal and the African continent, offering a platform for artists and authors to create collective creations. Vydia Tamby is also a consultant in cultural project engineering and a founding member of the Capitales Africaines de la Culture, as well as Secretary General of Africapitales. In response to the urgent need to preserve African memories memories, under the impetus of Ghaël Samb Sall, they set up the Fonds d’archives africains the African Archives Fund for the Safeguarding of Memories, dedicated to preserving and tangible and intangible African heritage.

Through her actions, Vydia Tamby makes a significant contribution to cultural and archiving of knowledge in Africa, building bridges between generations and generations and artistic disciplines, and her experience of over 15 years with the experience with the City of Dakar, actively contributes to the redefinition cultural policies and their implementation.