Regional Creative Hubs: Tapping into the Power of Arts and Culture to Embolden Citizen Action against Corruption is an extraordinary partnership between the Center for Artistic Activism and Open Society Foundations to counter corruption through creative activism.
Over three years in seven countries throughout West Africa and the Western Balkans, we trained and mentored dozens of artists, activists and investigative journalists. These amazing practitioners went on to conduct their own creative activism trainings, and implemented a range of innovative projects from radio plays in the rural areas of Senegal, to airplane antics above the capital of North Macedonia.
Scroll down to learn more about this project, in English and French.
Ebook:
Creating Change
A beautiful ebook โ in English and French โ about this project and creative approaches against corruption in West Africa and the Western Balkans, chock full of stories, profiles of courageous activists, and incredible photos of surprising and innovative interventions in seven countries.
VIDEO:
CreACT: Creative Approaches to Act Against Corruption in Western Balkans and West Africa
This short documentary follows some of the amazing artists, activists, and investigative journalists at the heart of the Regional Creative Hubs project. We also have a short trailer.
About Regional Creative Hubs
Regional Creative Hubs: Tapping into the Power of Arts and Culture to Embolden Citizen Action against Corruption took place between 2019 through 2022, in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ghana, Guinea, North Macedonia, Senegal, and Serbia.
It was a joint initiative implemented by Open Society Initiative for West Africa, Foundation Open Society – Macedonia, Open Society Foundation Albania, Open Society Foundation Serbia, and Open Society Fund Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the Open Society Foundationsโ Culture and Art Program, Economic Justice Program, and Strategy Unit Lab, and in partnership with the Center for Artistic Activism, New York City, La Muse, Conakry, and Center for Contemporary Arts, Skopje.
ABOUT REGIONAL CREATIVE HUBS AND OUR GOALS
Regional Creative Hubs was an anti-corruption project bringing together artists, journalists and anti-corruption advocates in creating bold, innovative approaches to fight corruption. The project spanned two regions where corruption is pervasive โ the Western Balkans and West Africa โ and created opportunities to learn across both regions. The program included participants from Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
Participants received training in creative activism methods, implemented public actions, built and trained their own cohorts of creative activists from their communities, and implemented additional public actions. Creative activism is grounded in the unique political and cultural contexts where activists are seeking to generate both emotional affect and political effect. As stated by the founders of the Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), a key partner in this work, creative activism is a practice aimed at generating AEffect: emotionally resonant experiences that lead to measurable shifts in power. Most importantly, it has potential to energize people and organizations and to stimulate a culture of creativity.
Our specific goals in this initiative were to:
- Create a platform for artists, activists, and journalists to learn and apply creative activism skills while building regional networks for continued collaboration
- Provoke broad public interest and action against corruption by intentionally using symbols, signs, and stories that resonate deeply in their local context
- Open space for experimentation, rigorous testing, and learning about innovative models to challenge social issues like entrenched corruption
Regional Creative Hubs was initiated by the Open Society Foundations (OSF) as part of its global effort to combat corruption. OSF staff from the Western Balkans and West Africa have been, for the past few years, developing creative, culture-based advocacy initiatives to address social and political issues. OSF worked alongside the Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), a group which has been working with OSF grantees and staff since 2010, to design the two-year program. Two regionally based creative activism organizations, the Contemporary Art Center (CAC) in North Macedonia and La Muse in Guinea, served as mentors throughout the initiative. The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) led the strategy and implementation in West Africa, and implementation in the Western Balkans was led by the national foundations in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
AU SUJET DES CENTRES CRรATIFS RรGIONAUX ET DE NOS OBJECTIFS
Centres crรฉatifs rรฉgionaux (Regional Creative Hubs) reprรฉsente un projet dโanti-corruption qui rรฉunit des artistes, des journalistes et des dรฉfenseurs de la lutte contre la corruption afin de crรฉer des approches audacieuses et innovantes pour lutter contre la corruption. Le projet concerne deux rรฉgions oรน la corruption est omniprรฉsente – les Balkans occidentaux et l’Afrique de l’Ouest – et crรฉe des opportunitรฉs d’apprentissage dans les deux rรฉgions. Le programme comprenait des participants du Ghana, de Guinรฉe, du Sรฉnรฉgal, d’Albanie, de Bosnie-Herzรฉgovine, de Macรฉdoine du Nord et de Serbie.
Les participants ont suivi une formation sur les mรฉthodes d’activisme crรฉatif, ils ont rรฉalisรฉ des actions publiques, et ils ont รฉgalement construit et formรฉ de propres groupes d’activistes crรฉatifs provenant de leurs communautรฉs et mis en ลuvre des actions publiques supplรฉmentaires. L’activisme crรฉatif est ancrรฉ dans les contextes politiques et culturels uniques oรน les militants cherchent ร gรฉnรฉrer ร la fois un effet รฉmotionnel et un effet politique. Comme l’ont dรฉclarรฉ les fondateurs du Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), partenaire clรฉ de ce travail, l’activisme crรฉatif est une pratique visant ร gรฉnรฉrer un AEffect : des expรฉriences รฉmotionnellement rรฉsonantes qui conduisent ร des changements de pouvoir mesurables. Et ce qui est le plus important cโest quโil a le potentiel de dynamiser les personnes et les organisations et de stimuler une culture de crรฉativitรฉ.
Nos objectifs spรฉcifiques dans cette initiative sont de:
- Crรฉer une plate-forme pour les artistes, les militants et les journalistes pour apprendre et appliquer des compรฉtences d’activisme crรฉatif lors de crรฉation des rรฉseaux rรฉgionaux pour une collaboration continue
- Provoquer un large intรฉrรชt public et des actions contre la corruption en utilisant intentionnellement des symboles, des signes et des histoires qui rรฉsonnent profondรฉment dans leur contexte local
- Ouverture dโun espace pour l’expรฉrimentation, les tests rigoureux et l’apprentissage de modรจles innovants pour dรฉfier les problรจmes sociaux comme la corruption enracinรฉe
Centres crรฉatifs rรฉgionaux (Regional Creative Hubs) a รฉtรฉ lancรฉ par l’Open Society Foundations (OSF) dans le cadre de son effort mondial de lutte contre la corruption. Le personnel employรฉ dans l’OSF des Balkans occidentaux et d’Afrique de l’Ouest a dรฉveloppรฉ, au cours des derniรจres annรฉes, des initiatives de plaidoyer crรฉatives et basรฉes sur la culture pour aborder les problรจmes sociaux et politiques. OSF a travaillรฉ en collaboration avec le Centre dโactivisme artistique (Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), un groupe qui travaille avec les bรฉnรฉficiaires de subventions et le personnel de l’OSF depuis 2010, pour concevoir le programme de deux ans. Deux organisations rรฉgionales d’activisme crรฉatif, le Centre d’art contemporain (CAC) en Macรฉdoine du Nord et La Muse en Guinรฉe, ont servi de mentors tout au long de l’initiative. L’Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) a gรฉrรฉ la stratรฉgie et la mise en ลuvre en Afrique de l’Ouest, et la mise en ลuvre dans les Balkans occidentaux a รฉtรฉ dirigรฉe par les fondations nationales d’Albanie, de Bosnie-Herzรฉgovine, de Macรฉdoine du Nord et de Serbie.