African Hub for Sustainable Creative Economies (AHSCE)

The project aims to support the development of sustainable creative economies in Africa by developing valuable knowledge that can benefit creative entrepreneurs and recognise the value that academic research can bring to their sustainable development. The project builds on previous AHRC research highlighting the role that higher education institutions (HEIs) and creative intermediaries can play in developing creative economies. It puts the practice, networks and knowledge they have to support creative entrepreneurs at the core of a sustainable creative ecosystem. It aims to use new interdisciplinary modes of collaborative interaction to make a significant impact on creative entrepreneurs, creative graduates and wider communities as well as policy organisations. The project builds on equitable partnerships with three African HEIs and local creative economy project partners. It focuses on their strength, namely performing arts for the University of Lagos in Nigeria (working with Kininso Koncepts and The Crown Troupe of Africa), fashion and design for the University of Nairobi in Kenya (working with the Kenya Fashion Council) and film & digital media for the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa (working with the South African Cultural Observatory and South African Screen Federation). The project engages with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of 'decent work and economic growth, innovation' (8) but also engage with 'gender equality' (5) and 'sustainable cities and communities (11)'. It will create opportunities to think about the challenges and impacts of Covid-19 on African communities and their creativity and culture towards a sustainable future. In adopting a partnership model and promoting collaborations across the UK and Africa, as well as across African countries, the project also engages with the role of 'partnerships for the goals (17)'. The project will also be self-reflective and proactive in supporting the participation of women and young people. This will allow the diversity of the participants to also be a source of creativity and innovation. The activities of the project are centred around the development of a virtual knowledge hub that will become a point of reference for academics and practitioners. The project will emphasise the value of establishing equitable partnerships and ethical working practices across cultural, educational and societal stakeholders in these contexts. The project is divided in three phases: (1) Disseminating existing knowledge. This phase will focus on making the outputs and findings from previous AHRC-funded research Understanding and Supporting Creative Economies in Africa accessible to wider audiences, converting book chapters into a range of audio-visual formats shared via the virtual knowledge hub. (2) Developing new collaborative imagination projects with the sector. This phase will focus on developing knowledge (through interviews with creative entrepreneurs and practitioners) and supporting 30 collaborative projects between African HEI partners and their local creative economies. These will include collaborative online events and a Creative Collaboration Voucher Scheme. The researchers will follow project development and share learnings via the hub, also creating storymaps to capture the knowledge being developed. (3) Reflecting on collaborative learning and project legacy. The final phase will allow for reflection on the overall learning developed throughout the project. It will also concentrate on creating a legacy for the project by scoping the potential for a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Sustainable Creative Economies within ARUA. The main outcomes of the project will be (1) greater visibility and recognition of the work HEIs can do to support sustainable creative economies development and (2) the establishment, through the virtual knowledge hub, of a pathway for collaborative knowledge from HEIs and the sector.