By Onyeka Ezike

It was a gathering of over 1,000 participants from across Africa and Europe as the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy and the Lagos State government, organized the second edition of Forum Creation Africa with the theme “Cultural and Creative Industry Forum,” a platform dedicated to exploring the cultural and creative industries of the African continent and its diasporas. The event was held recently at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in his virtual opening remarks, welcomed participants and highlighted France’s support for renewed engagement across Africa, emphasizing Europe’s strategic role and interest in African culture and creative industries. He focused on the continent’s young people who are actively shaping innovation and their futures.

He said, “Cultural and creative industries are the bedrock of the new partnerships we are building with our African partners. In various sectors, from film and series production to publishing, to immersive universe projects led by creators, artists, and entrepreneurs, we enable a change in the representations of Africa in France and of France in Africa. In France, this reinvented landscape is being promoted by a new generation of cultural and economic actors, partly stemming from African diasporas.”

Now, two years on, the forum faces an exciting challenge: to keep the flame of Creation Africa burning by holding a second Forum in Lagos, Nigeria. As a creative and economic hub, it showcases cultural and creative industries while furthering Nigeria’s reputation in Africa.

The Director General of MansA – Maison des Mondes Africains, Elisabeth Gomis, noted that the first edition in 2023 was a key step, as it laid the foundations for a shared process and opened up new possibilities that MansA continues to pursue.

Formed after the first forum in Paris, MansA develops an editorial and artistic vision rooted in a new dimension, one that provides increased visibility to emerging creators, encourages international collaborations, and highlights Pan-African creative power, redefining the continent’s cultural and creative industries.

She said, “The second edition of the forum in Nigeria follows the same vision but adds a new dimension, providing greater visibility to emerging creators, fostering international collaborations, and celebrating Pan-African creative power, which today is redefining cultural and creative industries.”

The program featured immersive media (XR, video games, AR, and innovations in fashion), transmedia publishing (webtoons), and audiovisual creation (TV series, VFX, sound design, and animation). Forum Creation Africa also showcased African artworks, fashion, technology, and African-centric designs that narrate the rich story of African heritage.

Among the exhibitors was Heritage in Motion, curated by Zara Odu. The exhibition explored the influence of traditional African craft on contemporary design. Heritage in Motion examines how old craft processes like weaving, dyeing, beading, stitching, and molding can be re-seen, reworked, and reinterpreted through contemporary eyes.

Among the artworks on exhibition were African fabrics such as “SUSS FABRICS Paper.” The Paper, one of humanity’s oldest mediums, is reimagined here as a system of renewal. Through the Fab2Paper project, SUSS FABRICS transforms discarded textiles into handmade sheets using fiber extraction, pulping, and sheet formation. Developed with the University of Benin’s Chemical Engineering Laboratory under Professor Andrew, the project sets an ambitious goal: to recycle over 1,000,000 tonnes of fabric into 18,000,000 sheets of paper by 2030.