Connect & Create – Africa-Europe Cultural Cooperation

The Connect & Create – Africa-Europe Cultural Cooperation project is part of the “Africa-Europe Partnerships for Culture” programme, funded by the European Union. The initiative seeks to strengthen cultural exchanges between the two continents, promote the mobility of artists and cultural professionals, and support the development of sustainable collaboration in the cultural and creative sectors.

Within this programme, the Goethe Institute manages the activities dedicated to sub-Saharan Africa. Expertise France and the Institut Français are jointly implementing Connect & Create. This component is dedicated to the performing arts and music sector and targets artists, cultural operators and performing arts professionals from 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the 27 Member States of the European Union.

Expertise France and the Institut Français are steering the actions dedicated to professional mobility, artistic cooperation and the circulation of productions in the performing arts sector.

The project covers all performing arts disciplines including theatre, dance, music, street arts, circus arts, puppetry, performance and interdisciplinary forms.

Between 2025 and 2028, the project is helping to develop long-term partnerships between African and European actors in order to:

• promote artistic co-creation and co-production;
• strengthen professional exchanges between the two continents;
• support the dissemination of African productions to new audiences;
• professionalise intermediary actors in the cultural sector.

The programme first of all supports cooperation projects carried out by tandems composed of a sub-Saharan African organisation and a European organisation. These partnerships take the form of artistic residencies, co-creation projects, co-production, or training actions.

The project also provides support for organising professional meetings and for facilitating the participation of delegations in markets, festivals, fairs, and conventions with an international dimension. Promotion of such mobility strengthens exchanges among performing arts professionals and fosters the emergence of new collaborations.

The project also has a component to promote foreign tours and diffusion of African artistic productions in Africa and Europe. This increases their visibility and their access to new audiences.

Connect & Create also includes a capacity-building programme for cultural intermediaries who play a key role in developing artistic careers and structuring performing arts sectors.

This programme is intended especially for producers; managers; artist, tour, and booking agents; and distribution managers based in sub-Saharan Africa. The participants of this collective training and support programme will improve their skills in project development, international cooperation, dissemination, and access to cultural markets.

The objective is to support the emergence of actors capable of sustainably supporting African artists in their professional development and their international reach.

By encouraging exchanges, cooperation, and skills development, Connect & Create helps strengthen cultural relations between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

The project will make it possible to:

• develop new artistic and professional partnerships;
• promote the circulation of productions and artists;
• consolidate cooperation networks between cultural actors on both continents.

It will also help improve the visibility of African creations on national and international stages and to support the structuring of performing arts ecosystems.

Through this process, Connect & Create helps build a shared space for dialogue, innovation, and creation between Africa and Europe.