New Priority for the Arts and Culture in the African Union

The year 2021 is likely to become the African Union’s first Year of Culture. During the recent 33rd Assembly of the African Union, held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), 12 heads of state were invited to act as co-champions of the cause by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Mali, who is the current African Union leader for Arts, Culture, and Heritage. They will spearhead the systematic integration of culture, arts, and heritage into the African Union’s development agenda. The arts and culture have historically been overlooked as contributors to achieving social-economic goals across the continent, but that is now changing.