In order to foster dialogue about the ties between cultural cosmopolitanism and environmental sustainability among the diverse cultural communities of East Africa, Naam festival hosted a forum and music mini festival with The Nile Project at Kuona Trust that revolved around various themes pertaining to cultural development and environmental sustainability. This event was be a collaborative project that was mediated by Roots International. The event included an afternoon forum of invited participants, followed by an open community event and mini-Nile Day festival of musical performances that was free for the public to attend on 22nd February 2014. By bringing a diverse assortment of participants together, we aim to create a dynamic atmosphere for open dialogue about culture, music, and environmental and social change. The discussions drew upon this collective experience while involving outside perspectives to ensure productive discussions that may bring about innovative solutions for new ways in which arts & culture can serve as a vehicle for environmental sustainability and social change.
The list of invited guests for the forum included cultural attachés from international embassies, as well as culture workers, event promoters, University professors, and specialists on natural resource management, as well as innovative artists and tradition bearers. The future of a more sustainable Nile basin will necessitate increased trans-border dialogue in multiple sectors, and we hope to discover more about how cultural collaborations can serve to strengthen trans-border dialogue in social and environmental sectors.
In order to celebrate the shared natural wealth of the Nile basin in East Africa, we marked Nile Day (February 22) with festivities involving musicians and artists from many diverse traditions of East Africa. The musical performances served to present new innovative processes of cultural collaboration that we hope will reflect the future of political processes and social dialogue regarding a more sustainable shared ecology in the Nile countries.