There’s about to be some more African poetic radioactivity on the interweb!
Per a press release sent to #enthuse, two Zimbabwean performance art nurturers and promoters Page Poetry Alive and The Afro Playlist are unveiling The AfroCreatives Radio, a seasonal podcast that travels through Africa using dialogue driven by creative arts to create a more connected and collaborative continent.
The podcast, we are informed, was conceived following the shutting down of national borders and increased travel restrictions due to the COVID pandemic. The show-makers say it has become imperative for creative connections to take the digital route.
Thus, The AfroCreatives Radio podcast travels through the continent, encouraging and building a community of people who come together around shared values such as passion for the creative sector, productivity and social responsibility.
“It utilizes the African culture of oral tradition that has been passed down from fireplace to fireplace on the digital space – using it to explore African ideas, identities, people and places through storytelling and creative arts,” says AfroCreatives Project Media Liason Peggie Shangwa.
Peggie (Umind?!) cohosts the podcast with Morset Billie, Black Pearl and Karma Bradley.
The first episode of the podcast debuts on the 29th of July 2021 via an Instagram Live session on the @theafrocreativesradio page at 19:00hrs CAT.
The first season is a five-episode series, themed, “Travelling through Africa in a Pandemic,” and each episode will have a specific topic inspired by the invited guest’s work.
The Zimbabwe German Society/Goethe Zentrum Harare and Stimulus Africa Das Kollektiv Project are supporting the pilot season.
About Page Poetry Alive
Page Poetry Alive (PPA) collective works with storytellers, Page Poets and Spoken word Artists – supported by other art forms – and focuses on Youth development in Performance art. The collective fosters the economic growth of artists by making sure that they are remunerated for their work and that they develop self-sustainable brands. That way, art becomes a viable business for each of them.
PPA believe that every person has a story to tell and that every story has a contribution towards changing the world for the better. Through the creation of dialogue around poems shared with the audience at each event, they give these stories a voice. The collective is unique in that it appeals to different generations and encourages meaningful discussion across the youth sector that allows for an exchange of ideas and facilitates cross-pollination of skills.
About The Afro Playlist
The Afro Playlist is an event that explores people, spaces and ideas through poetry, music and conversations. At each event, invited artists present their thoughts, questions, problems and ideas through performances and exhibitions that ultimately lead to unfettered conversations with the audience. The aim is to offer a space for honest reflection, self-expression and introspection that provokes the realities of life to find healing, strength and motivation.
Conversations connect people, and music and poetry are great cushions for conversation, therefore The Afro Playlist use these cushions to have difficult conversations about social change.
