François Fogel

“African Vogue”, the regional cooperation project for young audiences in West Africa presented by the ASSITEJ Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal centers, has been selected by ASSITEJ International as part of its International Regional Cooperation Program launched last November. This program “consists of a series of activities designed to develop areas of strategic importance at national and regional levels”, within the performing arts communities for children and young people. It’s an immense joy for the project’s initiators, and before us, three years of work in the service of artistic communities and children in these three countries, as well as in the associated countries of Benin, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Togo.

The aims of “African Vogue” are to strengthen the skills of professionals in the sector, and to promote distribution: to produce quality shows, and enable as many young spectators as possible to appreciate them, to bring professionals together at international festivals to share experiences and reinforce each other’s skills.

The project is divided into three phases, each culminating in a general meeting at an international festival in one of the project’s three host countries: In June 2026 at the “Djaram’art” International Puppet Festival in Senegal, in December 2026 as part of PAJE (Partages artistiques pour la jeunesse), in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and, finally, at the prestigious Marché Africain des Arts de la Scène (MASA), in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The first phase (2025 – 26) will be devoted to drawing up common specifications for the creation of a show for each country, a “ Cookbook ”, meeting the criteria identified during the preparatory work:

• Creativity and high artistic quality;
• Free artistic form (discipline) and audience (age range) according to each partner’s priorities;
• Budget adapted to resources;
• “All-terrain” shows, designed for mobility;
• Sustainability and low ecological impact;
• Involvement of the national artistic community and training of young practitioners.

Drafting of the Recipe Book will be accompanied by an assessment of needs and opportunities in each country, and the definition of a professional training plan covering all the chain’s professions: Dramaturgy, Production, Administration, Diffusion, Mediation, Advocacy.

During this period, a systematic search will be made for funding to supplement the ASSITEJ grant.

The second phase (2026 – 27) will involve production of the shows and implementation of the training plan. The latter will be based primarily on exchanges of knowledge across the sub-region, including associated countries and structures, during creative residencies, seminars and specialized training courses.

Communication will also be encouraged, through public presentations of current creations, awareness-raising campaigns aimed at institutions and the media, and applications to international festivals.

The final phase (2027 – 28) will focus on the circulation of works created as part of “Vogue Africaine”. This will include local and, as far as possible, international tours, and the organization of a special event for young audiences at MASA, around the presentation of the shows. Sharing experience and making information available, particularly to artistic communities in low-income countries in ASSITEJ networks, will be the main objectives of the project evaluation.

Equality between women and men, and between girls and boys, is a cross-cutting priority of the project, to which each of its actions must respond.

Starting in September 2025, “Vogue Africaine” will be run in close collaboration with the ASSITEJ Executive Committee and its networks.

Through this work, we hope to develop recognition of the social and economic potential of creation for young audiences, and of the fundamental rights of children to enjoy art and cultural life. Beyond the sub-region, we hope to finally inscribe the creativity and aesthetic richness of West Africa and its artists in the networks of global young audiences.

This program is co-financed by the European Union