The African Performing Arts Market project (MASA) was set up in Liège in 1990, on the initiative of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF).
MASA is a cultural development programme dedicated to the African performing arts. It consists of a market, a festival and a forum for performing arts professionals. In addition to these activities, training programmes have been developed, linked to the development of the performing arts disciplines.
The first edition of MASA was held (...)
The African Performing Arts Market project (MASA) was set up in Liège in 1990, on the initiative of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF).
MASA is a cultural development programme dedicated to the African performing arts. It consists of a market, a festival and a forum for performing arts professionals. In addition to these activities, training programmes have been developed, linked to the development of the performing arts disciplines.
The first edition of MASA was held in March 1993 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. After a seven-year break between 2002 and 2011 due to the troubled sociopolitical context in Côte d’Ivoire, the festival reopened in 2014.
This year, the ninth edition confirms the event’s return to a regular two-year cycle, and the inclusion of new disciplines. As well as the classical disciplines of music, drama and dance, MASA 2016 also gives pride of place to storytelling, humour, fashion and street art.
Yacouba Konaté
The Director-General of the African Performing Arts Market (MASA), Yacouba Konaté, is a Professor of Philosophy at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Cocody, Abidjan. He was President of the International Association of Art Critics (2009-2011) and Commissioner-General of the Dakar Biennale in 2006. He has been a visiting professor at several universities and research centres in Africa, Europe and the United States, and is the author of several books and articles on African culture and politics.
