Aduna means ‘world’ in several West African languages and is derived from the Arabic ‘Al-Dunya’
Aduna is an exciting new organisation that seeks to promote Africa’s vibrant and dynamic cultures to audiences in the UK.
We use the performing and visual arts from Africa and her diaspora communities as a way to get people thinking, talking, interacting, and learning about the continent.
Festival in the Desert Aims
# To educate the public and particularly young people about Africa and its cultures
# To encourage ‘north’ – ‘south’ exchange and understanding
# To enhance diversity and cross-cultural understanding within the UK
# To build capacity and encourage fair trade in cultural resources and the arts
Aduna’s founders are Sarah Castle and Dudu Sarr whose combined backgrounds in development and Sarah Castle the arts give them unrivalled opportunities and contacts.
Sarah has had 18 years experience of working in Mali, West Africa doing public health research. However, in 2003 she founded Friends of Mali-UK (www.friendsofmali-uk.org) which works closely with Mali’s Ministry of Culture to promote Malian arts in Great Britain. In this capacity Sarah organises dance evenings, festivals, seminars and film-screenings – all this became so much fun that the day job in health had to go and she now works full-time at Aduna to promote pan-African culture. Sarah believes strongly in the importance of exposing young people to the array of cultural wealth in Africa in order to promote cross-cultural understanding and collaboration.
Dudu Sarr Dudu (who originates from Senegal but who lives in the UK) has had 17 years’ experience as a French teacher in UK schools but is also very active in the promotion of African culture. He also has unique insights into issues related to capacity building in the arts. Dudu regularly features on the DJ circuit in London in exclusive venues such as Momos and in 2005 fronted the Africa Music Festival at London’s Royal Festival Hall. He was recently to be found in a pod of the British Airways London Eye DJing for Café Direct to promote the rights of Africa’s coffee growers. Dudu co-curated the juke box that accompanied the highly successful Africa Remix exhibition at the Hayward Gallery which featured the finest of the continent’s contemporary artists as part of the Africa 05 initiative. Dudu has worked extensively on fair trade and management issues in the arts and has first hand experience of import/export issues around handicrafts. He runs workshops on rights and representation for African artists and is actively involved in music promotion.
Ibrahima Bob
Aduna in Africa
Aduna’s representative in Dakar, Senegal is Ibrahima Bob
Ibrahima is in charge of the small grants programme at the British Embassy in Dakar. He is a specialist in information technology and was formerly involved in many health promotion and HIV prevention projects aimed at young people that used culture and the arts as a means to promoting knowledge and awareness. Ibrahima is keen that young people in Africa and the UK be involved in collaborative arts’ activities that facilitate cross-cultural understanding
Violet Diallo
Aduna’s representative in Bamako, Mali is Violet Diallo
Violet runs the Groupe Appui aux Projets (GAP) and provides technical assistance for NGOs and institutions in terms of organising meetings and conferences, research and evaluation and interpreting. Violet knows Bamako’s music scene well and has close links with many of Mali’s major artists. She is also involved with Aduna’s partner institution, the Balla Fassake Kouyate Modern Arts Conservatory.