The project seeks to encourage collaboration among stakeholders to develop a unified voice for the artistes and cultural producers advocating for artistic freedom in the music and film industries.
The project is spearheaded by SELAM and Team Gom Sa Bopa, which is a youth movement dedicated to raising awareness among young people through Arts.
At the ceremony, Lucy llado, regional programme Director, SELAM, which is a Pan-African cultural organisation headquartered in Sweden, emphasised the importance of arts in any progressive society.
She said in addition to building and amplifying the success of innovative industries, arts are enormous assets that provide chances to develop the economy and generate jobs.
“For the creative industry to continue to develop, we must guarantee that the environment is suitable for creatives to work in and earn. And this can only happen if they can freely engage in cultural life. ” she added.
Present at the launch were the Gambia Press Union president, Muhammed S. Bah and Madi Jobarteh, country representative, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, who urged the media to not only report on mere events of artists, but to go beyond.
They also pledged to lead the artistic freedom campaign in the country.
PANAF was established in November 2021 in response to the need for an active and inclusive regional voice in the creative sector that could raise awareness of incidents of artistic freedom violations as well as collaborate with artistic right advocates in both regional and national advocacy efforts.
