London, England Sep 25, 2020 (Issuewire.com) - Come summer 2021, the United Kingdom will play host to the very first Africa Heritage International Festival (AHIF) - a three-day international event aimed at celebrating the African culture and heritage around the world, with a focus on attracting sustainable development to Africa.
In collaboration with several international organizations, the event is organized by Africa Heritage International (AHI), an African but UK Head Quartered global social enterprise promoting the African culture and black heritage in the diaspora. AHI is an international movement that promotes, preserves, and supports the African culture and people, with the aim of attracting sustainable development to Africa.
The events planned around the festival will assemble and connect black people and friends of Africa from around the world to celebrate the beauty and the emerging future of Africa. The three-day festival features three major events; namely, The Africa Forward Conference, Africa Heritage International Awards (Bantoo Awards), and an open-air international African Heritage Festival.
The day one event (Africa Forward Conference) will assemble stakeholders and thought-leaders from around the globe to share ideas and innovations about building the Africa of our dream in front of a globally selected audience. Speakers and panelists will include; renowned heads of government and governmental agencies, African civil societies in the diaspora, key policymakers from African countries, African country ambassadors to the UK, African Union (AU) delegates, young African thought-leaders, successful African entrepreneurs, innovators, and changemakers. The conference hopes to host a minimum of 1000 participants, comprising of interested individuals, corporate representatives and media organizations from across the globe.
The second-day event (Bantoo Awards) is an award and gala night organized to honor Africans around the world who are significantly contributing to development in Africa and promoting the African cause on the international scene. This will be an incredible opportunity to reward and honor Africans who are doing amazing works and making Africa proud globally.
And on the last day, there will be an open-air festival celebrating the rich African culture and arts. Highlights will include; performances from renowned African troupes, arts and culture exhibitions, food and drink exhibitions, parades, networking, etc.
Event organizers are expecting visitors to experience a rare display of the beauty and splendor of Africa. From the sounds of the drums to the taste of African delicacies and sights of breath-taking arts and crafts, you will feel the magic from the land of the rising sun.
Why this festival?
Africa is the world’s second-largest continent by both land area and population. Stretched across 30.3 million km2 of land, Africa is home to 1.2 Billion people and has a GDP of $2.45 trillion (2019).
Yet millions of people around the world today still think of the whole of Africa as one dark, tiny country, with people living in mud houses and walking around naked. When many hear “Africa”, they think elephants and lions, diseases and desolation, corruption, and extreme poverty. Some of these might be true, but that is NOT the entire, authentic African story. There’s unfathomable beauty in Africa, and its people are some of the world’s most amazing!
This misrepresentation will continue as long as the world relies on propagandists’ media and machinery to tell the African story and share their “African experience” of Africa. It has never been a complete story. It has never been the whole truth!
Despite all her challenges, there is beauty in Africa. There is immense, unquantifiable potential in Africa! This is the essence of the Festival – to project the true image and potential of the African continent and attract the much-needed global partnerships into it, and in the end, foster sustainable development across all key sectors in the continent.
According to the Festival’s founder, Akapo Emmanuel, “this annual event doesn’t just offer us a magnificent opportunity to celebrate Africa, it also gives us a rare opportunity to throw the spotlight on Africa as a destination, thereby drawing the needed attention that will attract sustainable collaborations and development to Africa. Africa Heritage International Festival gives us a genuine platform to tell the authentic African story and reveal unknown Africa to the world.”
Amidst so much color and glamour, Africa Heritage International Festival promises to bring African development issues to the foreground, honor change agents and inspire change, and showcase the arts and culture of Africa in its finest beauty and splendor.
The Festival will hold from 5 – 7 of August 2021. Full details will be announced on the event website (www.africaheritage.org) in due course. Contact organizers on info@africaheritage.org.
Media Contact
Africa Heritage International info@africaheritage.org http://www.africaheritage.org
