MARSEILLE DECLARATION by ACYTA

22 Apr 2025

Embracing UBUNTU

Since the 2024 Cuba Statement, efforts to revive and renew ACYTA have led to the formation of a new committee with language, regional, and gender-sensitive representation. To ensure inclusivity, representatives from Southern, Western, and Eastern Africa were included, covering French, Portuguese, and English language speakers. From March 24 to 29, 2025, an ASSITEJ Artistic Encounter was held in Marseille, France, under the theme Bright Generations, Générations Lumineuses.

At this event, approximately 21 of the 800 participants represented ASSITEJ centres in Africa, including ASSITEJ Nigeria, ASSITEJ Rwanda, ASSITEJ Democratic Republic of Congo, ASSITEJ South Africa, ASSITEJ Ghana, ASSITEJ Burkina Faso, ASSITEJ Mozambique, ASSITEJ Cameroon, and ASSITEJ Burundi.

The concept of The delegation in Marseille, adapted from Cuba, was officially adopted. This concept acknowledged and celebrated the presence of African delegates at the ASSITEJ Artistic Encounter, hosted by ASSITEJ France and Théâtre Massalia.

Also at the the Congress, ACYTA held two well attended sessions on March 26, where it discussed most of the issues presented here, and another session with participation from many of the international delegates, where ACYTA members share their forthcoming projects and ideas, for the possibilities of connection/collaboration from the international communities present.

The following statement reflects the deliberations and lived experiences during the event:

•⁠ ⁠Acknowledged the existence of three proposals for the Regional Cooperation Program from Africa and pledged that, regardless of the selection outcome, applicants must seek alternative ways to realize their project visions. They committed to incorporating others in the implementation process and exploring sustainable funding strategies.

•⁠ ⁠Planned to actively participate in festivals hosted across Africa and proposed compiling a comprehensive list of such festivals to enhance exposure for members.

•⁠ ⁠Resolved to ensure the timely payment of national centre membership fees to ASSITEJ International (currently set at €150).

•⁠ ⁠Emphasized the importance of using language as a unifying factor rather than a divisive one. Where necessary, they agreed to arrange meetings with translation or interpretation support to bridge language barriers.

•⁠ ⁠Committed to making a concerted effort to invite French-speaking members to discussions aimed at advancing the ideals of ACYTA and ASSITEJ International.

•⁠ ⁠Stressed the need to improve communication within ACYTA leadership and membership.

•⁠ ⁠Agreed to leverage the commissioned ASSITEJ International research to identify and capitalize on centre-specific opportunities.

•⁠ ⁠Committed to exploring collaborations between Africa and the rest of the world and encouraged other national centres to contribute ideas around how they can connect to Africa;
•⁠ ⁠⁠Explored how to work together more effectively as regional networks, networking with, for example, Iberoamerican-America, the Nordic Baltic network and others;
•⁠ ⁠Pledged to contribute articles to the ACYTA and ASSITEJ International newsletters to enhance visibility and knowledge-sharing. As an immediate action, it was agreed that Dr. Ekua Ekumah of ASSITEJ Ghana and Yuck Miranda of ASSITEJ Mozambique would submit an article on or before April 4, 2025.

Finally, the newest National Centre in Africa, ASSITEJ Ghana, was warmly welcomed into the network.

NOTE: ACYTA (the African Children and Youth Theatre Arena) is the regional network of ASSITEJ centres in Africa. This statement is shared on behalf of the ACYTA network.