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FESTIVAL : "WAVES OF FREEDOM - ONDES DE LIBERTE"

For more information, please, contact:

Secretariat of the festival "Waves of Freedom"

BP E 378 - Bamako - Mali - West Africa
Tel : + 223 - 23 13 96
Fax: + 223 - 23 48 97

Email :     batoure@panos.panos.ml
                acba@anten.panos.m
                johan@bds.panos.ml


INTRODUCTION

The festival "Waves of Freedom" will take place in Bamako, Mali on the
19th, 20th and 21th of June 1997.

The name of this event reveals the spirit and the principles which the
festival wants to promote. Waves of Freedom wants to give testimony to
the deep changes in the radio-scene of West-Africa, the birth of
independant radios, greater autonomy and a change of tone in
state-radios, renewed functions and statutes for both. But the
festival also wishes to be a participant in the search for better
communication with which the audio-visual media of West-Africa, in
particular the radios, are concerned. As beacons of the democratic
process, which began in the early nineties, these new or renewe'd
radios play a decisive role in the ancring of democracy within the
population.

At the same time, these radios take an important function of
conservation and being a sort of cultural laboratory. This contributes
to safeguarding and perpetuating the cultural wealth of West-African
societies by the reorientation of traditional literary genres and of
original forms of expression. In this way the radio give testimony to
a social and cultural creativity which makes them discoverers of a new
oral tradition.

HISTORY

The idea of a festival was born on the occasion of a conference on
"radio-pluralism in West-Africa", organised by the UJAO (l'Union des
Journalistes de l'Afrique de l'Ouest) and the Panos Institute in
Bamako (14th - 18th of september 1993).

In a remarkable speech at the formal opening of the conference, Mr.
Alpha Oumar Konar=E9, President of the Republic of Mali, expressed his
wish to set up a festival of African broadcasting, which would carry
the name "Waves of Freedom". The participants of the conference
embraced the proposition and entrusted the Panos Institute -in
collaboration with the malian authorities- with carrying out the idea
and with studying the modes of elaboration.

Since then an active collaboration was set up between the Malian
department of Culture and Communication, the URTEL and the Panos
Institute with the aim of giving life to this festival.


ORGANISORS

Apart from the Malian government, URTEL and the Panos Institute, other
partners have played a decisive role in the preparation, organisation
and presentation of the festival. We name among others:

- URTNA (Union des Radiodiffusions et T=E9l=E9visions Nationales
d'Afrique), with the help of the CIERRO (Centre Interafricain d'Etudes
en Radio Rurale de Ouagadougou).

- ACCT (Agence de Coop=E9ration Culturelle et Technique).

- WAIBA (West-African Independent Broadcasting Association).

- CNRL (Conf=E9deration Nationale des Radios Libres), from France.



GOALS

The general aim of the festival is the celebration of radio-pluralism:

- to enrich the diversity of the interafrican media-scene.

- to consolidate and to extend the freedom of expression.

- to improve the creativity of African radios.

More specificly, the festival "Waves of Freedom" provides a moment and
a place for:

- a better acquaintance between broadcasters on a West-African scale
and an exchange of their experiences and in particular of their
innovations.

- the start of a circulation of radio-programms and a collaboration
between radios of different origins and statutes concerning the
organisation of the production, the collection and the exchange of
productions.

- encouraging creation, talent and quality and thus valorizing the
production of African broadcasting.


TIME AND PLACE

The festival "Waves of Freedom" will be a biennial event, where the
ambition is to expand to all the countries of the continent and to
become a panafrican meetingplace of radios. This could be possible by
its own dynamic, but also by meeting with other African events which
pursue identical aims.

The first festival will be of a modest dimension because of several
restraints (material, organisational, linguistic). It will be held in
Mali, because this is the part of the continent where the liberation
of radios has made the fastest progress.


PARTICIPANTS

The participants will then come mainly from West-African countries:

- radios (public and private) of French-speaking countries in
West-Africa.

- private radios of English- and Portugese speaking countries of the
region.

- international radios, which are partners of the festival.

- broadcasters and professionals.

- personalities either linked or not to the radio-world


STRUCTURES

- There will be a local organisation committee (CLO)n which will have
as its task the mobilisation of the means necessary to achieve a
succesful festival and to elaborate a general program.

- This committee will be made up of representatives of the different
Malian authorities dealing with the event, a representative of the
URTEL and the coordinator of the Panos Institute in Bamako.

- There will also be an executive board descending from the CLO, in
charge of the execution of the program, and of the budget. It will
consist of three members.




PROGRAM OF THE FESTIVAL

The festival will consist of for items:

- a colloquium

- an exchange of programs

- a radioprogram competition

- cultural and broadcasting activities


1. The Colloquium

During the three days of the festival the theme "Radio, Culture and
Democracy" will be discussed in a colloquium, which will be a place
for:

- reflexion and discussion of the links between radio, culture and
democracy on the one hand.

- and exchange of opinions and experiences between different
broadcasters on the other hand.

A study concerning the "cultural role of the radios in Mali" will be
realised before the beginning of the festival and shall give some
points of discussion.

2. Exchange of programs

This will be, in the midst of this festival, a meetingplace for
professionals (journalists, producers, technicians, presenters, ...)
and a place for exchanges of experience and of radio-productions.

Radios who wish to participate in the festival are asked to send
radio-programs for this exchange. The content of these programs must
be linked to the general theme of the festival or to parts of this
theme. As much as possible they must respond to the following
questions and orientations (they can also be an illustration of it):

Culture: how can radio contribute to the promotion of culture and of
artistic creation ? Different subjects are possible: history,
tradition, music, singing, tales, proverbs, literature, graphic arts,
theatre and discovery of young talent.

Democracy: how can radio allow citizens a better understanding of the
city-life and a larger participation in it ? One can think of
interactions between neighbours, citizens, society, the world. Other
possible subjects: good-governance and decentralisation.

The products of the radios can be presented under different forms
(narrative, descriptive, interactive, satiric, etc) but must fall more
or less under one of the main radio-genres: documentary, fiction,
discussion, radio-play or sketches.

Every radio will be asked for two special contributions:

1. A self-portrait: this means a program where the radio itself is the
subject. In a serious or an ironic way every radio can show to its
listeners and to other radios "who and what it is". Eventually all
these self-portraits might be gathered in a compilation, for a better
understanding of the radio-scene in West-Africa.

2. Exclusive scoop: the participating radios are invited to send a
program which, in their eyes, forms a first orginal or which shows
best the specificity of their actions, or which they consider to be an
exclusive scoop (for the content, the form or the way of dealing with
the subject).

Including these two specific requests, every radio has the right to
send five productions to the festival. Except for the self-portrait,
the productions for the exchange don't need to be new creations. They
can be choosen from earlier broadcasts by the radio.

The programs must reach the executive board of the festival strictly
before the 10th of June 1997.

The official languages of the festival will be French and English, but
there will be no restraints concerning the languages used for the
programs, which participate in the exchange. It is thus desirable that
they are realised in a regional language for a larger possible
exchange.

Every production received must have a form with it to present and to
summarize -inFrench or in English- the program. Also an out-line is
requested.

For ane ven larger variety of programs broadcasted on the radio
station of the festival, the radios are asked to send or bring -apart
from the productions for the exchange- musical recordings of their
country, region or local tradition, as well as copies of earlier
broadcasts, and more in particular, broadcasts from the first
beginning.

A catalogue of the productions received by the festival will be
prepared, and will be at the disposal of the participants.

Depending on the space and means available, there will be place for
the radios to set up an exposition or a stand.

3. The radio-program competition

There will be a program competition with four prizes to win. A jury
will deliberate during the festival and the rewards will be given at
the closing ceremony.

Apart from these official awards forseen in the rules of the
competition, there might be rewards for individual creators
(producers, presenters, sound-technicians, ...) of prize winning works
or of works which are retained by the jury.

4. Cultural and broadcasting activities

- A mega-concert will be organised the eve before the official opening
of the festival. It will be an event to bring several artists together
and to valorize the wealth and the artistic and cultural potentials of
the region, as well as to promote it's radio-activities. On the one
hand it will give the floor to international stars, but on the other
hand to young talent. There will be place for traditional music as
well as for new tendencies.

The partcipating radios engage themselves by reacting to the concert
on a large scale and by giving a place to the artists in their
programs before, during and after the festival.

-  Artistic activities: during the festival artistic and cultural
activities will have a permanent place. A stage will be installed in
the festival area on which comedians, musicians and other artistes
will be programmed to perform. This podium can also serve for public
broadcasts.

- A radio studio will be placed on the festival floor. The studio will
be in charge of the presentation, the producing and the broadcasting
of radioprograms about the festival.

The press-office journalists, producers and presenters will take care
of the well-functioning of the studio. This press-office will be
formed with West-African members of the network of correspondants of
the Panos Institute (Banque de Programmes) and with journalists of the
ORTM, URTEL and CNRL.

They will provide a daily report of the festival (10 to 15 minutes),
as well as a program (45 minutes to 1 hour) which recounts the
essential moments of the event. This press-office will have a fully
equipped room close to the festival at its disposition, which can also
be used by authorised journalists.

The programs of the studio can come from different sources:

- events from the festival (concerts, shows, debats)

- productions coming from radios and institutions

- programs by the press-office of the festival

- "live" programs, activities and discussions by the members of the
press-office or by the various radios present

Broadcasting: we can think of four realms of broadcasting:

- local broadcasting on public and private radios in Bamako

- national broadcasting in Mali

- regional broadcasting in West-Africa

- international broadcasting in the rest of Africa and the world

For more information, please, contact:

Secretariat of the festival "Waves of Freedom"

BP E 378 - Bamako - Mali - West Africa
Tel : + 223 - 23 13 96
Fax: + 223 - 23 48 97

Email :     batoure@panos.panos.ml
                acba@anten.panos.m
                johan@bds.panos.ml

___________________________________________________
Bruce Girard             Agencia Informativa Pulsar
Email: bgirard@pulsar.org.ec
http://www.web.net/amarc/pulsar.html
Fono/Fax: +593-2-501 180 o 551 674
Fax en Montreal, Canada: +1-514-221-2009
Av. Atahualpa 333, Casilla 17-08-8489, Quito, Ecuador