|
Afritopic: Taking the number of programs, concerts, markets and
visitors into consideration, the Africa Festival Wuerzburg is
definitely a very big event. How do you achieve a high degree
of perfection in organizing the festival?
Röttger: We have 9 months to organize the festival. As soon as
one is over, we take a short break. After the break, we start
planning and collecting ideas for the next festival. We
usually make a list of popular artists we would like to engage
but also leave room for emerging artists. We acquire necessary
information about the artists concerning concert tour dates
and schedules as well as engagement contract procedures. This
is not easy and could be time-intensive especially, if we want
to engage artists based in Africa. However, with 16 years
experience and very good knowledge of the infrastructure in
Wuerzburg, we are well equipped to resolve most organizational
problems.
Afritopic: 16 years experience means that the first Africa
Festival Wuerzburg took place 16 years ago. How has the
festival developed over the years?
Röttger: The first Africa Festival was organized as a 1-day
event in the Stadthalle, Wuerzburg and attracted about 600
visitors. The 2nd festival was a 2-day event. It
took place in the same building with approximately 600
visitors per day. We had the feeling that the festival would
attract more visitors each year and decided to move the
location to the "Mainufer" premises. Information
about the festival spread around and across the borders of
Wuerzburg. Those who attended the festival were impressed and
passed on their positive views to others. It was viewed as the
major Africa-focused cultural event. Through mouth-to-mouth
propaganda, the festival started attracting thousands of
visitors from Germany and other European countries as well as
from overseas. The 2-day event was later changed to a 4-day
festival and each year, the number of visitors increased by
thousands. This year 2004, we have a record of 36 000 visitors
on Saturday 29 May.
Afritopic: In this year's event, you have included Cuba in the
program. Are you extending the festival to incorporate 'Global
Africa' or Africa Diaspora?
Röttger: Yes. We have been thinking of ways we could extend the
scope of the festival to include Africa Diaspora. Due to the
very strong cultural ties many Cubans have to Africa, Cuba was
included in the program. We are now contemplating the concept
of making African-American theme part of the event. Black
Artists from New Orleans could serve as a starting point.
However, There are many countries in Africa we have not been
able to invite music artists from. We would like to increase
our efforts in this direction. The continent Africa is
immensely rich in diverse music forms. We also intend to
increase the number of informative programs about Africa. With
the festival attracting over 150 000 visitors, educational and
useful information about Africa could reach thousands of
people.
Afritopic: The success of the festival is due to the excellent
organization but also to the finance. How is the Africa
Festival financed?
Röttger: The festival is sponsored by various government and
non-government institutions/organizations including the German
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of culture. We
receive both monetary and material sponsorship. As a private
organization without financial background, we need to generate
income from catering, renting out spaces for stalls and gate
fees. There is always some risk involved but we have always
been financially successful. Members of the organization are
honorary workers and are compensated only for the 4 days of
the festival.
Afritopic: How many people in your organization are involved in
the planning of the festival?
Röttger: A core group of between 7 and 8 members of the
organization carries out the initial planning. Along the way,
more people get involved to take up responsibilities for
various sections of the event. We also have volunteers who
help to maintain order throughout the duration of the
festival. This year for example, 100 students from a college
in Wuerzburg voluntarily clean up the premises very early in
the morning for the 4 days of the festival.
Afritopic: Through your involvement in the festival, you have
been dealing with Africa/Africans for at least 16 years. How
would you describe your feelings and experience in relation to
Africa?
Röttger: Thinking about Africa reminds me of beautiful
encounters with very friendly people. I was recently in North
Africa with some members of our organization to attend a music
festival in the dessert. There, we were able to make contacts
with Tuaregs. Now, I am happy to see some of the Tuaregs here
at the festival participating by setting up Tuareg tents where
visitors could relax and be informed about the Tuareg culture.
Over the years we have built up mutually beneficial contacts
to Africa and African artists in particular. I have exchanged
visits with African musicians and really admire the African
hospitality. My mental picture of Africa is not that of
hunger, death and suffering. My picture of Africa is that of
numerous friendly people I have met through the festival. I am
sad to see all these friendly people depart to their home
countries after the festival. But I am happy that the event
would take place again next year and I anticipate to see them
all again.
Afritopic: What is you opinion about the German 'Entwicklungshilfe' (Development Aid) for
Africa? Are there better, more effective ways to help?
Röttger: I
do not believe that offering financial aid alone to
governments could solve the problems. This does not imply that
African governments cannot manage money. They surely can. But
I believe in supporting private local initiatives working
independently without the influence of the government. The
Africans themselves have to decide what the want, how they
want to live and what type of help they need. The industrial
world should not try to force its lifestyle on the Africans.
Partnership based on trust should be developed between the two
worlds. On this basis, the industrial world could then offer
technical assistance to Africa. Africans have their own
cultures and values, which should be preserved. And there are
initiatives in Africa engaged in resolving local problems
while preserving the indigenous culture. Our organization
supports such an initiative called 'Steps For the Future' in
South Africa . We invite members of the initiative to
participate in the festival and inform people about the goals
of the initiative. In this way, the initiative gains more
exposure and the visitors have better insight to the problems
as well as the needs of the people. We try to acquire as much
information as possible about the local initiatives prior to
selecting the one our organization would eventually support. I
wish that the support of such initiatives would increase on
higher governmental levels. If this happens, the
multiplier-effect could help to improve the situation of the
people in Africa faster. |
