Emerging Senegalese artists get grants

26 Senegalese have been awarded a total of $100,000 through the Support Fund for Cultural Initiatives, a scheme managed by the government that has been running for five years.

Funded by the City of Dakar, the scheme is designed to recognise creativity among emerging artists.

A highly competitive selection process was undertaken in order to determine the most worth among Senegal’s talent.

108 items were submitted for consideration across and array of disciplines including: audio-visual, event planning, literature and publishing.

It was an open selection process, said director at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Dakar, Omar Ndao in The Africa Review.

Ndao also said that the jury members were trained in each area in order to select only quality projects and initiatives.

The winning work will become the property of the Ministry and winners will be put through exchange programs as well as capacity building training in order to sharpen their skills.

Senegal has recently made headlines due to its highly publicised presidential elections in which singer Youssou N'Dour has mounted a campaign to unseat incumbent Abdoulaye Wade.

Wade is vying for a controversial third seat as president and the nation has been rocked by violent protests in the lead up to the election.

13 other candidates, including N’Dour, are in contention for the leadership role, with no clear favourite.

85-year-old Wade has faced pressure from other candidates to withdraw his candidacy, but was cleared by the country’s highest court to run for a third term.