Editorial
Interview with Mrs. Hortense Zagbayou
EPA visits the US
SCP: a strategic tool
He visited us
Good news for the EPA Endowment Fund

Dear Readers,

As you read this new issue of our newsletter, the second of the year, you will see we are well advanced in our scheduled programme. This year once again we are hard at work, and our team is very busy - in fact it is currently showing signs of being overstretched. For this reason I am appealing to you again for your support, so that we can improve and strengthen our team. In this way we can keep building EPA, an organization we would like to be exemplary and one we want you to be able to take pride in.

This issue's guest is an African professional, Mrs Hortense Zagbayou Bekouan - known as Hortense to her colleagues - who was appointed director of the Musée des civilisations de Côte d'Ivoire at a time when the country was entering a period of conflict. You will be able to appreciate what she has already succeeded in achieving.

In April this year, EPA established a permanent foothold in the USA. The work carried out there by museums and those working in African studies is impressive and often innovative.

In relation to training, our partnership with the Institut national du patrimoine (France) has already yielded results. In this issue you can read about the first workshop on the museums' Scientific and Cultural Project, organised jointly with Inp.

EPA has decided to participate in the Musée Panafricain de la Musique (Pan-African Museum of Music) project in Congo. It is an ambitious and demanding project, but we believe in it - and besides, this continent of rhythms needs it.

The Honorary Committee of the EPA Endowment Fund has two new members: Mr. Abdou Diouf, former President of Senegal and current Secretary-General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and Mr. Alpha Oumar Konaré, former President of Mali and current President of the African Union Commission.

Between the past where our memories lie and the future which contains our hopes, there is the present with its demands and obligations. This is the message of this current issue, which we would like to share with our colleagues, who, like Hortense, are struggling in difficult conditions. Long may they continue to set an example with their perseverance.

Hortense Zagbayou Bekouan has been Director of the Musée des civilisations de Côte d'Ivoire since 1999. A graduate of the Institut national supérieur des arts et de l'action culturelle (INSAAC) of Côte d'Ivoire, trained in preventive conservation in the PREMA 92 course, Mrs Bekouan was elected to ICCROM's Executive Board in 2003.

EPA: Madam Director, how did the idea of a Musée des civilisations Week arise?

HZB : When I was appointed director of the museum, my first concern was to carry out an inventory of our collection and to improve conservation conditions, particularly in the stores. The collections were then thought to contain some 12,000 items. We have now almost completed the inventory process, which includes a detailed documentation of the collections and computerisation of this documentation. We can now say that the collections contain approximately 10,300 items. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the US embassy for giving us the means to carry out this operation successfully.
Once the inventory was well under way, we decided to launch a new project. This is focussed on the public, with the aim of bringing the museum to the people and vice versa. From it there arose the idea of celebrating an annual Musée des Civilisations Week around specific themes. The second such event takes place during the week May 18 to 24. The beginning of the week coincides with the International Day for Museums, promoted by ICOM. The theme concerns the contribution of the various cultures of Ivory Coast to national reconciliation.

EPA: You are very daring. Did you have any problems organising this event, especially around such a sensitive theme in Côte d'Ivoire? Does this mean that the Musée des civilisations is engaged in politics?

HZB : No! We don't engage in politics but we do talk about themes which concern the socio-political situation in our country and what the people are going through at the moment. We think that museums are meant to serve society and its development. They can't stand aloof. In fact the problems we have had in organising this event were material, not political. We needed to gather enough resources to carry out the activities that we had planned.

EPA: Tell us something about what took place during this week.

HZB : There are four main activities: exhibitions, lectures/discussions, presentations of communities, and educational activities.
We put on two simple exhibitions. One was on contemporary art which brought together twelve painters from the younger generation. The other showed masterpieces from the four main museums in Côte d'Ivoire: the Musée des civilisations, the Musée des costumes of Grand Bassam, the Musée Zaranou of Ambengourou, the Musée Combs of Bingerville.
Among the various lectures/discussions, mention should be made in particular of "The museum and national reconciliation: what heritage after the conflict?", "The museum, melting pot of national identity and social cohesion" and "Inter-ethnic alliances as factors in friendship between peoples". This last topic presented the results of very interesting research carried out by an anthropologist from Côte d'Ivoire on the mechanisms of fraternization and the management of conflicts between different ethnic groups in Côte d'Ivoire.
For the days given over to the presentation of communities, each day of the week focussed to two or three different communities. The public was then invited to try out their food, to listen to their music and to look at typical artefacts of these groups which are to be found in the museum collections.

Educational activities were devised for children at infant, primary and secondary school levels. They were mainly devoted to guided visits around the museum and to traditional story-telling sessions centered on the theme of the week.

EPA: Are you satisfied with the results of this week?

HZB : Let's say that the days dedicated to the discovery of communities, which is something new here, were a great success which I am particularly satisfied with and proud of. The communities were positively impressed; many people attended and the media covered the event. We noticed that parents came with their children to show them artefacts made by their ancestors. Many personalities visited the museum for the first time. Traditional chiefs felt honoured; when a community was the subject of the day, its chief invited other chiefs who came to support him. During the lectures/discussions, traditional chiefs asked questions and provided interesting information on how the people of Côte d'Ivoire were losing their roots and how the community way of life was gradually disappearing. All this shows that cultural heritage has an educational potential which is still insufficiently used.

EPA: How are you going to continue working for audiences, after the success of this week? What are your projects?

HZB : Our priority is to work on programmes for our audiences and on the renovation of the museum's permanent exhibition. The current exhibition is more than ten years old and doesn't arouse much interest now. The 840 sq. metre exhibition space is too cramped and shabby for the needs of the museum and of a large city like Abidjan, which has almost three million inhabitants. It is after all the place where the people of Côte d'Ivoire and visitors can come and learn and appreciate the diversity of the cultural heritage of Côte d'Ivoire. I therefore appeal to anyone who can do so to help us meet this challenge.

I also hope that our politicians will find the time to clarify and reinforce the museum's legal status, as has already occurred in other countries of the sub-region. Finally I hope that more financial resources will be allocated to the museum so that we will be able to work more effectively.

EPA: Congratulations, Madam Director, and the very best of luck!

EPA/Rutgers agreement

The universities of Dartmouth and Rutgers financed the visit of the EPA delegation in the US from April 7 to 24, 2004. The delegation included Alain Godonou, Managing Director of EPA, Anne Avaro, IT specialist and web-developer, Baba Keïta, Head of Professional Training, Elisée Soumonni, Professor of History, National University of Benin, and associate researcher at EPA. The visit started at Dartmouth and continued in Boston, New York, New Brunswick and Washington DC.

At Dartmouth, the delegation discussed possible internships and exchange of students between Dartmouth College and EPA, as well as possible collaboration in the setting up of a project on the oral history of the Afro-Brazilian community of Benin.

In Boston, EPA presented its research on the historic centre of the town of Porto-Novo, at a seminar entitled "African Architecture: Design, Theory, Preservation", organised by the University of Harvard. The workshop included Ph.D. students as well as art historians, historians and professionals in urban design and architecture.

In New York, the delegation met officials from the World Monuments Fund, and the teams of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, and also took part in the first meeting of the trustees of FAH (Friends of African Heritage).

In New Jersey, a meeting was organised with the team of the Newark Museum, more particularly on education in museums, an area of great interest to EPA, and in which the Newark Museum is a specialist. At Rutgers State University of New Jersey, EPA put on a series of presentations, in particular at the African Studies Center, Urban Planning School and Museum Studies Program. At the conclusion of their visit EPA signed an agreement of cooperation with Rutgers.

In Washington DC the EPA delegation spoke at the meeting of the Association of African Studies Programmes (AASP). After their presentation, which was greatly appreciated, many contacts were established with researchers and representatives of institutions working on Africa. In the process, EPA signed a membership with WARA (West African Research Association) which groups American universities with departments working in the area of West Africa. EPA is the first non-American institution to become member of this association.

In addition to speaking at the AASP meeting, the EPA delegation went to the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and were able to interact with officials of the Bureau for African Affairs of the Department of State where they presented the EPA Endowment Fund and EPA's activities.

Many more discussions were organised. In addition, Mr. Keïta was often invited to present his work as artist and artistic director of many famous African films.

We were impressed by the interest and solidarity shown to EPA in a country where everyone is submitted to intense competition. This American trip opened new perspectives of collaboration between EPA and American institutions. A first meeting is scheduled in March 2005 in Porto-Novo between the universities of Dartmouth, Harvard, Rutgers and EPA.

EPA's thanks go to Judith Byfield (Dartmouth), Carolyn Brown (Rutgers), Suzanne Blier (Harvard), Michael Turner (Hunter College) and Kevin Gray, President of FAH, for the perfect organisation of this packed and fruitful visit. We also thank for their warm welcome: Michael Beahan, Paul Beelitz, Christa Clarke, Mary Donin, Katherine Hart, Veronika Jenke, Barbara Krieger, Alisa LaGamma, Enid Schildkrout, John Stubbs, Mary Sue Sweeney Price, Lindamarie Wald Koengeter, Mimi Wolford.

   The SCP: a strategic tool for institutional development   

From May 3 to 7, 2004, a workshop took place at EPA headquarters in Porto-Novo on the Scientific and Cultural Project (SCP) of museums and related institutions. This was the first activity planned in the framework of the collaborative agreement signed in 2003 between EPA and Inp-Institut national du patrimoine.

Nineteen directors and senior executives of museums from eleven French- and Portuguese-speaking African countries (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Central African Republic, Senegal, Chad, Togo) participated.

The main objective of the workshop was to provide African professionals with tools for the elaboration of a SCP for the development of their institution. A team of seven French and African specialists chosen by the two partner institutions facilitated the workshop. The programme was divided into four parts: assessment of the situation in African museums, strategic interest of the SCP, mode of elaboration of the SCP, and architectural programming for the creation or the renovation of an institution. The visit to the Abomey Historical Museum and the presentation of the renovation project of the National Museum of Mali by its Director, Mr. Samuel Sidibé, as well as extensive exchanges on the situation of the museums represented, enriched this workshop considerably.

Following the debate "What museums for Africa?" launched in the 1990s, the SCP is one of the fundamental tools which will help provide an answer to the question of the social use of museums on the continent.

With this workshop, EPA defines a new orientation for itself: to consider as a training target the museum institution as such, and not only the individual professionals who work there. The SCP workshop has opened new collaboration perspectives between heritage institutions, EPA and their partners. The participation of two very attentive observers, Mr. Germain Viatte from the Musée du Quai Branly and Mr. Michel Berthaud, from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, testifies to this new dynamic.

In his closing speech, the Managing Director of EPA thanked ICCROM, the French and Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs for their financial support for this workshop. Our thanks to the facilitators of the workshop: Anouk Bassier (Inp), Marie-Hélène Joly (Inspection générale des musées de France), François Gruson (Direction des musées de France), Mathieu Pinette (Musées d’Amiens), Alexis Adandé (University of Abomey Calavi-Benin), and Samuel Sidibé (Musée national du Mali).

Mr. Gassackys, General-Commissioner of the FESPAM (Festival Panafricain de Musique - Pan-African Music Festival) visited EPA on May 7th 2004. His visit was concluded by the signing of a collaborative agreement between EPA and FESPAM, within the framework of the creation of the Pan-African Museum of Music in Brazzaville, Congo. EPA will also collaborate in the scientific part of the colloquium organised for the coming festival.

The fifth occasion the festival will be held is scheduled from July 30 to August 6, 2005 on the theme "Legacy of African music in the Americas and Caribbean" and will launch the Pan-African Museum of Music. A variety of activities are scheduled in Brazzaville, Pointe-Noire and Kinshasa.

Mr. Gassackys comments, "As 2004 is the International Year for the commemoration of the slave trade and its abolition, but also the bicentenary of the independence of Haiti, where, according to Aimé Césaire, 'Negritude arose for the first time', it is appropriate that this particular FESPAM should take into account this double celebration by giving Black communities, particularly those of the Americas and Caribbean, the opportunity to return to their historical roots."

We will keep you informed of the development of the Pan-African Museum of Music project and on preparations for the fifth FESPAM.

Two new members have joined the Honorary Committee of the EPA Endowment Fund: His Excellency Mr. Abdou Diouf, Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and former President of the Republic of Senegal, and His Excellency Mr. Alpha Oumar Konaré, President of the African Union Commission and former President of the Republic of Mali.

This Honorary Committee was created by ICCROM in 2000 to support EPA's pioneering work of ensuring the sustainable conservation of African cultural heritage.

Impressed by EPA's achievements, Mr. Abdou Diouf explained his involvement in the following terms: "[...] The work carried out by this School, its efforts to be autonomous and independent, and its contribution to the conservation of the cultural heritage of Africa, are admirable. I wish it complete success and will closely follow its development".

Mr. Alpha Oumar Konaré is convinced that EPA "plays a fundamental role in the safeguarding and enhancement of African cultural heritage, Africa's finest contribution to universal civilisation", and has expressed his "readiness to serve such a worthy cause".

At the same time the first meeting of the Board of Trustees of FAH (Friends of African Heritage), a 501c3 organisation registered in the State of New York, took place in New York on April 17, 2004. FAH was created in 2002 to support EPA in its fund-raising activities in the USA. This first meeting examined strategies for the promotion and presence of EPA in the US.

For more information please contact:
- At ICCROM: Jérôme Nhan or Gaël de Guichen, Adviser for the EPA Endowment fund, epa.fund@iccrom.org
- At EPA: Alain Godonou, Managing Director,
- At the FAH (Friends of African Heritage, USA): Kevin Gray,