Call for participation: African Dream’s Afro-Pepites Show

Every year, a number of different categories are represented, covering music from all regions of Africa (North, West, Southern, Central, East and the Sahara) as well as the diaspora in South America and the Caribbean. It also incorporates dance, theatre, photography, painting, film, sculpture, fashion and hairstyle, story-telling and poetry.

The project is organised annually by The African Dream association (Le Rêve Africain) to discover new African talent. It aims to appeal to musicians and other artists working in the field of African culture who are looking to grow the online visibility, as well as cultural professionals (producers, managers, distributors, promoters, etc) who want to expand their reach, and internet users who are curious to learn more about African arts and culture from Africa.

The organisers are currently inviting interesting parties to apply to participate in the seventh edition of the Afro-Pepites Show. Applications opened on 1 March and will close on 30 September 2016.

After this deadline ends, from 1 to 19 October a special listeners’ committee (a jury of industry experts) will consider the applications. On 20 October, the top 10 projects will be announced by the committee. These will then be put to a public, online vote until 20 November, with the top three finalists revealed on 5 December 2016.

Among the African musicians to have already applied this year are Masta G (Guinea), Ake O'Lokan (Togo), Fatou Dieng (Senegal) and Nebo Teslee (Cameroon).

The project provides the possibility to musicians and artists to make themselves known through the African Dream network. The three selected projects will benefit from access to The African Dream’s vast network of industry operators, fans of African culture, social media followers and numerous other partners around the world.

According to organiser Lætitia Normand, “We can use our network to highlight their visibility and provoke opportunities to make the link between professionals and the artists. Our strength is communication. The idea is to locate projects and make them know of our network of professionals and subscribers, to accelerate the careers of artists.”

The top three projects ‘discovered’ in 2015 were musicians Tsiliva from Madgascar and Sahad & The Nataal Patchwork from Senegal (recently announced as one of 12 African finalists in the Midem Artist Accelerator programme), along with Algerian photographer Lola Khalifa. More on them in the video below

How to apply

Applications are open to all artists (including musicians and dancers) from Africa - or any other musician inspired by Africa, particularly from the Caribbean (Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, etc), Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia.

To apply, simply complete the online application form (available in both English and French) available on the African Dream website - or download it here and email it to [email protected]. Included in the application should be your contact details, a biography and links to a picture and your project.

Artists from Africa (and South America) can apply for free, but artists based in the North (Europe, Asia and Northern America) will need to pay a €20 application fee.

Applications close on 30 September 2016.

For more details visit the African Dream website.