MACAAL Webinar IV
Contemporary art: elitist or accessible?
Conversation with Amadou Diaw, Marie-Cécile Zinsou, Meriem Berrada & Sylvère-Henry Cissé
9 June 2020, 5 pm (Morocco)
Language: French
In the context of our MACAAL Friends At Home series, we were pleased to invite Amadou Diaw, President of the Forum Saint-Louis and the Museum of Photography of St Louis (Saint-Louis, Senegal), Marie-Cécile Zinsou, President of the Zinsou Foundation (Ouidah, Benin), and Meriem Berrada, Artistic Director at MACAAL (Marrakech, Morocco) to our fourth Zoom webinar on June 9, 2020. Moderated by Sylvère-Henry Cissé, communication consultant, author and journalist, this 4th talk was focussed on audiences.
About Marie-Cécile Zinsou
Marie-Cécile Zinsou founded the Zinsou Foundation in June 2005 in Benin. The Zinsou Foundation promotes contemporary art in Africa through cultural, educational and social actions. Since its creation, the Foundation has already hosted 32 exhibitions and received six million visitors. It also provides the public with 6 mini-libraries, an exhibition space and a museum.
Marie-Cécile is a board member of the Palais de Versailles, the Institute of Islamic Cultures in Paris and the Maison Maria Casarès. She is also a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
About Amadou Diaw
A fervent defender of the cultural potential of his city, Saint-Louis in Senegal, Amadou Diaw was the first entrepreneur to invest in private higher education in West Africa by creating the Institut Supérieur de Management (ISM), the first private business school in Senegal. A philanthropist, he opens his collection to the public in Saint-Louis in 2017 with the MuPho, his Museum of Photography. Amadou Diaw is President and Founder of the Forum de Saint-Louis, an international colloquium focused on the notion of Living Together.
About Meriem Berrada
Meriem Berrada is Head of Cultural Projects at Fondation Alliances, where she designs and implements a range of artistic programmes. With a degree in management of cultural and artistic activities (INSEEC Paris), Meriem Berrada first joined MnA communication Paris, a cultural communication agency working for clients in fashion, antiques and contemporary art before joining the team of Marrakech Art Fair, the first contemporary art fair in Morocco. After a period as head of contemporary art in the auction house Compagnie Marocaine des Œuvres et Objets d’Art, she joined the Fondation Alliances in 2012.
She devised and set up in 2013 La Chambre Claire and the Passerelles programme, a cross-sponsorship initiative that coordinates the cultural and social poles of Fondation Alliances. In 2016, she piloted the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) development in Marrakech.
About Sylvère-Henry Cissé
French communication consultant, author and journalist of Senegalese origin, Sylvère-Henry Cissé has a rich and transmedia career: press, television and radio. Now a public speaking trainer, he previously spent about ten years with the Canal+ group, for which he presented numerous programmes for France and the African continent. Author of documentaries, Sylvère-Henry Cissé has also directed and presented Politiques et sports on La Chaîne Parlementaire, and La Matinale of France Télévisions-France Ô. He created and coordinated Ôtrement dit, France Télévisions’ political programme. Sylvère-Henry presented the morning slots of France Inter, Radio France Internationale and Europe 1. In addition, he continues his commitment in the field of culture through numerous contributions to the magazines France Forum and Le Point Afrique.
