Those who are in our close circle will know that this is the third year around that we are planning Africa Rising Music Conference due to COVID-19. This year we are extremely happy to confirm the conference’s partnership with the Bushfire Festival, which has been in talks for the last three years. It is with great pride that we associate with Bushfire and the whole team behind this iconic festival. 

Not only will selected artists showcasing at ARMC have opportunities to perform at Bushfire, but we are also collaborating on the Arts Round table at the festival, which sees local executives engaging with international stakeholders from the ARMC conference program. 

This partnership between ARMC and MTN’s Bushfire Festival will create a synergy that aims to lay the foundation for an annual opportunity to meet, engage, showcase and activate a dynamic range of topics and outputs. This ground-breaking three-year partnership seeks to showcase emerging local talent and provide a platform for stakeholders from different arts disciplines to interact with top industry professionals and ultimately contribute to the development of the arts industry in Eswatini.  By connecting the African and European music markets at multiple touchpoints, there will be a range of new opportunities specifically for the local Eswatini creative industries as well as more broadly for the region.

This year’s edition of ARMC  will be held in Johannesburg at the Hallmark House Hotel on the 24th and 25th of May 2022. This unique conference will feature a mix of local and international delegates, centering around the urban and electronic music industries and the Afro-Euro connection both of these chart topping genres provide.  

In collaboration with ARMC and supported by First National Bank, MTN Bushfire’s Arts Round Table 2022 will host speakers from the region and from around the world, all with expertise across various pillars of the music business ecosystem.  Speakers from the Southern African region, The Netherlands, Germany, Rwanda & Americas form part of this year’s Arts Round Table. The themes will centre around; Women’s Voices: Amplifying them in the music business; Building Bridges: exchange between Africa & the world; and Independent Africa: developing, understanding and creating new opportunities. 

Every year The Arts Round Table, a series of conversations and workshops  that takes place on the Friday of the MTN Bushfire Festival  weekend, connects aspiring multi-disciplined artists with a selected number of seasoned festival performers. These thematically-driven conversations enable individuals and organisations to succeed as professionals in the entertainment industry. To date, over 800 artists have benefited from these workshops.

For tickets for the Bushfire festival, please visit their website. Remember that tickets are already available for ARMC, and you can buy them directly here.