A New Initiative Wants African Art to Stay in Africa

For nearly a decade, Manju Journal has been meticulously archiving and celebrating contemporary African art, fashion, and photography. It started in Ghana in 2017 and quickly blossomed into a global community for artists shaping the continent's future.

But founder Richmond Orlando Mensah wasn't content just documenting the vibrant creative scene. He wanted to build something that stuck. So, Manju Journal has officially evolved into the New Africa Cultural Initiative (NACI) — a nonprofit dedicated to fostering creativity, preserving culture, and keeping artistic talent where it belongs: in Africa.

NACI's mission is elegantly straightforward: build a lasting cultural infrastructure, rooted locally, that ensures African artistic talent and resources can thrive without needing to look abroad. Because apparently, you can't just admire the art; you have to build the whole ecosystem around it.

More Than Just Pretty Pictures

Mensah started Manju in university after noticing a pattern: many cultural events in Accra were great, but they rarely led to sustained support for artists. The creative scenes in cities like Lagos, Accra, and Abidjan are booming, but artists often lack the fundamental structure needed to actually expand their work. NACI aims to fill that gap, ensuring that while artists get their well-deserved press, they also get the long-term support required to turn passion into a career.

This means connecting funders with emerging artists and creating platforms that originate from Africa. Mensah points to partnerships with the Loewe Foundation and Gucci Equilibrium as examples, but he's clear: support doesn't always have to come from global brands. The goal is to keep creative and intellectual capital right at home, rather than watching it drift overseas for opportunities.

NACI officially launched on July 7, immediately putting out a call for an inaugural textile workshop in Accra, led by artist Zohra Opoku. Because what better way to kick things off than by diving deep into material culture and craftsmanship?

Stitching a Future, One City at a Time

The first workshop cohort, held in Accra from August 20–21, will bridge the gap between established artists like Opoku and emerging talents. Mensah chose textiles deliberately, aiming to shift focus from mere fashion to the profound artistic aspects of craft, which is deeply rooted in African culture.

And this is just the beginning. The workshop series will expand from Accra to Lagos in October, Dakar in November, and Abidjan in December. These four cities are the initial targets for NACI's first year, with plans to expand to East Africa next year and eventually connect all 54 nations. It's a pan-African vision, one collaboration at a time.

NACI is also planning to launch the New Africa Cultural Initiative Fund in 2027. This fund will offer open, unrestricted grants to artists, curators, and researchers, creating an African-led funding structure. The idea is to move away from Westernized funding models that might, however unintentionally, pull focus from African cultural ideas. Because sometimes, the best way to support a vision is to fund it yourself.

Beyond funding, NACI aims to protect younger artists from exploitation. They'll create educational programs covering everything from portfolio development to pricing and sales, bringing together creatives from across Africa and beyond. It's about giving artists the tools to thrive, not just survive.

Mensah acknowledges the challenges of such an ambitious undertaking but remains refreshingly optimistic. He stresses, "the time for action is now." And if you ask us, building a lasting cultural infrastructure, one textile workshop and micro-grant at a time, sounds like a pretty good place to start.