THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The acclaimed africologneFESTIVAL has been named “Cultural Event of the Year 2025” at the Cologne Cultural Awards, further cementing its reputation as one of Europe’s leading platforms for contemporary African and Afrodiasporic arts. The award was presented on 19 May at the COMEDIA Theater during a ceremony organised by the Kölner Kulturrat.
The biennial festival triumphed after a combined decision of expert jury rankings and public online voting. Other finalists included the “Fünf Freunde” exhibition at the Museum Ludwig and the theatre production IMAGINE at Schauspiel Köln. The award carries prize money of €5,000.
Festival directors Kerstin Ortmeier and Marie Deuflhard described the honour as recognition for the many artists, activists, communities and international partners who have shaped africologne over the years. Special tribute was paid to the festival’s longstanding collaboration with Les Récréâtrales in Ouagadougou.
Organised by the Cologne-based association afroTopia e.V. and held every two years, the festival transforms Cologne into a vibrant meeting place for theatre, dance, music, film, literature, visual arts and public discussions.
According to the organisers, the festival seeks to amplify African voices and perspectives while challenging dominant narratives about the continent and its diaspora. Its programme is rooted in long-term collaborations between African, European and local artists and institutions, promoting intercultural dialogue and new artistic imaginaries.
The 2025 edition, the eighth in the festival’s history, was held under the theme “Remember, Resist, Exist”, with Etienne Minoungou — actor and founder of Festival Les Récréâtrales in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — serving as patron. The programming explored questions of memory, resistance, healing, belonging and decolonial futures through performances ranging from street dance to political theatre and ritual public-space interventions.
The festival also launched the new africologneLOCAL platform, curated by Yaël Koutouan, to create greater visibility for local BIPoC artists and communities. In addition, africologne published the anthology SPUREN, featuring German translations of theatre texts by African and diasporic authors, described by organisers as a literary testimony to poetic resistance and social reflection.
A significant milestone of the 2025 edition was the transition in leadership following the departure of co-founder Gerhardt Haag after 15 years. Haag praised the festival as a rare space where “art, politics and love” come together and expressed confidence in the future leadership of Ortmeier and Deuflhard.
Funded by a constellation of public and private partners — including the City of Cologne, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, the European Union, Kunststiftung NRW, the Goethe-Institut and the Institut Français — africologneFESTIVAL has established itself as one of Europe’s most distinctive platforms for contemporary African and Afro-diasporic arts.
Vivian Asamoah
More about africologneFESTIVAL HERE
