This major exhibition presents exquisite examples of brass, copper, stone and terracotta sculpture from West Africa.

The Kingdom of Ife was a powerful, cosmopolitan and wealthy city-state in West Africa (in what is now modern south-west Nigeria). Ife flourished as a political, spiritual, cultural and economic centre in the 12th–15th centuries AD, and was an influential hub of local and long-distance trade networks.

The exhibition features superb pieces of Ife sculpture, drawn almost entirely from the magnificent collections of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria. The artists of Ife developed a refined and highly naturalistic sculptural tradition in stone, terracotta, brass and copper to create a style unlike anything in Africa at the time. The technical sophistication of the casting process is matched by the artworks' enduring beauty.

The human figures portray a wide cross-section of Ife society and include images of youth and old age, health and disease, suffering and serenity. www.britishmuseum.org

The OAA'83 Year Group, organisers and hosts of this year's OAA (UK) Annual Fundraising Dinner Dance are currently working very hard to make the event, on Saturday 8th May 2010, at Kensington Hall, a resounding fundraising success. Our aim is to raise at least £10,000 for the school from this event.

Given the current crisis at the school caused by the breakdown of its sewage system, there is now even more reason for Akoras to rally together and BE ONE to save our dearest Alma Mater from literally ending up in the sewers!!! Tickets for this event are now on sale at £60.00 - please visit www.oaa83.com for more information.

The link to the event on Facebook is: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171628482675

A new exhibition of the work of Aubrey Williams, one of the pioneers of visual culture in Britain. In the UK, Aubrey Williams work has been exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, Royal Festival Hall.

Born in 1926 in Guyana, Aubrey Williams' brilliant work is unknown to many yet acknowledged by the most insightful of art critics and art historians. His work expresses his concerns about the destruction of the global ecological balance. The October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3Al, 020 7242 7367

The African Eden Safari Company Ltd will be hosting a five-day gallery event with a difference at the Bedfordbury Gallery Covent Garden. African Heritage will focus on Art, Design and Travel of a modern Africa and its Diaspora.

The exhibiting artists are hidden prodigies with a list of well deserved accolades. French-Senegalese photographer Delphine Diallo collaborated with the legendary Peter Beard (who worked with Any Warhol) on the 2009 Pirelli Calendar in addition to being the commercial art designer for a number of clients in the music industry including Coldplay, the Smashing Pumpkins and Manu Chao. Collectively exhibitors have had their work published in The National Geographic, the BBC, CNN, Harper's, The Guardian and many more. Their work is bold, colourful and unconventional twisting African culture with a western influence to show people that there is more to Africa than poverty, replacing negative images and preconceptions with a vibrant reality.

Platts are delighted to announce the third Platts Africa Oil Forum taking place this year at The Hyatt Regency, Casablanca, Morocco.

Registration is complimentary and strictly for oil industry participants.

SATHEX is a spin-off of GHEDEX - Oman's most reputed higher education exhibition, aimed at strengthening the region's vibrant education system; empowering citizens with necessary skills sets and matching high calibre individuals with employment requirements. SATHEX will feature world-class higher education providers along with training and career opportunities to a large and diversified South African market. Indeed, SATHEX is a great opportunity to take a share of the growing demand of higher education in South Africa.

Besides providing a platform for education and training services, it brings in an array of private and government companies, HR, recruitment and placement management consultants, online manpower recruitment portals, career guidance centres, retailers and distributors of publications and job seekers under one roof.

Uchenna Dance and Vocab Dance Company present ADiaspora; two women, two styles, two forces, merging to launch a triple bill of eclectic dance theatre. The works are created through the exploration of human conditions as seen from a female perspective. The triple bill showcases the celebrated 'Kwenda Kwenda' by Vocab Dance, the anticipated premiere of Uchenna Dance and the reconstruction of Frusted originally commissioned for Collabo 2009 as part of East London Dance's Dance Currents Season.

Uchenna Dance Company was formed in 2009 by Vicki Igbokwe after being awarded a Trailblazer Fellowship from ADAD (The Association of Dance of the African Diaspora) for 2007-2008. Vicki's artistic palette is formed from a rich blend of styles that come from both the contemporary and urban genres and her work is very much rooted in how these two worlds meet to form a distinctive vocabulary that is owned by Uchenna Dance Company.

Back at the Tricycle for its 6th year, Images of Black Women Film Festival celebrates black women in filmmaking. The programme will feature exclusive screenings and Q&As with filmmakers.

Tricycle, 269 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 7JR 020 7328 1000

While there have been many conferences on the role of China in Africa over the past five years, there has been little research on India, which has often been used as a postscript to work on China. This conference will focus exclusively on India and its modern-day relationship with African countries, looking at both strategic themes and specific case studies of India's engagement with particular Africa countries. The conference will consider the impacts of this engagement on India and African nations and the future of these relationships. It will also launch the book ‘The Rise of China and India in Africa' published in March by Zed Press and the Nordic Africa Institute.

Entry to these expert meetings is restricted. Experts and interested individuals should apply via the email address below. Only receipt of a confirmation email from Chatham House allows entry to meetings.

Places are limited & Chatham House reserves the right to restrict access to any of its meetings without notice or explanation. Attendees may be required to present photo identification at any time.

Iif you would like to apply to attend any meeting please email Tighisti Amare at tamare@chathamhouse.org.uk stating your name and affiliation.

In the face of the global economic slowdown, whether your organization is either thinking about or has initiated layoffs, downsizing, rightsizing, staff cuts, or managed redundancy, for the first time in the history, it is human capital that is linked to the success of organizations. The quality of people and the competencies of the future will be critical factors in corporate vitality and survival of organizations.

Fleming Gulf's People's Challenge Africa 2010 will provide you with a platform to strategize and sail through the troubled times securing your assets of human capital. The conference will aim at exploiting and addressing short-term imbalances and build strong foundations for long-term prospects.

For further details and to book: www.fleminggulf.com/conferences/hr/PeopleChallangeAfrica1-1-1-1

Featuring an all-Black star cast and directed by Debbie Allen, this Tennessee Williams classic has impressed critics and drawn record crowds to the Novello Theatre in London.

The cast includes Phylicia Rashad, James Earl Jones, Sanaa Lathan, Adrian Lester and Peter de Jersey. www.catwestend.com

Novello Theatre, Aldwych, London WC2

Investors are going beyond emerging markets and blazing new trails. What are the potential risks and rewards? Who would invest in Africa? Independent research is in a difficult spot, but some players still have a shot at success. Discussions among experts find consensus on major trends shaping the investment industry.

Africa Investor together with the Bloomberg, will convene panels of practitioners drawn from diverse industry specialties to elicit opinions about the trends that are shaping the investment industry and professional firms, the demands being made of investment professionals.

The Forum will address a number of key issues, which include:

*Africa: The Value Proposition

* Valuation and accounting in African Companies

* Standards of company reporting, disclosure and marketing communications

* CEO Success stories

* Analysis of Market trends and forecasts for 2010

SIM Senegal 2010 (Senegal International Mining Conference & Exhibition) will take place in Dakar, Senegal from 12 – 15 April 2010. The event will be organised by the Ministry of Mines, Industry and SME, Republic of Senegal in collaboration with the British company AME Trade Limited.

This event will form a golden backdrop to the festivities of the 50th Independence Anniversary of the Republic of Senegal which is celebrated on the 4th April 2010; half a century after Senegal declared its independence from France. The event will feature three days of plenary sessions, technical workshops, exhibitions as well as visits to key Senegalese mining and tourist sites. Senegal is politically and socially stable has excellent infrastructure, skilled human resources and a competitive, attractive, clear, transparent, simple and modern fiscal and regulatory regime. Senegal presents a definite guarantee for the security of your mining investments.

Senegal has a wealth of diverse and unexploited mineral deposits which until recently have lain dormant. Previously Senegal's mining industry was dominated by the exploitation of phosphates, industrial limestone and attapulgite. However due to a new mining code and investment promotion drive by the Senegalese government and their development partners, the exploitation of gold, iron ore and uranium in south eastern Senegal and deposits of zircon and titanium in the Grand Cote in the Sedimentary basin have commenced. Senegal is set to become one of Africa's leading gold producers and a world class deposit of iron ore is to be exploited in the near future.

If you are interested in finding out more information about the event, please contact our sales management team on +44 (0) 207 700 4874 send an email to audrey@ametrade.org. Please note that space is extremely limited at this premier conference and we advise all participants to book well in advance.

For further information on all aspects of the event, please do not hesitate to contact us or go to the official event website www.simsenegal.com

The Global Pacific & Partners 7th Annual African Petroleum Forum 2010 from 12-13th April 2010 takes place at The Geological Society, London, bringing together senior oil executives to interface, network and negotiate deals, whilst showcasing key players worldwide.

The 7th Annual African Petroleum Forum focuses on exploration, the gas-LNG game on the Continent, players and their strategies, State Companies in Africa, and Independents - and new thinking on Africa. This program will showcase leading Speakers at this world-class international management Conference, establishing it as a Forum for deals, direct networking with Governments, and new paradigms in the African upstream game.

For more details and to register:

Dee Dee's Olivier-nominated Billie Holliday tribute comes to London for the first time in 20 years. Her daughter China Moses opens with a set dedicated to Dinah Washington.

Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS

The year: 1946. The event: Oakland's "Jazz at the Philharmonic." The music streaked into the unknown, daring listeners to grab hold and fly there, too. On stage was the creator of those new sounds: Charles "Yardbird" Parker.

In the crowd was the 16-year-old who would someday bring Parker's extraordinary story to the screen: Clint Eastwood. Eastwood produces and directs Bird, a film burnished with the magic of that 1946 concert encounter between legend and future legend and honored with an Academy Award for Best Sound in its spellbinding recreation of a man and his music. Like jazz itself, Bird rings with counterpoints and embellishments. Past and future overlap as the film explores Yardbird's soaring skill and destructive excesses.

Click to book tickets online or call our Box Office on 020 7613 7498.

The London Book Fair is the global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels.

Taking place every spring in the world's premier publishing and cultural capital, it is a unique opportunity to explore, understand and capitalise on the innovations shaping the publishing world. The London Book Fair brings you direct access to customers, content and emerging markets.

The international publishing exhibition provides unparalleled opportunities to discover new products, companies, and ideas from the UK and around the world. A chance to meet with 23,000 publishing professionals, from 112 countries, over 3 days at a key time in the publishing calendar.

In tough economic times, organisations will look to their learning and development departments to contribute real value in building and retaining talent in the workforce. L&D departments need to respond to this challenge by adopting new approaches and developing new skill sets themselves. Also, the wide loss of jobs during the previous year has forced people to 'reinvent' & 'redefine' their professional capability. They are constantly looking for new skills or polishing existing skills to increase their competency and to make themselves more marketable. Hence, it is of utmost importance to global learning executives to provide a competent learning environment within the organisations.

The driving force behind SALVO Global Learning Academy 2010 conference is to help learning executives connect real-world corporate academy practices with leading-edge strategies to solve their current corporate learning challenges.

Global Learning Academy 2010 will showcase interactive and stimulating sessions, helping you to realize the need to restructure and revive your organisational learning & development functions post-crisis; providing tools and techniques to creatively blend working, learning and giving. GLA'10 is a unique platform to learn, network, discuss and debate fresh and innovative learning ideas with our esteemed faculty of speakers. Only the best speakers will be featured in this programme!

For further details to register and attend:  www.glaconference.com

CEF is hosting a colloquium After Kyoto - The new deal to combat climate change on 20th April, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Sessions include: Climate Change: Myth or Reality? Messages from the Science with Dr Guy Midgley: Scientific Steering Committee, Global Carbon Project, From Kyoto to Copenhagen: Challenges, Learnings and Successes in Implementing the Clean Development Mechanism with Dr John Kilani: Director, Sustainable Development Mechanism – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, What Really Happened in Copenhagen? COP15: A Debrief Did the Conference Fail or Was it a Limited Success? with Professor Harald Winkler: Centre for Energy Research, University of Cape Town, Climate Change: The South African Standpoint with Ms Joanne Yawitch: Deputy Director General, Department of Environmental Affairs, and The Role of Business and Industry in Climate Mitigation with Mr Jerry Vilakazi, CEO, Business Unity South Africa.

The African infrastructure and energy market is picking up as the aftershock of the financial crisis begins to subside. In South Africa, where liquidity flows easily relative to the rest of the continent, hot topics are the major deal opportunities in renewable energy, IPPs and an expanding list of social infrastructure projects from hospitals to prisons.

In East Africa, renewable energy projects are also developing, from wind to hydro, and across Central and Southern Africa a number of financing and investing opportunities are ready-to-go in the pipeline – from transport to the telecoms sector. In the context of the challenges and opportunities in this diverse continent, African Infrastructure and Energy Finance Conference will bring together major developers, key sponsors, government officials, important investors and lenders, advisory services and multilaterals to exchange knowledge, expertise and network for future deals.

This event is the essential gathering for developers and financiers to discuss with the deal-makers and deal-enablers in Africa.

For further information and to register: www.euromoneyseminars.com/AIEFC

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is delighted to host the 39th IFTDO World Conference in London, England.

The conference will be held in conjunction with our annual HRD Conference and Exhibition. Join us for up to three days and discuss the key challenges facing learning, training and development professionals around the world.

If you would like to know more about the event register your interest today and we'll send you a conference brochure in January 2010.

The Eastern Africa Energy Conference 2010, scheduled for Nairobi, is part of our worldwide suite of senior management events in/on Africa that we have conducted annually for over 16 years, and is endorsed by the Ministry of Energy, Kenya and the National Oil Corporation of Kenya.

It showcases the regional oil/gas and energy game in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mocambique, and focuses on the corporate players (private and state entities) that are shaping the fast-moving dynamics one of the Continent's rapidly growing energy markets - upstream, midstream, downstream, and in gas/power, CBM/CTL, as well as in renewables and biofuels.

Themes covered include: Government policies, state interventions in the oil/energy market, state oil/energy companies, private energy investments and interests, corporate portfolio and strategies, new entrants, competition and regulation, inter-fuel issues, product pricing, taxation and the financing of non-hydrocarbon ventures, plus critical issues impacting the Eastern African future.

On the first evening of the Eastern Africa Energy Conference we will host our 31st PetroAfricanus Dinner, with Guest Speaker: Jeff Hume, Managing Director, Upstream Petroleum Consultants.

Inside the week is a special and unique 3rd Petroleum Industry Fundamentals Industry Training Workshop presented by Dr Duncan Clarke, the world's leading authority on African oil and gas and global national oil companies, as well as the author of the widely-acclaimed Crude Continent; The Struggle for Africa's Oil Prize

For further details and to register: www.petro21.com/events/index.cfm?id=502

This flagship event is part of the national strategy for the return of skilled Moroccan workers living abroad and their willingness to participate actively in Moroccan development by creating platforms for exchange, encounter and reflection. This event is for Moroccan students, graduates and professionals living in Europe and is an opportunity to meet and exchange views about the Moroccan economic situation and learn about career opportunities and collaboration. For more information, visit www.careersinmorocco.com

Join us at HRD 2010 to examine your key challenges from a fresh perspective. Delve deeper into your core issues, think differently and stimulate new ideas.

Whatever challenges you're facing, from developing L&D programmes to driving capability through change, HRD will offer you innovative solutions and creative new approaches to the issues on your mind.

Choose from 5 key topics including organisation development, leading and managing the L&D function and learning and talent development. HRD is a great place to make new contacts. You can take part in fast and fun networking sessions including:

• speed networking
• career coaching and
• roundtable discussions

www.cipd.co.uk/cande/hrd

 

22-23 April - South African Migration to the UK: Exploring Dynamics, Identities and Prospects, University of Loughborough, Loughborough

This two-day seminar is being co-organised by Daniel Conway (Loughborough) and Charlotte Lemanski (UCL) with financial support from Centre for the Study of International Governance (CSIG) at Loughborough University. Papers to be presented at the seminar: South African migration to the UK and might include issues such as: whiteness, Diaspora, space and identity. As this is a relatively under-researched area, this seminar is intended to serve as an initial space to share ideas and research findings, develop a network of researchers and identify future research agendas.

Enquiries to Charlotte Lemanski: c.lemanski(AT)ucl.ac.uk

 

Coming Up.....

24-26 May – 2nd Annual Human Capital Management Forum, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Following the tremendous success of our 1st Human Capital Management Conference – Innovating HR Strategies in Tough Times, Fleming Gulf is proud to host the 2nd Annual Human Capital Management Forum scheduled for 24th -26th May 2010 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The recent past has seen a shift in regional HR Policy and Strategies with more and more companies focusing on consolidating their workforce and developing the talent and skill set of their existing employees. Employee Motivation and Engagement continue to be important HR functions given that inspired employees are more efficient and dedicated to their work. These and several other key issues will be on the agenda for discussion at the 2nd Annual Human Capital Management Forum. Key Regional and International HR Leaders from Banking and Finance, Commerce, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Aviation, General Trading and various other sectors will come together at this event to present, discuss and participate in the 2nd edition of this highly successful Fleming Gulf Conference.

www.fleminggulf.com/conferences/cross-industry/2nd Human Capital Management-1

 

April - In the Mix with Soweto Kinch, Rich Mix, London

Every Sunday Soweto Kinch returns to the Rich Mix bar, taking jazz to the next level with a selection of guest artists and performers including Jay Phelps, Femi Temowo and Shabaka Hutchings. Soweto launched his solo career a couple of years later, winning a Mercury Music Prize for An Album Of The Year 2003, and earning him the MOBO Award for Best Jazz Act 2003. Shabaka Hutchings is an emerging clarinet/ saxophonist on the vibrant London jazz scene, and a member of Courtney Pine's Jazz Warriors group. Although known primarily for his guitar playing, Femi Temowo is also a well known producer and songwriter who has played with George Benson, The Roots, Eska, Julie Dexter, and Amy Winehouse.

www.richmix.org.uk/aandc_music.htm

 

Coming Up.....

26-28 May - eLearning Africa 2010, Lusaka, Zambia

The 5th eLearning Africa will take place from May 26th–28th, 2010 in Lusaka, Zambia, under the patronage of the Zambian Minister of Education, the Honourable Ms Dora Siliya. The pan-African conference, organised by ICWE GmbH, focuses on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development, education and training in Africa. Serving as a pan-African platform, eLearning Africa links a network of decision makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry and important partners in development cooperation. Each year, a different country serves as the venue.

At the 2009 event, 1350 education professionals from 83 countries convened in the Senegalese capital Dakar in May. The conference took place under the patronage of Maître Abdoulaye Wade, the President of Senegal.

eLearning Africa, 5th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, Mulungushi International Conference Center, Lusaka, Zambia. Organisers: ICWE GmbH, www.icwe.net Contact: ICWE GmbH, info@elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-africa.com   Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0

 

27 April - Rokia Traore, Koko, London

Rokia Traoré is one of the greatest contemporary voices in Africa today. Deeply rooted in her African tradition, and yet looking at the world in a very modern way, her music is the artistic expression of her multiculturalism.

Rokia Traoré is an accomplished composer and arranger as well as a poetic, sensitive, enlightened lyricist. Her songs pay homage to her country, speak of her vision for the future and invite those who listen to share in her experiences as a young and profoundly modern African artist. www.koko.uk.com

 

27-29 April – 10th Annual National Multicultural Business Conference, Washington DC, USA

Now a major multicultural business conference, the conference was first held at Fairfield University in Connecticut during 2001. The conference has a history of bringing together entrepreneurs, corporate diversity practitioners, government agencies and college/university, practice-based participants with an interest in the issues of multicultural business and community. The conference examines the concept of multiculturalism as a positive aspect of a global world and globalized society.

The conference looks at the realities of diversity today, critically as well as optimistically and strategically. The conference will be a place for speaking about diversity, and in ways that range from the 'big picture' and the theoretical, to the very practical and everyday realities of diversity in organizations, communities and civic life. In 2010, the conference will be held in Washington, DC, at the Gaylord Resorts. This conference will address a range of critically important themes in the area of multiculturalism in business. Main speakers will include some of the world's leading thinkers in the field, as well as numerous papers and workshop presentations by researchers and practitioners.

This is a conference for any person with an interest in, and concern for building our economy, educational system and society through inclusion. All are encouraged to register and attend this significant and timely conference.

www.diversitybusiness.com/Events/DivEvent/2010/

 

For further information, please contact the organisers directly.

PLEASE NOTE: ReConnect Africa accepts no responsibility for any of the events described above and/or any dealings with the event organisers.

To notify us of your event and discuss advertising and marketing options, please contact us at: editor@reconnectafrica.com