Caralene Robinson
Ghana will co-host Move Afrika 2024 of the Global Citizen Festival with Rwanda, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer of the international NGO, Caralene Robinson has said.
With the goal of introducing top-notch music and live entertainment to every African nation, the Move Afrika concert circuit seeks to promote economic investment, job creation, and entrepreneurship prospects in the host nation, she stated.
“Our first show was in Rwanda with Kendrick Lamar. K-Dot,” Caralene said.
“We had our show, but if you peel back the hood of the show, we had a shadowing program where people came and learned about live event production. We had a fashion pop-up with over two dozen designers from across the continent.
“We had a film workshop. We had a food experience. We did a bunch of impact events. We planted over 1,000 trees. So we really wanted to… We employed over 1,000 Rwandans,” she asserted.
“When we did Ghana in 2022, we employed about 1,000 Ghanaians (10:05) on the ground,” she disclosed.
“I think as we go into the next show and the next event, which is a Move Africa event, which is really about job creation, economic development, supporting entrepreneurs and training, particularly in the creative communities,” Caralene Robinson said.
She continued, “And it’s also about putting more structure around the event circuit, which will create jobs, right? And also invite bigger artists to come over and perform. We are really excited about that and the impact it can have in terms of training.”
She explained that the goal with Move Africa is eventually to “fire ourselves and have these events run completely at the local level because people know how to do things like lighting and rigging.”
According to Caralene Robinson, they at Global Citizen are really about making sure that they are transferring new skills, training and creating opportunities on the ground.
“If we’re going to have the biggest entertainment, black anything in the world, it should be in the motherland. I’ve had conversations with people about this.
“I’m like, yeah, it’s cute that we fly to America with the arts. But if we’re saying we actually want to do something big for, let’s say, the Black community for the world to also celebrate and enjoy, I think we should bring it home,” she pointed out.
She explained, “And in order to bring it home, you have to make sure that there are people on the ground that have the skills to bring it home at the same level.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu