ACCES 2022 confirmed for Tanzania

Dar es Salaam will be the fifth African city to host ACCES, after the conference took place in Dakar, Senegal (2017), Nairobi, Kenya (2018), Accra, Ghana (2019) and Johannesburg, South Africa (2021). This will be the second time that ACCES will be held in East Africa.

“We have been looking forward to hosting ACCES in Tanzania for some time now,” MIAF director Eddie Hatitye said. “We are incredibly excited and look forward to the first-ever ACCES edition in Tanzania. This is an special musical country where traditional and contemporary music come together to create a colourful music scene that deserves to be celebrated with a truly pan-African platform like ACCES.”

ACCES has stamped its authority as Africa’s leading music conference. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the conference brought together over 550 delegates from 31 countries on the continent and beyond. The conference also hosted 74 showcasing artists from Africa and the diaspora, who got to perform for an influential audience at Constitution Hill in the heart of Johannesburg. Thousands of music professionals are expected at the next edition.

Apart from live showcases, the event features panel discussions, presentations, exhibitions, pitch sessions, Q&A sessions with prominent musicians and visits to key music industry hubs in the host city. Many of these activities will be planned for ACCES 2022, with the ACCES team already exploring a tailor-made programme that will cater for the specific needs of the local music industry.

“Every year we fine-tune our programme in a highly informed manner with the help of local and international partners, so that music professionals can get the best value out of ACCES,” Hatitye said. “ACCES is free to attend for African delegates and we urge all music professionals who are involved in the music scene to come together to explore new prospects and network with event organisers, record labels, digital distributors and media representatives from countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Germany, France, the UK and the US, to name a few.”

ACCES 2022 will open on 24 November with the Music In Africa Honorary Award ceremony, which pays tribute to African artists who have made immense contributions to the music and cultural industries in their countries and Africa as a whole. Previous award recipients include Baaba Maal (Senegal, 2017), Eric Wainaina (Kenya, 2018), Ebo Taylor (Ghana, 2019), Bibie Brew (Ghana, 2019), Vusi Mahlasela (South Africa, 2021) and Thandiswa Mazwai (South Africa, 2021).

Get involved

• As a performer: ACCES offers a great platform for emerging African talents. Performers have to apply to play at ACCES. Follow this link to read the full call for showcasing artists.
• As a delegate: Delegate registrations will open in July via the ACCES official website. ACCES is free to all Africans.
• As an exhibitor: ACCES offers unrivalled opportunities for music businesses to exhibit their works and services to a wider audience. Reserve your space via the official website from July 2022.
• Pitch sessions: ACCES’ Pitch Sessions allow businesses and startups to pitch their innovations and services to a critical audience. Pitch Session registrations will also open in July 2022.

For more information about the opportunities available at ACCES 2022, see the attached brochure below or follow this link.

About ACCES

The Music In Africa Conference for Collaborations, Exchange and Showcases, or simply ACCES, is a pan-African trade event for music industry players to exchange ideas, discover new talent and create business linkages. ACCES is held in a different African city every year, attracting active music industry players from across the globe. ACCES is organised by the Music In Africa Foundation, a non-profit and pan-African organisation, in partnership with Reeperbahn Festival International, Siemens Stiftung, Goethe-Institut and Alliance Française Tanzania.

For more information about the conference, visit the official ACCES website.

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