Call for applications: Karmakol International Festival

Karmakol is an exchange programme that will showcase Sudan’s cultural spaces. The three-week event will feature international artists and workshops focused on creating awareness about the arts and culture of Sudan. The festival is hosted by non-profit organisation Swiss Initiative – Culture Projects Sudan.

The organisers say the event will comprise “15 concerts from around Sudan, 15 international guest performers, five art exhibitions, 40 local and international films, 10 theatre plays, 20 performances by poets and 10 book readings”.

Sudan is often depicted negatively in the media. However, the Karmakol initiative hopes to “uncover a rarely seen perspective – one of hope, diversity, talent and peaceful coexistence”. The focus of the festival is on young people who make up 60% of the Sudanese population.

Music, theatre, film, arts and literature will be showcased during the festival. Festival attendees can rent accommodation from the locals in Karmakol, an area north of the capital Khartoum. The area was once susceptible to floods from the Nile River, which would force local communities to flee the area. A way to control the floods was engineered that provided an area conducive to hosting the cultural exchange festival. A culture and education centre as well as an open film studio have also been developed in the area, which has a population 2 500.

Applicants who are interested are asked to visit the Karmakol International Festival website and fill in a form. Thereafter, the successful applicants will be contacted via email. The submission deadline is 30 September and the festival line-up will be announced on October 30.

Artists can access the application form here.