Mike van Graan is appointed Executive Director of Africa Centre
Arts administrator and playwright Mike van Graan has been appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Africa Centre.
The Africa Centre is a non-profit organisation that seeks to document, promote and celebrate the arts, culture and heritage of the African continent. Its major projects since its inception in 2007 have been the launch of the biennial Spier Contemporary visual arts exhibition, the Spier Poetry Exchange and the Spier Performing Arts Festival.
Van Graan, touted in the centre's press release as 'recognised as one of the most influential people in the South African arts and culture sector', says of his appointment, 'The Africa Centre is a truly exciting project and I am honoured to be a part of it'.
Most recently, Van Graan has been working as the Secretariat for the Arterial Network, an informal network of individuals, institutions and funding partners that seeks to support the growth of Africa's arts and culture civil society. The Arterial Network was launched on Goiree Island, Senegal, in 2007. Van Graan says, 'There is potentially great synergy between the vision of the Africa Centre and the work of the Arterial Network, and I'm looking forward to the Centre pursuing its objectives beyond the Limpopo, and to it being shaped and influenced by increasing contact with colleagues in other parts of the continent.'
One of the major projects the Africa Centre will tackle will be the creation of an online directory of African arts, culture and heritage to facilitate greater networking and collaboration between practitioners from Africa and elsewhere.
Van Graan takes over from board member Tanner Methvin, who assumed a directorial role while the Centre completed its search for a permanent director. Methvin will continue to play a key role in the organisation as a board member.
