« Cultural Project » SUMMER FESTIVAL KEKELI

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Since 2014 ASTOVOT has initiated a cultural project called “Festival Kékéli”. KéKéli means "Light" in Ewé and want to be a crossroads of cultural expression and popular education. Every summer, many volunteers are welcomed to this international workcamp in order to discover the richness of Togolese culture in all its diversity. During two weeks the festival offers, as part of a popular education approach, several cultural and artistic activities and gives the local population and volunteers the opportunity to create spaces for intercultural exchange and to promote the cultural and artistic heritage of the region where the festival is organized. For ASTOVOT it is about bringing art and culture as close as possible to people who live in rural areas, to make them move, sing, dance, laugh and make people smile. The theme chosen this year for the festival is "cultural diversity, a pillar of social cohesion and peace". Apart of the festival, several other activities are organized by the volunteers, in particular: sanitation actions in the village hosting the festival, a football competition for young girls, awareness-raising actions in ecological practices, etc. PROJECT OBJECTIVES  To offer an intercultural exchange through the immersion in peasant families and the promotion of cultural, artistic and artisanal heritage.  To value popular culture and to allow folk and traditional groups to gain visibility by programming of a brilliant closing show.  To raise awareness of the fragility of the ecosystems balance and to promote ecological practices.  To remove gender stereotypes, specially regarding cultural and artistic subjects. MAIN ACTIVITIES The main activities:  Percussion, dance and singing courses to the rhythms of the Djembe and other traditional instruments.  Casting of folk and traditional groups for the closing show.  Batik workshops : learning how to use and wear these tradicional fabrics.  Basket workshops : learning how to make traditional baskets.  Organization of a live concert and exhibition the first workcamp weekend.  Organization of an awareness parade with placards on the theme of the festival.  Organization of the closure show with folk and traditional groups.  Delivery of certificates of participation and awards.  Cleaning and maintenance of sites. The secondary activities: - Organization of a football competition for young girls from the village. - Sanitation actions in the neighborhoods of the village and door-to-door awareness about the dangers of the plastic waste proliferation. - Immersion in peasant families.