The Africa Center

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The Africa Center The Africa Center is transforming our understanding of contemporary Africa through culture, policy and business.
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Minutes from the United Nations and located at One Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue adjoining Harlem in New York City, The Africa Center will operate locally and globally to transform our understanding of the world’s oldest continent, which also boasts its youngest population. Encompassing culture, policy, and business, The Africa Center promotes partnership, collaboration, dialogue and understanding between African artists, business leaders and civil society and their counterparts in the United States and beyond. The Africa Center will host visual, performing, and digital arts presentations; develop and disseminate innovative educational tools; convene focused, thoughtful peer-to-peer exchanges; and sponsor results-oriented policy research.

The Global Africa Gateway, an initiative of The Africa Center, established in partnership with African Export-Import Ban...
10/08/2026

The Global Africa Gateway, an initiative of The Africa Center, established in partnership with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), extends heartfelt gratitude to all who made the 2026 Future Africa Forum a resounding success.

Held under the theme “Powering Trade, Investment, and Cultural Exchange for Global Africa," the Forum welcomed over 340 guests including policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs, and creatives; bringing Africa and its diaspora together to forge meaningful connections, explore joint ventures, and unlock business and investment opportunities.

From Mrs. Kanayo Awani's welcome address on behalf of Afreximbank, to the powerful conversation on diaspora capital in African sports economies with Amadou Gallo Fall (BAL) and Roger Mason Jr., to the release of new Diaspora Research findings from The Africa Center's Global Africa Gateway, every session reinforced why this platform matters.

We were honored to hear from Ms. A***n Simone (Fearless Fund) on backing Global Africa's women founders and our closing fireside on the African-Caribbean Bridge with Hon. Christopher Sinckler (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Barbados), a fitting capstone to a night about harnessing and structuring diaspora capital for industrialisation.

Our sincere thanks to moderator Barkue Tubman-Zawolo for steering the evening with such energy, to every speaker and panelist who shared their vision, and to all the delegates who showed up ready to build.

This is what Global Africa looks like. See you next year!

Join The Africa Center for the 5th Edition of the Harlem African Animation Festival in partnership with Dr. Boukary Sawa...
10/08/2026

Join The Africa Center for the 5th Edition of the Harlem African Animation Festival in partnership with Dr. Boukary Sawadogo (Boukary Sawadogo) on Thursday, October 22!

This vibrant celebration brings African and diasporic stories to life through the colorful, imaginative world of animation. Across the continent and throughout the Diaspora, animators are using the medium to explore history, mythology, identity, politics, technology, migration, environmental change, and everyday life.

📍 The Africa Center (1280 Fifth Avenue)
📅 Thursday, October 22, 2026 | 7PM
🎟️ Link in bio

On Wednesday, October 21, join The Africa Center for an evening of memory, conversation, and collective sound-making in ...
10/07/2026

On Wednesday, October 21, join The Africa Center for an evening of memory, conversation, and collective sound-making in partnership with Dial-an-Ancestor.

Share the neighborhoods, people, voices, and everyday sounds that shaped you and add your voice to a growing archive of diasporic memory.

As the evening unfolds, those voices will become part of a live DJ set with umumaroon, turning the room into a living archive of itself.

No performance required. No experience necessary. Just come ready to talk, listen, and remember.

📍 The Africa Center (1280 Fifth Avenue)
📅 Wednesday, October 21, 2026 | 7PM
🎟️ Link in bio

*Dial-an-Ancestor is a 24/7 public service hotline spanning 2021-2121 by Tamika Abaka-Wood.

Please note: The Africa Center and CUP cafe will be closed today October 6th and tomorrow October 7th.We look forward to...
10/06/2026

Please note: The Africa Center and CUP cafe will be closed today October 6th and tomorrow October 7th.

We look forward to welcoming you back on Thursday during normal opening hours (8am - 4pm).

Now on view at The Africa Center!What does it mean to live, adapt, and imagine tomorrow when the world around you is cha...
09/17/2026

Now on view at The Africa Center!

What does it mean to live, adapt, and imagine tomorrow when the world around you is changing? Across Africa, climate change is reshaping landscapes, livelihoods, and the everyday decisions people make to survive. Yet these experiences cannot be reduced to a single image or story.

Presented in partnership with Africa Soft Power, The Africa Center's new exhibition, “Lines of Survival," brings together the work of five young African photographers documenting how communities are living with, responding to and imagining their way through a changing climate.

Featured Artists:
- Mpumelelo Buthelezi | South Africa
- Vanessa Mulondo | Uganda
- Kevin Ochieng | Kenya
- Brian Ongoro | Kenya
- Nicolas Vava | Togo

📅 On view September 17 - November 1, 2026
📍 The Africa Center, 1280 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029
⏰ Free and open to the public: Tuesday—Sunday, 8AM—4PM

This week, Vance Whitfield, Director of The Global Africa Gateway participated in the panel discussion, "Scaling the Car...
09/11/2026

This week, Vance Whitfield, Director of The Global Africa Gateway participated in the panel discussion, "Scaling the Carolinas: Enterprise, Global Markets & the Africa Advantage" during Africa Investment Network's Global Africa Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The plenary brought together voices from trade, investment, and economic development to discuss how Carolina-based companies can do business in Africa.

Moderated by Gwen Snyder de Zuniga, the panel also featured Jeremy Faber (US Africa Trade Desk), Akofa Dossou (Canaan Selah X Group), and Michael March (Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC).

The Africa Center and Africa Soft Power are pleased to present the first exhibition of the 2026 Africa Soft Power Climat...
09/10/2026

The Africa Center and Africa Soft Power are pleased to present the first exhibition of the 2026 Africa Soft Power Climate Storytelling Fellowship & Photo Essay Prize.

On view at The Africa Center from September 17 to November 1, 2026, "Lines of Survival: Living, Adapting, Imagining Tomorrow" brings together the work of five young African photographers documenting how communities are living with, responding to and imagining their way through a changing climate.

South African photographer Mpumelelo Buthelezi was named the Overall Winner for "E'Plazini: A Place to Call Home for Waste Collectors," a series documenting waste pickers in the Dryhook informal settlement in Soweto.

He is joined by four finalists: Kevin Ochieng Onyango (Kenya) for "Climate Realities," documenting communities in northern Kenya through a drought in its fourth year; Vanessa Mulondo (Uganda) for "The Fishermen’s Tale," photographed on the shores of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania; Brian Ongoro (Kenya) for "When the Water Stays," on families living amid persistent flooding near Lake Victoria in Kenya; and Nicolas Vava (Togo) for "Stand in the Sand," tracing the effects of coastal erosion on fishing communities along the Togolese shoreline.

Link in bio for more information!

📍 The Africa Center (1280 Fifth Avenue)

📅 On view: September 17 - November 1
Tuesday - Sunday (8am - 5pm)

📸: Mpumelelo Buthelezi, E'Plazini: A Place to Call Home for Waste Collectors

The Global Africa Gateway is an initiative of The Africa Center, established in partnership with Afreximbank, that creat...
08/26/2026

The Global Africa Gateway is an initiative of The Africa Center, established in partnership with Afreximbank, that creates structured pathways for Africa’s diaspora to engage with people, institutions and opportunities across Africa. The Gateway delivers this through research, convening, partnerships and professional engagement, connecting investors, entrepreneurs, professionals, institutional partners and students with relevant networks and opportunities for meaningful engagement.

On Tuesday, September 1, The Gateway will host its inaugural webinar introducing participants to the initiative's vision, objectives, and key pillars. Attendees will gain insights into how Afreximbank and The Africa Center are collaborating to build pathways that facilitate deeper engagement between Africa and diaspora communities.

The webinar will showcase current and upcoming opportunities available through the initiative, including the Diaspora Study, Internship Programme, Diaspora Professionals Initiative, and Future Africa Forum. Participants will also learn about Afreximbank's flagship platforms and events, including the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), CANEX Weekend, and the AfriCaribbean Trade & Investment Forum (ACTIF), among others.

📍 Zoom
📅 Tuesday, September 1, 2026 | 9am EST / 4pm EAT
🎟️ Register to join the conversation: [LINK IN BIO]

08/25/2026

We're putting a spotlight on the Global Africa Gateway 2026 Summer Interns. Meet Alfred Brandon Woodward.

Brandon, a Flint, Michigan native, graduated from Howard University’s School of Business as a Legacy Scholar, studying International Business with a focus on Emerging Markets in 2015. He spent over eight years at Goldman Sachs in corporate finance, working in Regulatory Operations, DEI program management, and diversity recruiting.

He later served as Senior Manager of Community Engagement and DEI at Lime Connect, a nonprofit supporting individuals with visible and invisible disabilities, where he led partnerships across the U.S. and Canada and supported a network of over 30,000 members. Brandon is currently pursuing a degree in International Affairs at Columbia University, focusing on Development and Governance.

This summer, Brandon is in Cairo, Egypt working with Afreximbank, a global financial institution committed to transforming Africa’s trade.



*Content created by 2026 Global Africa Gateway intern Naomi Campbell in collaboration with her magazine FUSION.

08/21/2026

Surf club in Dakar, Senegal 🌊🇸🇳

Happy Friday, everyone!

🎥: Take Off Ngor• Dakar• Senegal

Address

1280 5th Avenue
New York, NY
10029

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

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+12124449795

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