The Maputo Fast Forward Academy was presented in Maputo, a space that will boost and catapult innovation, the development of creative skills and research, opening a new cycle for the well-known Maputo Fast Forward festival. The idea is to help Mozambique and its capital become an important African and global creative circuit.
The Maputo Fast Forward Academy focuses on carrying out multidisciplinary research and artistic residency programmes with training and innovation, feeding its publications and its Festival, always with a futuristic and innovative vision, for the benefit of artists, creatives, academics, researchers, professionals in the vast field of cultural and creative industries and society in general.
The Residency programmes aim to encourage artistic innovation, the acquisition of new knowledge, experimentation and creative practices, multidisciplinary collaborations and intercultural dialogue.
As for research, the Academy aims to explore particular phenomena of relevance to Mozambique, Africa and the world, promoting a permanent dialogue between scientific knowledge, local popular knowledge, culture, artistic expression and technological innovation.
The Maputo Fast Forward Academy has a team specialising in various areas, including art curator Élia Gemuce, who is the Residency coordinator, and geographer and environmental activist Pr. José Maria Langa, who is the Research coordinator. The team also includes writer Mia Couto, as co-curator of the Festival, IT entrepreneur Sázia Sousa, as Innovation coordinator, and cultural manager Pablo Ribeiro, as Training coordinator.