Thirty emerging talents will be selected for a new pan-African initiative designed to identify, train and connect the next generation of African storytellers.
Story School, the communications school of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), in collaboration with the French-African Foundation, has announced the launch of KESSA, a pan-African programme dedicated to the new languages of African storytelling.
KESSA is an unprecedented initiative aimed at those shaping the African narratives of today and tomorrow. Conceived as a residency programme, it seeks to identify, train and connect 30 emerging talents from across the continent, including creators, journalists, scientists, influencers, cultural entrepreneurs and media voices committed to transforming how Africa is seen and understood.
At a time when African cultural and creative industries are expanding rapidly and narratives are playing an increasingly central role in social and economic dynamics, the name KESSA takes on particular resonance. Meaning "story" in Arabic and in several African dialects, the term reflects the essential connection between memory, heritage, voice and collective imagination.
Telling Africa's story is not simply an act of representation. It is a way of transforming perceptions, shaping futures and reprogramming the imagination. Through its pan-African artistic and cultural storytelling residency, KESSA offers a space in which Africa can imagine and narrate its own future, while giving form to the narrative languages of tomorrow. For its first edition, 30 new voices from across the continent will be selected to join this narrative laboratory and amplify African stories on a global stage.
"At Story School, we are convinced that changing representations and elevating African voices requires telling Africa's stories differently, in all their diversity and creativity," says Meriem Idrissi Kaitouni, Director of UM6P Story School. "As a communications laboratory, we have a responsibility to contribute to this transformation. Through KESSA, we will offer the 30 selected laureates a programme of excellence to help them strengthen and amplify their voices."
Nachouat Meghouar, Managing Director of the French-African Foundation, adds: "With KESSA, we are supporting those who are renewing African narratives. Their work is essential to building a contemporary, realistic, ambitious and positive representation of the continent."
The programme is open to professionals aged between 25 and 40 who have at least five years' experience in practices linked to emerging African storytelling and community-driven narratives. Eligible fields include cinema, television and audiovisual production, literature and poetry, music and dance, photography, design, visual arts, urban culture, media and criticism, digital storytelling, museology, archives, research, cultural entrepreneurship, social innovation and sport, among others.
Participants will be encouraged to create, connect and experiment collectively. From 23 to 28 March 2026, the 30 selected laureates will take part in an immersive residency at the UM6P Story School campus in Rabat, Morocco. The programme will combine masterclasses led by African and international experts, hands-on workshops focused on writing, image, sound, digital storytelling and performance, collaborative sessions and professional encounters, as well as tailored support for the creation of an original work. Participants will also be integrated into an active and structured pan-African network.
Beyond the residency, the work and profiles of the selected talents will be highlighted through a pan-African communications campaign jointly led by UM6P Story School and the French-African Foundation. This will include coverage across the press, broadcast and digital media, as well as engagement with influencers and institutional partners.
Applications for the first edition of KESSA are open until 10 January 2026 at www.kessa.africa.