About ZAM

Title: BC1-ND-FC: The Advent of the Visionaries-A Screen to Behold
From the series: Blazing Century 1: Niger-Delta/Future-Cosmos. Mixed-Medium; Pigment print and acrylic on canvas in the artist's frame (fabric, polystyrene, and light steel rod). Dimension large: 200L x 150H x 0.5W cm. Courtesy of Wilfred Ukpong and Blazing Century Studios

Future Crafting

ZAM is a creative platform centred in Europe for African artists, writers and free thinkers who grapple with the issues of our time.

African thinkers and creatives are crafting the future. They’re breaking down boundaries and imagining a world beyond ‘us’ and ‘them’. ZAM brings their work to a wider audience in the Netherlands, Europe, Africa and the world. We invite people to listen to and experience these perspectives so that the urgent discussions of the day can be more sharply focused through a new lens.

ZAM publishes the work of our creative community through the ZAM Magazine website and special print editions. We bring free thinkers together with their audiences through events like the ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture and Face Forward festival. ZAM creates synergy between creatives from Africa, Europe and the diaspora by setting up partnerships across the continental divide.

Why do we do this?

At ZAM we’re convinced that a new relationship between Africa and Europe / the West based on mutuality and inseparability brings the insights needed to tackle the big challenges of our age.

A positive, interactive relationship between people nurtures connectedness. It paves the way to finding conjoined solutions to inequality, corruption, migration, climate change and the like.

Justice through democracy, freedom of expression and self-determination are not only crucial values for ZAM, but also vital principles for us all. Because we share humanity. At ZAM we often see that when these values are eroded and suppressed, society divides. Walls go up and the opportunity for alternative, challenging points of view tragically disappears.

ZAM is driven to bringing new insights and understanding that cross boundaries and bridge knowledge gaps. By publishing-in-freedom, ZAM amplifies voices that otherwise would remain silent or hardly possible to hear. Through sharing the perspectives developed by our creative community, we foster solidarity for the forces of democratic change at work both in Africa and the West.

Re-thinking the relationship

Africa and Europe have been entwined for centuries. Africa is firmly lodged in Europe, and vice-versa. However, the relations between the two are deeply flawed and in desperate need of rejuvenation. The same goes for relations between Africa and the West as a whole.

ZAM is a platform for those re-thinking this relationship. For African future-makers imagining a new relationship with Europe and the West that is enriching rather than one that holds everyone back. For Western and African Diasporic free-thinkers seeking new perspectives to replace the old.

ZAM’s Mission

Our mission is to visualize and give form to what this new relationship between Africa and the West looks like. We do this through the visionary work of writers, investigative journalists, photographers, film makers, artists and free thinkers whose endeavours rise above barriers and social divides.

Putting it simply, ZAM is imagining a world with no ‘them’, and no ‘us’.

Our history

With its historical roots in solidarity movements and the struggle against colonialism and apartheid, ZAM is ideally positioned as an intermediary between creatives and changemakers in Africa and the West.

Founded in 2007, the ZAM-Net Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation with an ANBI status. ZAM first published the work of our creative community in a printed magazine characterised by its striking layouts and prominence given to photography. In 2012 the magazine migrated online in order to reach more readers on the African continent and elsewhere in the world.

It’s no co-incidence that our office is located in Amsterdam. Steeped in colonial history and enriched through profits from slavery, Amsterdam now proactively deals with its past, has welcomed Nelson Mandela with open arms after his release from prison and been dubbed the ‘anti-apartheid city’ by former mayor Ed van Thijn. Amsterdam builds partnerships and solidarity amongst its citizens and welcomes the value of transformation. This fits seamlessly with ZAM’s own goals and ambitions.

Over the years ZAM has built a unique network of 1400+ creatives both on the African continent and in the African Diaspora. We continually hunt for opportunities where creators can interact with audiences and we work closely with our partners to build impact around these publications and events.

Team

Sean Fitzpatrick - Executive Director
Bart Luirink - Editor-in-Chief
Evelyn Groenink - Investigations Editor
Nyoxani Massive - Newsroom co-ordinator
Farren van Wyk - Photo & Web Editor
Devi Pillay - Assistant investigations and copy editor
Alisa Westbroek - Financial administration
Leonie Verburg - Volunteer
Elora Olumuyiwa - Volunteer

Board

Joseph Seh - Chair Linkedin
Maria Kint - Secretary Linkedin
Dineo Nhlapo - Treasurer Linkedin
Milton van Wyk Linkedin

Patrons of the annual ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture

Femke Halsema (Mayor of Amsterdam)
Conny Braam
Adriaan van Dis
Hennah Draaibaar
Zakes Mda
Marjan Goslings
Mpho Tutu
Clayde Menso
Jerry Afriyie

Ambassador

Boris Dittrich

Contact

ZAM studio: Tussen de Bogen 66, 1013 JB Amsterdam. Map here.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | + 31 20 531 84 97

Library

Digitalised record of titles in the ZAM library.

Partners

MO* Magazine, The Continent, Afrique XXI, De Groene Amsterdammer, ITA, De Balie, Africadelic, Designserver, Black Heritage Tours Amsterdam, Sites of Memory, Afrovibes, Global Investigative Journalism Network Africa, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Aké Arts & Books Festival Lagos, Klyntji, Lubumbashi Biennal, NUKU Accra, Parkers Design, Stevenson Gallery, Studio Ruiter Janssen, Uganda Press Photo Award.

Friends of ZAM has the support of generous individuals, artists (Anton Corbijn, Marlene Dumas, Ruan Hoffmann, Patricia Kaersenhout, Zanele Muholi, Berend Strik, Nontsikelelo Veleko), donors and individual supporters.