VICTORIA, Seychelles — A delegation from the Indian Ocean Commission, COI, is in Seychelles for a week of awareness-raising aimed at encouraging greater participation by Seychellois artists in the cultural and creative industries, ICC, programme. The mission includes meetings with artists and cultural professionals to present funding opportunities, scholarships and support mechanisms available through the COI.
Speaking during the visit, Juliette Janin, mission officer for Education and Training, Culture, Health, Gender and Entrepreneurship at the COI, said the team is on the ground because they want to understand the realities and needs of Seychellois creators. “There is incredible richness here. We need to go and meet artists in all domains to understand the ecosystem and connect the different actors,” she explained. The team noted that despite the wealth of talent in Seychelles, the response to its programmes has been limited, with some scholarships going unfilled.
The COI offers five distinct bursaries: the Ale Vini mobility bursary, study bursaries for short courses and master’s degrees, support bursaries for cultural events, support bursaries for digital and numerical works, and a co-creation bursary that encourages collaborations between artists from different IOC member countries. The delegation also organised a special information session and the monthly ICC Connect online meeting. Application forms are available on the kiltir.org platform in several languages.
