Inema Art Center & Kampcon Fandom Foundation have teamed up for a common goal to host the Worldcon in Africa and in a city accessible to everyone.

We intend to make Worldcon available to everyone

Inema/Kampcon, strategy, Confidences, and intentions

Worldcon is a rotating global convention that visits a new city every year since 1939. As of 2024, 82 Worldcons have been hosted on different continents namely;- Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America but non in Africa.

Africa has a rich storytelling heritage and a wealth of folktales that have been passed down for generations.. The African continent is home to a tradition of creation myths that on closer inspection bear a striking resemblance to speculative science fiction. The Dogon people of Mali believe they are the descendants of an extra-terrestrial race from the Sirius B star system, and the Zulu in South Africa trace their name and origin story to somewhere just beyond the heavens. In Uganda the Buganda kingdom that has continuity since the 14^th century traces its origins from a supernatural being “Kintu” who came from another world. Some of such stories have informed great fiction works that have won major honors in the science fiction genre. Writers who connect with African culture in their works have had no limits to fresh new stories, like Nnedi Okorafor and Tade Thompson have, between them, won the field’s highest honors, including the Hugo.

However many speculative fiction works, talents, and stories by Africans living in Africa still struggle to find a place on global platforms for fans and consumers to admire because of a number of barriers including but not limited to proximity of host nations due to amorphous conditions for creatives to acquire travel licensees (Visas), technological and economical differences, this leaves a lot of untapped talent and virgin stories on the continent that would be of great value to the science fiction and fantasy industry. This too has limited diversity and inclusion in the Worldcon community and Scifi creative space.

Africa is not only hub for talent and stories that can inform production of great works of science fiction and fantasy, but also commands a strong fan base for the genre. This has been proved by the recent explosion of the global media industries and streamers inking collaboration deals with African sci-fi producers in a bid to grow their markets and have succeeded.

We intend to host the Worldcon in a city accessible to everyone free from community and institutionalized discrimination making it available to all creatives and fans enabling them to connect with companions from the rest of the world. This will help create more diverse and relevant collaborations which will steer the industry onto more sustainable and desirable trajectories. This is very possible, Ray Bradbury when actively immersed in the blossoming community of fans, he fell in with Forrest J Ackerman and the Los Angeles Science Fiction League (LASFL) in October 1937 at the age of 17 Just four months later, his first published science fiction story appeared in the January 1938 issue of the club’s organ and went on to shape the genre for the next several decades.

Mission

Host Worldcon in a hospitable city accessible to everyone comfy for all science fiction, fantasy, Art related activities and culture.

We will ensure that local and international organizations and fans who wish to help by bringing expertise, experience and support to KAMPCON will be made feel very comfortable

Aims

• Raise the visibility of Scifi projects, stories, and talents from the underrepresented communities like the Global south (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia) to create networking opportunities with potential co-producers and other industry partners.

• Facilitate growth of the Global south (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia) creative industry market through diversification of content and translation into globally broadly spoken languages.

• Encourage project collaboration to stimulate the production of Global south content and promote international co-production opportunities

• Generate market access for Global south scifi creatives and content to international market.

Inema Art Center is one of the leading gallery in Kigali Rwanda which has worked so much to empower creatives in Africa and a top attraction in Kigali. Kampcon Fandom Foundation is a non-profit of Scifi, fantasy and comic creatives with the aim to promote Africa’s creative content beyond the continent.