The International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD)

The International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD) was established at the University of Ghana, Legon, during the 1992-93 academic year. Its evolution specifically stemmed from initiatives proposed by a group of International scholars from Africa, the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, who met at the Rockefeller Conference and Study Center in Bellagio, Italy, in October, 1992, with the purpose of addressing the possibility of setting up a central site devoted to scholarship on African music and dance. Attending this initial meeting were representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA). Addressed during this Bellagio conference was the possibility of setting up a primary research center at the University of Ghana, Legon, with J.H. Kwabena Nketia serving as Director, dedicated to the development of materials and programs in African music and dance that would meet the growing needs of area scholars, research students, and creative artists.

Through funding offered by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and SIDA, in conjunction with the dedication of Kwabena Nketia and others present at the Bellagio meeting, the International Centre for African Music and Dance was established. The ICAMD currently operates as a semi-autonomous unit within the University of Ghana's School of Performing Arts, hosting separate departments for music, dance, drama, and theatre studies. As encouraged by members present at the Bellagio conference, the ICAMD functions as an international center, catering to scholarship needs of those in Africa, as well as those abroad. Its objectives include providing a forum for international meetings and conferences, serving as an archival documentation and study center, and functioning as a clearing house for information on events, artists, scholars, and institutions concerned with the study and promotion of African music and dance. In addition, the journal, International Journal of African Music and Dance, was instituted, as was an International Advisory Board, with members representative of Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States.

The Centre is intended:

• To provide a forum for international meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops and special events in African music and dance.
  
• To serve as an archival documentation and study centre for African music and dance.
  
• To promote and coordinate research and development projects in music and dance.
  
• To prepare and publish monographs, source materials, and bibliographies.
  
• To serve as a clearinghouse for information on events, artists, scholars and institutions concerned with the study and promotion of African music and dance.