Si Hene · Programs 2026
Talks, workshops and sessions at Si Hene are open to everyone. Come to dance, drum, listen and learn with us, and look back on the gatherings, workshops and fellowships that have shaped our work.
Britain and the Asante Treasure
Guest lecture by Barnaby Phillips and book launch of The African Kingdom of Gold: Britain and the Asante Treasure.
Si Hene Foundation, Accra
Can you keep a beat? Let’s find out!
Join us at Si Hene for Come and Let’s Drum, a chance to listen, play, and make rhythm together. We’ll begin with clapping and simple patterns, then get our hands on the drums. Come on your own or bring someone along; you don’t need any experience.
Si Hene Foundation, 128 Ring Road East, Accra
128 Ring Rd E, Accra
Our pilot fellowship. Five fellows received foundational training in ethical preservation: documenting, digitising and caring for at-risk cultural materials, with community consent placed before access. The program included field visits to the J.H. Nketia Archives, the George Padmore Research Library, PRAAD and Nkyinkyim Museum.
128 Ring Rd E, Accra
Over four days, participants spent time with works by Paul Strand, James Barnor, Willis Bell and Basil Davidson. Si Hene founder Rita Mawuena Benissan, curator Damarice Amao and Cécile Nedelec of Les Rencontres d'Arles led a guided conversation in which participants brought their own eye and memory to images that, for a long time, were made without us in the room.
Jamestown Café, Accra
Over three days at Jamestown Café on High Street, Accra, participants from across the city came together to document at-risk cultural materials, oral histories and neighbourhood memory. The Vanishing Past was Si Hene's first large-scale public archiving workshop, and it laid the groundwork for the Custodians of Culture Fellowship.
Accra, Ghana
Si Hene founder Rita Mawuena Benissan directed the Open Society Foundations' Global Convening for the Restitution of African Heritage. The gathering brought together institutions, governments and cultural practitioners from across Africa and the diaspora to address the return of African cultural objects held in Western collections.
