Core project activities include:

• disseminating historical, theoretical, artistic, technical and scientific research in the field of electronic and digital arts, including interdisciplinary study of the arts and the sciences;
• promoting information exchange, dialogue and communication among artists, scientists and technicians from different geo-cultural regions, with a focus on enabling them to develop their own approaches and practices in various disciplines and fields of knowledge connected to media arts;
• supporting existing institutions and networks throughout Africa in the transfer of knowledge;
• encouraging the use of electronic software among young people for electronic communication and creation.

The project draws heavily on information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote research, activities, and conversations relating to digital cultural practices in Africa. The idea is that "Computer design, video, film, stop frame animation, digital photography and creative digital software and hardware experiments have the strong potential of developing digital art with the education of the maker, who, through this production, is contributing a step towards digital art production in Africa."

DigiArts Africa is participatory and interactive, focusing on the creation of a network for experience and strategy sharing among the following groups: artists and their audiences, the digital and technology industries (music, film, multimedia, and web and design and technology providers), and educators in technology, arts, crafts, and design. These personnel exchange ideas and engage in collaborations, drawing in large part on ICTs, such as an email discussion list and access to a global e-directory of contacts who wish to connect, and sustain culture, through art. (The DigiArts Africa page on the UNESCO website provides more information about joining this network.)

Face-to-face interchanges are also organised to draw members of the network together and to build their capacity. For example, for a monthlong period in the summer of 2006, a special programme promoting digital artistic practises in Africa took place in partnership with the Daniel Langlois Foundation. Held at Dak'Art_Lab of the Dak'Art Biennale 2006 (a contemporary arts festival) in Senegal-Dakar, the initiative aimed to provoke communication about, and to promote, African media arts. The experience featured an exhibition, forum discussions and direct interaction with the arts (working in media such as video art), and training workshops on creative digital practises in the African context.

Technology.

UNESCO explains that, within the DigiArts Africa definition, one needs to acknowledge that - due to the lack of exposure to digital arts because of limited resources and the digital knowledge divide - the scope of this term needs to be extended to include those practices that have the potential for including both digital and artistic production.

DigiArts Africa is being developed in partnership with the Trinity Session, a contemporary art production team carrying out public and new media projects based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The DigiArts project is advised by 4 international advisory groups and partners who provide overall policy guidance. It is coordinated by an interdisciplinary group of UNESCO professionals from different sectors, both at headquarters in Paris and in the Field Offices and also assisted by a network of international institutions.