The Diaspora Salon is an initiative of Association Collectif Eclats de Lune which organizes cross-cultural events . This specific program is an annual convening of scholars, artists, cultural practitioners, financiers, technologists, and community builders from across Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas. It is designed as an intentional intervention: a space where students and entrepreneurs experience, often for the first time, what it means to belong to excellence—and to be seen, valued, and welcomed into it.
Beyond inspiration the participants gain durable access to a global network that invests in their potential, mentors their ambitions, and walks alongside them over time. This is social capital made visible, transferable, and enduring. Most Black students and entrepreneurs remain structurally excluded from these global networks. Few have the opportunity to travel. Fewer still have direct relationships with Black leaders operating at the highest levels across sectors and geographies.
Philanthropic support for the Diaspora Salon directly addresses this gap. It ensures that proximity to excellence is not an accident of privilege, but a deliberate act of investment—one that creates lifelong networks, expands global possibility, and helps a new generation imagine, and access, futures previously out of reach.
Our past initiatives have shown that access to global networks and excellence creates permanent, life-changing impact.
Our annual gathering unfolds in Marrakech, beginning on the final day of the Contemporary African Art Fair 1:54 — a moment when the city hums with creativity and the spirit of Black cultural imagination. The sponsored participants for most have never travelled. They are then immersed in a world where brilliance travels freely across continents, and art collectors from around the globe arrive to celebrate Black excellence in contemporary art.
For many who may not often step inside museums, it becomes a revelation — a doorway into the vast and powerful presence of Black artists shaping the global stage. Creativity is not simply seen. It is felt, shared, and honored as part of a living, breathing heritage.
After discovering the international power of Black visual artists, participants are then immersed in four days of luminous conversations with leaders who look like them — voices of brilliance, achievement, and imagination. In their presence, possibility widens. Dreams feel nearer. And students begin to see that they, too, can aspire — and belong — at the very center of excellence.
As someone who understands the power of being in the right place at the right time, we invite you to give that opportunity to others.
We invite you to support this singular initiative, building lasting pathways to success and changing lives for generations.
Donors
Nadia zilkha Constanze Osei Majestic Lane Trevor McNeal