A Kigali-based arts organization is taking Rwanda’s youth storytelling agenda to one of the world’s most prestigious international stages, after being named a partner of the International Youth Media Summit ahead of its 21st edition in Paris this July.

Ikirenga Art and Culture Promotion, a Rwandan nonprofit founded to advance artistic and cultural development through training, mentorship, and international collaboration will be formally welcomed as a partner of the International Youth Media Summit, known as IYMS, at the organization’s Closing Ceremony on July 29 at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, the United Nations cultural and educational agency. The announcement will mark Rwanda’s entry into a global youth filmmaking network that has, since its founding in Los Angeles in 2006, brought together more than 1,700 young delegates from 81 countries across six continents.

The summit, running from July 17 to 29 and themed “Peace in Focus: Voices Reaching Across Borders,” will gather 60 young delegates from more than 19 countries to produce seven short films, each addressing one of the summit’s core social issues: poverty, discrimination, women’s rights, health, violence, the environment, and youth empowerment. Those films will premiere at the UNESCO Closing Ceremony before traveling to festivals, schools, and advocacy organizations worldwide.

Under the terms of the partnership, Ikirenga ACP will deliver filmmaking training and workshops to Rwandan youth, support the selection of Rwandan delegates for future summits, and co-produce media projects on the seven issue areas for screening at local and international festivals including the Seven Issues Film Festival, the summit’s own competitive strand.

ALSO READ: IKIRENGA ACP \u0026 IYMS Collaboration Showcases Rwanda at UNESCO

Pierre Hakizimana, Executive Director of Ikirenga Art and Culture Promotion, framed the agreement in terms of youth agency. “Both IYMS and Ikirenga believe that young people are not waiting for the world to change. They are the ones changing it,” he said. “Both organizations use the arts, media, and storytelling as tools for building peace, fostering cross-cultural understanding, and empowering youth to become active agents in their communities and on the global stage.”

The partnership positions Ikirenga which already holds observer status in UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and has run a UNESCO-backed Artistic Freedom Initiative across Kigali and Musanze as Rwanda’s designated gateway into the IYMS network. For IYMS, the collaboration represents a strategic expansion into Africa, with summit president Evelyn Seubert describing Rwanda’s youth community as an ideal foundation for growing the organization’s mission on the continent.

The July 29 ceremony will also carry a secondary disclosure of significance to the wider IYMS community: the host country for the 22nd Summit in 2027, which the organization has confirmed will be its first ever held in Latin America, will be announced in Paris that evening.

For Rwanda, the timing carries cultural weight. The country has steadily invested in its creative economy through national frameworks linking culture, tourism, and economic development and the IYMS partnership gives Rwandan youth filmmakers a direct pipeline to UNESCO-hosted audiences, international festival circuits, and a peer network spanning dozens of countries.