Meeting paper on the artistic creation and production of African art in Africa today, with particular reference to the role of the artist in cultural development and national development - considers educational reform and curriculum development for cultural education, stressing the use of vernacular languages to strengthen cultural identity, examines the social environment of the artist and his connection to traditional culture, studies some attitudes of artists and reviews trends in both art criticism and literary criticism, briefly refers to such areas of contemporary art as painting, sculpture, drama and music