Sam Brakarsh

Regional Representative
Africa

Sam Brakarsh is a cultural strategist, policy advocate, and theatre maker from Zimbabwe. He serves as the Africa Regional Representative for ARC, where he leads the Censorship Reform Program, advancing artistic freedom legislation across 11 countries. He chairs the Pan African Network on Artistic Freedom (PANAF) Summit and cofounded the Chikukwa Research Trust and Culture Centre in Zimbabwe. His broader cultural advocacy includes helping develop a residency network for artists at risk with ResArtis International, advising the Perelman Arts Centre’s Democracy Cycle Awards, contributing to the New York Federal Reserve’s Social Prescribing Design Team, and serving on the board of Savanna Arts Trust. Sam brings experience in global health, having worked with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to strengthen community health systems across Sub-Saharan Africa. As a Theatre of the Oppressed practitioner, he has led programs across four continents, using participatory theatre to shift social norms, networks, and policy. His writing appears in the Routledge Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Africa Is a Country, and the Yale Research Journal.