The idea had been launched in 2021 after the Africa2020 season, with a backdrop for a “Deep renewal of our relationship with the continent and its diasporas”promised the Élysée. Constituted in GIP (Public Interest Group) in 2024, the Mansa is led by journalist and director Élisabeth Gomis, and funded by the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs (Read the Jda No 635, June 7, 2024). But its establishment has been debated since its creation: in 2024, it is announced by Matignon that the Mansa will occupy part of the premises of the recently restored Paris currency. The opposition of unions and staff is right for this project, which was abandoned in March 2025. Shortly after, Élisabeth Gomis announced that the Mansa will settle in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, in a renovated haute couture workshop, with a pre-opening planned in June 2025 and a final opening in September. Specifying that this establishment is temporary because the mansa remains in the “prefiguration” phase, it says it wishes to see the mansa open in a sustainable place “In 2027”.
To date, the place, with an area of 800 m2, is not open to the public and the activities that the Manansa organizes are essentially partnerships (support for festivals, film screenings, conferences) or deployed online (archives, platform for cultural and creative industries).
A wobbly positioning
At the same time Cultural Center and Think Tank, La Mansa suffers from the vagueness of its identity: Élisabeth Gomis claims to want to highlight the creators of Africa but in parallel the idea that the mansa be “A museum by and for Africa”. Originally inspired by the Institute of the Arab World, the Mansa does not currently have means allowing it to be an interdisciplinary place for international influence, especially since it competitions the French Institute on certain projects of cultural cooperation. In a context of budgetary rigor, its future appears uncertain.
