The European Union is a reality and the European governments are investing every effort to bring European communities even closer together. The goal is to improve understanding, acceptance and integration of immigrants within the communities. One of the initiatives to achieve this goal is the launching of “European Capital of Culture”. Essen, a German city in the Ruhr Basin, is one of the three cities designated for European Capital Culture 2010. The government of the Ruhr Basin region in partnership with several organizations initiated a festival of cultures and arts coined MELEZ that focuses on intercultural integration. Afritopic was at the festival.