The Wise-Up program relies heavily on various awareness raising activities like promotional events and festivals to spread its message to its target audience. We, thus, setup a separate department within the program to organize and launch such activities with close participation from renowned artists. For instance, Wise-Up pioneered invisible dramas performed in all the ten sub-cities of Addis Abeba. 

However, Wise-Up wants to move beyond conventional festivals and events and as such seeks to design and launch innovative ways of reaching its various target audience and bring about the desired change in behaviour. To this end, we strongly believed in the input and support from artists across different disciplines and media professionals. With this rationale the foundation of the Wise-Up Media, Art and Culture Forum (WUMAC) was laid.

The Wise-Up Media, Art and Culture Forum (WUMAC) were officially launched in June 2009 at Harmony Hotel, Addis Ababa.  Twenty-Five high level experts from public and private institutions have instigated WUMAC with the leading/facilitation role of Wise-Up Program team, (annex 1). In this inaugurating assembly important discussions were carried out in regards to the rationale, operational procedures and protocols of WUMAC. 

The importance of WUMAC in standardizing and advancing the IEC messages of Wise-Up was highly acknowledged and accepted by WUMAC members. The Forum will serve as an arena for new approaches and creative inputs. Moreover, the Wise-Up Public Relation department was fully accepted to play the leading role in organizing the regular meeting and in forwarding major meeting agendas.