Creative Force

Creat覺ve Force.

Mak覺ng culture matter.

Creat覺ve Force.

Mak覺ng culture matter.

The Swedish Institute Box 7434, SE-103 91 Stockholm, Sweden +46-8-453 78 00 | si@si.se | www.si.se Author: Agneta Larsson/Global Reporting Editors: Ann Wikström, Eva Sigsjö Translation: Stephen Croall Layout: Igor Isaksson / Mu AB Cover illustration and illustrations on pages 28, 42, 45, 58 and 63: Karin Sunvisson Photographs by SI and respective project organization, unless otherwise stated.

Paper: Multi Design Smooth White; Invercote g Printed in Sweden by Åtta.45 Tryckeri AB, Solna, 2012 © 2012 Swedish Institute ISBN: 978-91-86995-19-5

Contents.

Introduction by Annika Rembe, Director-General at the Swedish Institute Making culture matter

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African Cinderella promoting children’s rights Role models for Roma children Bringing African and Swedish cinema together

10 16 22

When the leaves hang trembling: Artistic creativity and African economies

Joy Mboya, The GoDown Arts Centre

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Women writers find their own voices Music as a force for unity and change

30 36

The importance of culture and creativity for the development of a society

Anja Susa, Theater Director and Curator of Bitef

(Belgrade International Theater Festival)

42

A new outlook on children’s theater Giving street children a future

46 52

Culture and development: Towards pluralism, tolerance and freedom of expression?

Mike van Graan, Executive Director, African Arts Institute, Cape Town

58

LGBT history made visible The museum as forum and actor The art of living on art

64 70 76

Projects: Africa 2008-2011 Projects: Western Balkans 2009-2011

82 84

Introductıon.

How can a touring family musical, a summer school for young musicians and a writing course for women help promote global development?

As part of Sweden’s dialogue and cooperation with the outside world, the Swedish Institute (SI) has a special mandate to strengthen democratic values and promote development.

In pursuing this task, we have to constantly reassess and update our methods and tools. The above examples are taken from this publication, which tells 10 stories from the field to illustrate how culture and creativity can make up a dynamic part of Swedish development aid.

The aim of SI’s development cooperation work is to establish sustainable relations, networks, and mutual learning processes between actors in Sweden and in developing countries to strengthen democracy, openness, gender equality, and respect for human rights. In this context, our principal tools are communication, dialogue, cooperation and exchange.

Creative Force is an SI initiative aimed at establishing dialogue and creative forums in the field of culture and public life. As elements in development cooperation, culture, creativity, and communication are nothing new, and nor

are they uncomplicated. But SI has 20 years’ experience of supporting democracy-enhancing partnerships between Sweden and aid recipient countries in the cultural and creative spheres—and was therefore well placed to put together a forward-looking aid program adapted to the challenges of the day.

SI development cooperation is to be distinguished by reciprocity, quality and innovation. The 10 projects described in this publication clearly show how these keywords are crucial to Creative Force. Although at first glance the projects may seem very different—since a variety of approaches have been used to obtain results—they all point in the same direction: towards more open, tolerant and equitable societies.

We hope that the stories and good examples in this publication will reach and inspire people who work with or wish to work with culture and creativity as a means of strengthening democracy. We also hope that it will be useful to anyone who is interested in these issues—and that the discourse on the importance of creativity and culture for global democratic development will continue.

Annika Rembe, Director General 7

Makıng culture matter.

Choosing names and terms that are clear and specific is important. The approach used in the Swedish Institute (SI) program Creative Force is to address issues relating to democratic participation and freedom of expression through cooperation in the field of culture. The program was given a carefully chosen subheading: Making culture matter. ­Because we know that culture can make a difference. And that creativity is a powerful driver for change.

In addition to SI’s traditional performance reports, our aim in producing this publication is to share some of our experiences from four years of activities and to promote knowledge and awareness of the dynamism inherent in culture and creativity. The core of the publication is a presentation of 10 projects from East and West Africa and the Western Balkans with tangible results made visible through the firsthand experience of the project participants themselves. We have also invited three leading culture professionals from these regions, Anja Susa, Mike van Graan, and Joy Mboya, to provide their views on cooperation in the field of culture and creativity in pursuit of democracy.

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The idea behind Creative Force was quite simple: to use SI’s collected resources to establish a new program for projects focusing on culture and creativity, including the media and other related sectors, with funding from Sida (the Swedish international development cooperation agency) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. We wanted to create a broad platform that encompassed—besides direct financial support to projects via regular calls for proposals—communication, study visits by experts and journalists, network activities, and active SI participation in major projects.

There is a clear, unambiguous link between the projects undertaken and Sweden’s development aid objectives. The program is divided into specific regions and each project is based on the needs identified jointly by local and Swedish partners.

The overall aim of the program is to “strengthen openness and democratic structures.” More specifically, the aims of the various projects supported via Creative Force are:

• To increase the participation and influence of women and children in the cultural and democratic discourse.

• To strengthen civil society—including minority groups—at all levels in the partner countries, thereby increasing the potential for freedom of expression and human rights.

• To strengthen local production in the cultural, media and related sectors through the application of new and better working methods.

We have given priority to projects with a communicative dimension which can help shape opinion and encourage dialogue on a larger scale. We have ensured continuous measurement of the program’s results and coordinated our activities closely with other donors as well as with Swedish and local networks. The program has been undertaken in close cooperation with Sweden’s missions abroad.

All told, more than 70 projects, both large and small, received support from Creative Force in East and West Africa and the Western Balkan regions during 2008-2011. A complete list of projects, partners and geographical locations can be found at the end of the book. The total sum of support during 2008-2011 was SEK 19.9 million, of which 62 % went to 32 projects in Africa (2008-2011) and 38 % to 45 projects in the Balkans (2009-2011). Detailed accounts of program results can be found in SI’s annual reports and our bi-annual reports to Sida.

Recently, we have noted an increased international interest in the potential of culture for sustainable development.

When the UN General Assembly recently adopted a resolution on the next phase of the Millennium Agenda, it emphasized the importance of culture for development and its contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Similarly, the European Union has made a more strategic approach to culture in the EU’s external relations one of three priorities of its Agenda for Culture.

In these circumstances culture is seen as a powerful driver for dialogue, social cohesion and economic growth, as well an arena for strengthening local ownership of development processes.

It is also within this context that SI will continue to work actively with culture and creativity with our partners, both in the field of development cooperation and in our promotion activities. And this publication does not mark an end to the Creative Force program at SI. Currently, we support projects in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. Lessons learned from the first phase of Creative Force will be instrumental for SI in designing a new version of the program—and for how we address challenges and measure the impact of cultural cooperation with partners around the world. Today, more than ever, we are convinced that creativity and culture are forces to be reckoned with in the task of promoting ­democracy and human rights.

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Afrıcan Cınderella promotıng chıldren’s rıghts.

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Project: On tour with African Cinderella “I sat in a sea of thousands of schoolchildren Partners: Swedish National Touring Theatre, National Theatre of Ghana and watched the play, and their response was Countries: Ghana, Nigeria ­fantastic! ­Several girls around me were in tears — this was reality for them,” recalls Adwoa Kwateng-Kluvitse of Action Aid in Ghana.

She is describing how children are influenced and changed by seeing African Cinderella, a play highlighting children’s rights, that has toured the Ghanaian countryside. By the end of 2011, the production had reached some 50,000 children and their parents around the country.

The show, which opened in March 2010 in Accra, is a joint production between Sweden’s Riksteatern (the National Touring Theatre) and the National Theatre of Ghana, which is based in the capital. After the premiere, this modern-day version of the Cinderella saga toured several parts of the country in the course of 2010. At the end of each performance, audiences were given the opportunity to discuss children’s rights as specified in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Child Convention). The discussions were led by representatives from Action Aid and a second aid organization, Plan International. The tour continued in 2011 and the company has also made guest appearances in Sweden and Nigeria.

Plan International and Action Aid are both global organizations that operate locally in Ghana. For Action Aid, African Cinderella is more than just a play. It is first and foremost a development tool that serves to strengthen children’s rights. The production is an African version of Cinderella, and the way the story parallels the lives of young girls in Ghana is striking. The theme—life in a step-family—is a familiar one, not least as a result of the HIV epidemic. Many of the children who grow up with step-parents or in extended families are in a vulnerable position. Often, they are forced to leave school to work in the home instead, under slave-like conditions.

Speaking at a Riksteatern seminar in Stockholm in 2010, Kwateng-Kluvitse, the Country Director of Action Aid in Ghana, said the play’s theme was a sensitive one for parents. “They tend to become defensive. But when children and parents watch the show together this creates an opening for discussion, based on the characters in the play. It’s 11

African Cinderella promoting children’s rights

i­ mportant that the man, too, is present when the matter is raised.”

The seminar was held to discuss the role of culture in development aid, with African Cinderella as a reference point.

Kwateng-Kluvitse felt that the play had an impact on the ­children in the audience every time it was performed and helped them become aware of their rights under the Child Convention. The discussions afterwards opened the door to further exchanges and more long-term efforts in the villages.

On the question of whether culture is an effective way of using aid funds, Kwateng-Kluvitse said: “We could build health clinics instead. But for those of us who work with a rights perspective this is definitely an excellent investment.

Campaigns using things like blackboards, for instance, don’t always work—many of the people we want to reach can’t read.”

The National Theatre of Ghana and Sweden’s Rikst­eatern began collaborating in 2007, after Fransesca Quartey, a Swedish freelance director with roots in Ghana, paid a visit to the National Theatre’s head at the time, Efo Kodjo Mawugbe. Because the National Theatre wanted to learn more about staging family plays—and Quartey had directed a number of major productions in this genre—they decided to collaborate, and chose to produce a version of Cinderella from a contemporary African perspective. Also, the 12

National Theatre needed to develop its outreach skills, and Riksteatern, with long experience of both touring productions and family plays, was a natural partner.

Collaboration has subsequently continued at several levels in the shape of exchanges of experience between directors, actors, producers and technicians. The National Theatre’s producer has worked as a trainee at Riksteatern and shared some of her own experiences with the play’s Swedish producer. Technicians and stage managers from Ghana have also spent time at Riksteatern’s technical department learning from the staff’s preparations for tours in Sweden.

Having acquired a closer understanding of production and theater techniques, the National Theatre was then able to tour the country following the premiere of African Cinderella in Accra. Both the play and the stage were adapted to the conditions in each respective region, and the company also reached remote villages in rural areas where people had never previously had the chance to see theater.

“It’s been a fantastic tour,” says Rani Kasapi, Riksteatern’s head of international development and one of the people behind the project. “Our ambition was to stage the play all over the country, for 50,000 children and their parents, and in 2011 we achieved that goal. The shows received a lot of media attention, which has improved our chances of influencing decision-makers and this will hopefully benefit children’s rights.”

African Cinderella promoting children’s rights

The project has enjoyed high-level support and the p ­ eople behind it have had contact with Ghana’s Minister of Culture, Alexander Asum-Ahensah, and with the Deputy Minister of Women’s and Children’s Affairs, Hawawu Boya Gariba. The latter stressed the importance of making ­children aware of their rights, stating that this was why she supported the event.

The fact that two locally active aid organizations are linked to the project means there is a better chance of the work continuing in Ghana without Riksteatern. Action Aid has a regional structure out in the countryside and its own representatives have been present wherever the play has been performed.

The organization has also had the financial means to buy performances, which has enabled the National Theatre to tour.

Having acquired a better grasp of touring techniques, the Ghanian company has been able to reach more people with its important message. But Kasapi emphasizes that both theaters have benefited from the process. “The whole project has been an organizational challenge for us at Riksteatern and we’ve had to become more flexible in both our technical and our production departments. We’re now better equipped to work with partners who ­operate in a different way and under completely different conditions.”

The play also toured Nigeria for a month in 2011. This initiative was a result of collaboration between the Swedish Embassy and Action Aid in Nigeria.

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African Cinderella promoting children’s rights

14

African Cinderella promoting children’s rights

“They’re struggling with the same problems in Nigeria as in Ghana—a lack of children’s rights,” Kasapi says. “Also, I think they felt we had a really good production.”

African Cinderella, which toured several federal states in Nigeria, was seen by 9,600 people and received considerable media coverage throughout the country. The most-visited show, with an audience of 3,000, was the one performed in Kwara State.

But the company also ran into difficulties, particularly in Sokoto, a state in northern Nigeria that has refused to incorporate the Child Convention into its legislation. The theme proved too sensitive, and the company was only allowed to put on the play after agreeing to reprint the program and change “children’s rights” to “children’s education.” In each state, the company took the opportunity to visit legislators and other decision-makers to call their attention to the situation of children in Nigeria and suggest practical ways of improving their situation in society.

After the tour, a follow-up meeting was held at the Swedish Embassy at which Action Aid, UNICEF and other NGOs engaged in discussions with the Federal Capital Territory Education Secretariat. The participants agreed to continue using theater as a means

of promoting children’s rights. Representatives from the embassy and the education secretariat also agreed to join together in developing a standard for the certification of “child-friendly schools” in the country. This would include a prohibition on beatings and a requirement that all pupils must have access to water and toilets.

Kasapi describes African Cinderella as a clear example of how the performing arts can play an important role in development aid provision.

Culture, she says, is both an effective and an economical way of achieving objectives in development cooperation and a useful tool for influencing the public discourse.

“Instead of organizing seminars with dry, dispassionate lectures, or printing traditional brochures, you can show a play that moves people, which means that the information stays with them longer. Theater is a way of discussing difficult matters since you can hide behind the claim that what is happening on stage is only fiction.

This allows you to extend the boundaries quite a lot. The fantastic response we’ve had to African Cinderella also shows that when you use theater as a way of achieving a certain aim this doesn’t necessarily erode artistic ambition.” • 15

Role models for Roma children

Role models for Roma ch覺ldren.

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Role models for Roma children

Project: Čerain—Culture and education for Young Roma in Serbia who are skilled ­musicians Roma children Partners: Serbian Youth Organization in have seldom studied at the National A ­ cademy of Sweden; Terraforming, Sweden; Roma Cultural Association Čerain, Serbia; Vojvodina Music or trained at that kind of level. To ­inspire Roma Center for Democracy, Serbia Countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina young ­people to continue their studies,­the Terraforming network has organized­­summer schools in the ­Balkans, focusing on subjects such as music, languages and democracy. The o ­ rganization has also published The Č erain Cookbook, a ­collection of “­ recipes” ­showing how creativity and culture can be used to ­support ­vulnerable young ­people.

Terraforming is a network of independent cultural workers in Stockholm, and it also has representatives in the Netherlands, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in Amsterdam, Novi Sad and Sarajevo respectively. Several of the network’s participants originally come from the Balkans and have had first-hand experience of war and ethnic conflict. Terraforming aims to use culture as a tool to promote diversity and tolerance, for instance via opinion-forming activities and training in human rights and democracy. Several of the projects specifically aim to combat the discrimination and prejudice that Roma often encounter in the Balkans.

The project Čerain—Summer School for Roma Children was developed and implemented by Terraforming in 2009 on behalf of the Serbian Youth Organization in Sweden, with the support of SI—Creative Force. Č Č erain is a Roma word for guiding star.

The idea arose when Misko Stanisic, a project leader at Terra­forming, heard of a twelve-year-old Roma boy who was a fantastic violinist. The boy had dropped out of school to play in restaurants in Novi Sad in northern Serbia.

17

Role models for Roma children

“As long as he is looked upon as a boy wonder he can earn a lot of money from his music, but as soon as he grows up he is no longer that interesting,” says Stanisic, a musician and teacher himself. “When that happens, he has no education to fall back on.”

Statistics show that many Roma children in Serbia fail to complete their basic education, and few go on to senior high school or university. The principal aim of the Č Č erain project was to encourage participants to stay on at school and pursue music studies.

“We wanted to show them that they, too, can study at the Music Academy, and should definitely put their talent to better use than just playing in restaurants and amusement parks,” Stanisic says. “As role models, we had a number of well-known musicians and producers who came and gave talks to the pupils. Many of our teachers were Roma themselves.”

In the same summer as the course in Novi Sad, a second music school was organized in Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Novi Sad, the majority of the pupils at the summer school were Roma aged 11-16, and several of them 18

were already accomplished musicians. The local partner was the Č Č erain Roma Culture Association, a network of older Roma musicians who had begun playing as children in traditional orchestras.

To make the teaching at the summer school in Novi Sad interesting, music was always used as the starting point but English lessons and talks on democracy and human rights were woven in. One way of discussing human rights issues was to examine the situation of African-American in the United States. In the 1930s, black musicians began playing with whites in jazz orchestras despite the fact that under racial segregation laws they were still excluded from many areas of society. They were appreciated as skillful musicians and were able to carry the fight against segregation a step further through their music.

“We didn’t say straight out that you could draw parallels to the situation of the Roma today, but we noticed that the pupils reacted and that they began discussing the matter,” Stanisic says.

“Some of them told about having been barred from entering discotheques or being discriminated against in some other way.”

Role models for Roma children

The local chief of police and local representatives of the Ombudsman authority came to the school to talk about children’s rights, which made a strong impression on the participants. The pupils were also taken on excursions to music schools, museums and galleries that some of them had never visited before.

The project received coverage in both local and national media. When 15-year-old Roma Srdjan Nikolici was interviewed, he expressed appreciation for the English language tuition at the summer school: “That means I can talk to other musicians later when I tour the world,” he said.

That one of the participants thought of himself as a touring musician was just what the Terraforming network wanted to hear after the course, Stanisic says. If discrimination is to be curbed, young Roma must begin to believe in themselves, and in this connection it is important that they become aware of their rights at an early age.

“In a single sentence, Srdjan expressed precisely what we wanted to achieve with our summer school. Although he’d never been outside his own village, he saw himself touring the world, and, in particular, he felt that he had the same worth as everyone else.”

Another of the participants was Aleksandra Aleksandrovic, who is now 17. She was mainly interested in learning 19

Role models for Roma children

more about classical music, and particularly enjoyed the summer school’s talks by Predrag Novovic, a violinist with the Royal Opera in Stockholm.

“He described how world-famous conductors work and what it’s like to play in a big classical orchestra,” she says. “My dream is to become a conductor, and the summer school inspired me to keep pursuing it.”

Aleksandra is now in her third year at the music high school in Novi Sad, specializing in musical theory and orchestra conducting. At the summer school, she also enjoyed the visit from the local Ombudsman, who talked about the Roma’s situation in the Balkans.

“It was fantastic to find that there’s someone we can turn to when we need help and support,” she says.

Integrating music, language and human rights proved a successful educational approach that Terraforming would like to pass on to others who work with vulnerable children, especially young Roma. In the summer of 2010, therefore, the organization held four seminars in four different towns in the province of Vojvodina in northern Serbia. The participants were local politicians and officials, NGOs and schools. Pupils from the summer schools were also invited, and the aim was to get the various actors working together in networks and exchanging ideas.

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Role models for Roma children

The partner in this part of the project was the Roma NGO Vojvodina Roma Centre for Democracy, VRCFD, which seeks to strengthen the position of Roma in society by influencing local politicians and decision-makers.

The VRCFD, which consists of young Roma university students, is also striving to make Roma teenagers and their parents realize the importance of further studies. ­Representatives of the NGO took part in all the seminars and described their ­activities.

“They’re young, well-educated and articulate, and therefore fantastic role models,” Stanisic says. “Because they take an active part in the community and in politics, they negate the biased view of Roma often found in the B ­ alkans.”

One of the most important project objectives was to reach and influence decision-makers at various levels.

The seminars had a substantial impact in this respect, and the participants in Novi Sad included the province’s Education Minister and representatives of the Ministry of Culture.

After the seminars, information concerning successful projects and methods was gathered in The ČČerain Cookbook, a collection of “recipes” showing how creativity and culture can be used when working with young Roma. The local Ministry of Education sponsored the

printing, and the “cookbook” has been distributed to schools, libraries, cultural centers, and authorities throughout Vojvodina province, which has 3 million inhabitants.

The idea of the book was to inspire others to launch their own local projects, build up new networks, and seek to mobilize public opinion against the discrimination of Roma. A number of actors have already begun cooperating in projects involving summer schools for Roma children, focusing on subjects such as music or art as educational methods. Some of the organizations that took part in the seminars have been invited to higher education institutions and to the local Ministry of Culture to give talks about the importance of university studies for Roma.

“Also, some Serbian Roma networks have begun cooperating with similar groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is an important step forward in an area still marked by ethnic conflict,” Stanisic says. “From the outset, when we began this project, our intention was to bring together people from different ethnic backgrounds and different religions. It was partly with this in mind that we chose our teachers at the summer schools.” • 21

Brıngıng Afrıcan and Swedısh cınema together.

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Project: Swedish and African film in partnerIn 2009, a Swedish film delegation visited ship Partners: CinemAfrica, Sweden; Tempo DoAfrica’s largest and most important film festicumentary Festival, Sweden; FESPACO Film Festival, Burkina Faso; Stockholm Academy val, FESPACO, an annual event that takes place of Dramatic Arts; ISIS, Burkina Faso Country: Burkina Faso in O ­ uagadougou, Burkina Faso. The purpose was to establish new networks and joint ventures bringing together the Swedish and African film industries. As a result, ­African cinema experienced an upswing in Sweden and several partnerships developed. Also, the state film schools in Sweden and Burkina Faso embarked on a long-term exchange of experience.

The film delegation was set up at the initiative of Sandra Olivegren, then head of CinemAfrica, a Stockholm-based organization that promotes the importation and distribution of African movies in Sweden.

way of improving perceptions of Africa in the rest of the world is to help ensure that Africans themselves are in a position to describe their everyday lives and their societies.

“The idea was to get Swedish film organizations to acquire a better understanding of African cinema and establish new African contacts and partners,” she says.

“Cinema then becomes a fantastic tool,” she says. “Few media can compete with its ability to awaken interest, to make people curious about other cultures and to help them understand them.”

Films about Africa shown in the West are usually made

by Western directors, which means they tend to present a distorted picture of the continent, Olivegren says. The best

The FESPACO festival, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009, represents a unique opportunity to gain an insight into the film industry on the African continent.

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Bringing African and Swedish cinema together

People interested in African cinema gather here from all around the world. CinemAfrica led the Swedish delegation, and arranged a number of meetings between representatives of the Swedish film sector and African film-makers, distributors and festival organizers.

The delegation’s trip gave a boost to African movies in Sweden and in 2010 a number of festivals focused specifically on Africa. CinemAfrica and the Tempo documentary festival collaborated on the theme Africa Update in March 2010. The GÜteborg International Film Festival had Africa as one of its themes, and the Filmcentrum cultural association, which imports and distributes documentary and feature films, suddenly found it easier to place movies from the African continent. The Stocktown production company, which also took part in the Swedish delegation visit, established new contacts and collected material for a documentary about popular culture in Africa, entitled Stocktown X South Africa. It was shown on Swedish public service television in 2011.

For African film-makers, having their movies shown in Swedish cinemas or on Swedish TV means a great deal.

Works that are showcased in major contexts acquire a stamp of quality. It also means they have a better chance of being granted funding for their next movie.

Many African countries still have far too few distribution channels, but the African film industry is making progress 24

Bringing African and Swedish cinema together

25

Bringing African and Swedish cinema together

and the market is growing, Olivegren says. High-quality movies have long been produced in countries like South Africa, Egypt and Senegal.

Bergh has personal experience of film courses where Swedish students travelled to developing countries to make films and then came home with their material.

“A number of countries in East Africa are now following in their footsteps, and film festivals are mushrooming all over the place. An important factor is that the technology is now much more advanced and cheaper. A lot of films and TV series are being produced that people can watch directly on their computers or on their cellphones—and the demand for African content is huge.”

“This creates a them-and-us perspective,” she says. “Our idea was to set up a program of mutual exchange and cooperation on equal terms with another film school.”

The Swedish visit to Burkina Faso also gave rise to exchanges of knowledge and experience of a more enduring kind between the two countries. With the support of SI—Creative Force, a partnership was initiated in 2009 between what was then the University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre (DI), now the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the state film school Institut Supérieur de l’Image et du Son (ISIS) in Ouagadougou.

“I’d been thinking for years about establishing some kind of collaboration between film schools, and thanks to the film delegation the project was finally launched,” says Madeleine Bergh, a documentary film-maker and the deputy director of the Stockholm Academy.

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In this project, it was the students from Burkina Faso who came up with ideas concerning the film content, and each movie was made by a pair of students, one from each country. The four Swedish students stayed in Ouagadougou for a month during the shooting, and the four students from Burkina Faso travelled to Stockholm for three weeks to edit the films together with their partners. As a result, everyone could have the same influence on the material.

In the course of the project, the students found that the similarities were greater than the dissimilarities, on both a human and a cultural level. As a result of the cinema training, they already shared the same frames of reference, film aesthetic and grasp of technology, which made it easy to work together. ISIS student Abdoa Lahat Fall explains: “I used to think it was impossible for two people from two deeply contrasting cultures and environments to produce something together about a particular subject. I, too, thought our responses to the subject would be too different, but now I’ve realized that borders have nothing to do with it.”

Bringing African and Swedish cinema together

In Stockholm, the students from Burkina Faso were able to use professional editing equipment and take that particular skill back with them.

Salam Zampaligre from ISIS says he learned a great deal from his work partner at DI, especially as regards the feel and style of films— something that he expects to find valuable in the future.

“When you work with cinema, you never stop learning,” he says. “Film-making in Africa is tough, but now I’ve acquired new skills that will make things easier, and this makes me feel really optimistic about the future.”

The students’ films were shown at the Cinemafrica and Tempo festivals, and the directors were given the chance to meet their audience. The four films were also shown at the FESPACO festival in Ouagadougou in 2011. There, all African film schools have a program of their own.

Madeleine Bergh would be happy to see further cooperation between the Stockholm Academy and other film schools in Africa, involving both teachers and students. She believes that fresh interest has been awakened among a new generation of Swedish documentary film-makers. • 27

When the leaves hang tremblıng: Artıstıc creatıvıty and Afrıcan economıes.

Joy Mboya The GoDown Arts Centre

When I consider the place of arts and culture in African society today, a poem I learned in my early school days comes to mind. Penned by Christina Rossetti, it goes: “Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling, the wind is passing through.” It is often the case, not only in Africa, that until the forces of culture and artistic activity ruffle “the leaves of society” in some beneficial and measurable way, they are little appreciated. In fact, their intrinsic worth is unseen.

But, over the last decade, the wind of African contemporary arts and culture has been picking up. Resources to the sector, largely from international donors and partners, has enabled the mobility of artists across the African continent and beyond, artist residencies, creative exchanges and diverse programmatic offerings especially festivals. In addition, new work and art forms like conceptual art and contemporary dance have been facilitated, as have the establishment of artist networks and advocacy platforms.

Furthermore, African governments have begun to gesture towards the importance of the contribution of arts to development, if the various conventions that African Ministers of Culture have signed up to are anything to go by: The Nairobi Plan of Action for Cultural Industries, the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity, for example. It seems the promising picture painted of the creative industries globally (UNCTAD Reports on Creative Economy 2008, 2010),

suggesting strongly the feasibility of the creative economy as a development option, is attractive to governments, African ones included. These reports have provided figures that confirm how creative industries are currently among the most dynamic sectors of the world economy, offering new, high growth opportunities for developing countries.

Yet, even as African creative practitioners muster to hold their African governments accountable to the pro-culture instruments they have signed up to (the pan-African Arterial Network’s efforts being a case in point), there are questions the African creative sector ought to mull over: Is the concept of the creative economy simply another government expediency for the creation of jobs, to boost economic growth? Does defining arts and culture in economic terms bring greater recognition of the multidimensional value of the sector? Is the creative economy a sustainable concept?

Lessons we are learning at the GoDown Arts Centre, in engaging with this concept on several levels since three years ago, are that a creative economy may be sustainable only to the extent that the vitality of the artistic processes at the grassroots are also developed and sustained. And also to the extent that coherent and essential links between the arts and complementary sectors, such as the education sector, are made. Otherwise the wind of artistic creativity may soon drop. The long-term effect of this on African society is worth pondering. • 29

Women wr覺ters f覺nd the覺r own vo覺ces.

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Project: Women writers’ network Conditions for fiction writers and publishers Partners: Karavan Magazine, Sweden; FEMRITE, Uganda in Uganda are tough. But despite the lack of a Country: Uganda proper infrastructure for book production and distribution, a new young generation of writers has emerged in the country.

To support women authors in particular, the Swedish literary magazine Karavan has been cooperating with the Ugandan Women Writers’ Association, ­FEMRITE. The aim has been to give women the opportunity to develop their ­writing and to take their place on the international literary scene. The partnership has also led to the development of valuable regional networks among women a ­ uthors in East Africa.

FEMRITE was founded in 1996 with the object of supporting women writers, publishing their work and acting as a knowledge center. An important part of this task is to ensure that the women have a quiet place to write in, and the premises include what is called a Den of Wisdom where they can work undisturbed.

“Most of us are working women with responsibility for our families so we seldom have time to write,” says author Hilda Twongyeirwe, the organization’s coordinating officer.

For author Monica Arac de Nyeko, the time spent at FEMRITE was invaluable. She is a product of the literary nursery created there, and is now one of the few young Ugandan writers to have acquired an international readership. Describing her time at FEMRITE, she says: “It’s years since I sat down to write in the Den of Wisdom, but I remember it with such affection. I made so many friends there, and so many short stories got written there.”

31

Women writers find their own voices

Since Ugandan authors find it difficult to support themselves on their writing, many of them are obliged to earn their keep by accepting commissions to produce works of fiction or non-fiction on specific subjects for school textbooks, forcing them to write their own stories or novels in their spare time. But finding a publisher is difficult since there is no commercial book market or reading culture of any note.

Most publishers therefore concentrate on putting out teaching aids, which is considerably more profitable, and only a few publish fiction. The latter tend to let the income from textbook production finance the riskier publishing of fiction titles.

FEMRITE has been of crucial importance to the country’s women writers. When it was founded, few works of fiction by women had been published in Uganda; today, FEMRITE has published a couple of dozen such titles. In 2008, the organization was responsible for the first writers’ workshop ever held for women in East Africa. When Hilda Twongyeirwe met Birgitta Wallin, editor of Karavan magazine, at a book fair in Cape Town the following year, the idea of arranging a joint workshop was born. Karavan magazine, first published in 1992, introduces writers from Africa, Asia and Latin America to Swedish readers, and contains both literary texts and background articles. In conjunction with new issues, it often organizes literary events.

32

Women writers find their own voices

With funding from SI—Creative Force and others, the joint workshop was held in Jinja in eastern Uganda in early 2011. The participants were given practical exercises to stimulate their creativity, but the emphasis was on text analysis, which involves going through each other’s texts together with the supervisors and offering comments and criticism.

“The publishers can rarely afford editors who can cooperate with authors and suggest changes to the text,” says Birgitta Wallin. “At the workshop, we dealt with the novels that the participants were working on at the time, and discussed what the text was saying and whether it actually reached the reader it was targeting.”

The participants came from various countries in the region: Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Botswana. All had been published previously in anthologies, while some had published novels of their own. Besides Birgitta Wallin, the Swedish participants were Kerstin Norborg, an author, and Erik Falk, a senior lecturer at Södertörn University College, both of whom acted as course leaders. They took part in the exercises themselves and shared their experiences and educational techniques drawn from writing courses in Sweden. This approach, emphasizing writing as a craft, was new to a number of the participants, who had not previously had access to writers’ workshops or structured text analyses.

All the participants were interested in further courses and felt they had benefited from the many views and experiences shared with them by the other women writers in the region. Hilda Twongyeirwe emphasizes that in their postcourse evaluations, the participants said it was essential to continue the project so that African women writers could help one another to develop their talent and take their place on the international literary scene. “I’ve also received emails from a number of other writers in the region who’ve heard about the course and are wondering when the next one will be held,” she says.

One practical result of the workshop is that a selection of the participants’ short stories has been assembled in an anthology, which will be circulated in the region and also distributed in the United Kingdom via the African Book Collective. Besides possessing its own literary value, the anthology can function as a showcase for FEMRITE. The project is particularly important in countries where writers are seldom viewed primarily as artists but are expected to display social responsibility, says Erik Falk. Many writers deal with subjects like HIV/AIDS or child soldiers on commission from schools or international aid organizations, which means publication is more or less guaranteed. Some of the participants at the workshop also noted that international publishers tend to want African novelists to tackle subjects such as social problems, war and disasters in literary form.

33

Women writers find their own voices

“By supporting literary writing and interpretation, therefore, you give writers the chance to develop their own style and give voice to their own experiences, dreams and fantasies,” says Erik Falk. “As an author, maybe you’d prefer to write happy love stories than stories about child soldiers.”

Since the writers’ course was organized on a regional basis, it could help to strengthen infrastructure in additional countries in East Africa. Many African women writers feel isolated, and the idea is for them to build up networks and keep one another informed about things like workshops and conferences. Also, all the participants are members of various national writers’ associations. When these authors put into practice what they have learned at local writers’ workshops in their native countries, their skills and experiences are spread further afield.

“If the project continues under the same auspices, Uganda can become the hub in a recurring series of regional partnerships,” says Erik Falk. “Another proposal is to invite publishers, both from international and national companies, to discuss and cooperate with the writers.”

Besides the workshop in Jinja, it was arranged for ­Hilda Twongyeirwe to visit the Göteborg 34

Women writers find their own voices

I­ nter­national Book Fair in 2010, together with ­Uganda writers ­Monica Arac de Nyeko and Doreen Baingana. Both were previously members of FEMRITE and have acquired an international readership via American publishers. Prior to the visit, Karavan translated and published a short story by each of them.

The idea was to present interesting writers from the new young generation in Uganda and to broaden perceptions of African literature. Another aim was to open up opportunities for cooperation and information exchange between Sweden and Uganda. The writers took part in workshops and seminars and were also able to establish contacts and new networks. In addition, Monica Arac de Nyeko and Doreen Baingana made guest appearances at Södra Teatern in Stockholm and discussed the conditions under which writers work in their native country.

Erik Falk emphasizes that FEMRITE is making a major contribution by inspiring women to write and take part in public life.

Local branches all over the country are building up reading and writing circles and giving women writers a chance to find their own voices and the courage to join the public discourse.

“The organization’s methodical efforts are also boosting the number of readers, and eventually this may lead to a stronger domestic book market and better distribution. If this happens, writers will be more free to choose their own subjects and express their opinions, and works of fiction could become a key factor in society.” • 35

Mus覺c as a force for un覺ty and change.

36

Project: Swedish African Cultural Network Although several countries in East Africa have Partners: Selam, Sweden; Artists and organizations in East Africa a rich cultural life with plenty of accomplished Countries: East Africa musicians, few artists are able to survive on their music. The infrastructure required to build up a competitive music industry is lacking in the region. Since 2006, the Swedish-based organization S ­ elam has been developing skills and networks in Ethiopia and Uganda in particular.

“The music industry has the potential to become a major source of employment for different actors in this sector,” says James Isabirye, Selam’s Ugandan coordinator. “With more professional artists and producers, we could produce music for the international market.”

Selam, which is based in Stockholm, organizes concerts, festivals and seminars focusing on world music. It also engages in international activities, seeking to enhance professional skills, primarily by means of exchanges and workshops. Other activities include lobbying in connection with issues such as cultural policy, music teacher-training and copyright.

“The exchanges of knowledge and know-how we’ve had over the past few years are beginning to bear fruit,” he says.

“We’re finding that the actors in the industry who’ve received more training are now acting as agents of change in their turn. Ultimately, it will be possible to build up a music industry in these countries and thereby help combat poverty.”

Selam was founded in 1997 by Teshome Wondimu, who feels that there is a major need for cultural aid to Africa.

In recent years, Selam has focused in particular on projects in Ethiopia and Uganda. Here, the organization is 37

Music as a force for unity and change

38

Music as a force for unity and change

c­ oncentrating on training people who are already established in the music industry to some extent.

When it seeks to enhance skills among producers, for instance, it contacts those who already have access to a studio, so that the training can maintain a high standard and offer relevant expertise.

“Music is a force for unity,” Cherinet says. “When 4,000 young people gather in front of the Selam Festival stage in a park in the middle of Addis Ababa, a unique public space has been created. Today’s artists and their audiences are good at keeping the discourse alive and they now constitute one of the most challenging forces in society.”

“This means you get immediate results, even if the project is of relatively brief duration and has little funding,” says Loulou Cherinet, a project leader at Selam in Stockholm. “The participants can then apply their skills in their own studios, and also pass them on to others in their network.”

Selam has highlighted the issue of music as a creative industry capable of boosting the country’s economy at a number of workshops and seminars. One important goal is to reach politicians and decision-makers to awaken their interest and involvement in the music industry, particularly with regard to issues such as copyright.

The most recent courses for producers, in Addis Ababa and Kampala, are a case in point. Those who took part produce about 90 percent of all the music heard on local radio stations, and all of them have extensive networks among musicians, artists and other producers who can also benefit from what the participants have learned.

In the countries of East Africa, digital sales of music are a neglected area, and artists primarily earn their money from live performances. The Selam Festival, staged in Addis Ababa, is therefore a highly important event. It also provides a platform for networking, not only among artists but also among producers, concert organizers and sound technicians.

A democracy needs a free cultural life with an open and flourishing public discourse. In East Africa, music is currently providing such a ­forum, enabling the poor as well to access information and exercise an influence—and thereby help bring about change.

In 2011, Swedish artists Daniel Lemma, Emilia and Simone Moreno were invited to perform at the festival. Their well-received outdoor concerts attracted a total audience of around 7,000, and were reviewed in a number of local media. The artists also conducted workshops for students from the African Jazz School and the Yared Music School, both 39

Music as a force for unity and change

of which are Selam partners. In the same year, Kenyan artist Muthoni came to Stockholm and gave a much-acclaimed performance to a sell-out audience at the Selam Africa Festival. She received favorable reviews in a number of different media and established new ties with people in the business.

Since 2007, numerous artists have been involved in exchanges between Sweden and Africa. Jonah Gold, a producer and sound technician, has led workshops at the Selam Festival, focusing on sound techniques. In another workshop, Adam Tensta from the RMH record label has given practical and inspirational advice about how to survive on one’s music and how to work with social media. When a group of artists, including Timbuktu and Chords, were due to arrive in Addis Ababa, Selam had advertised their workshop on both radio and TV, and 500 interested young people gathered outside the venue.

“It was like an audition for a TV talent show and there was total chaos,” Cherinet recalls. “But Timbuktu and the others were good at improvising, and they divided the activities into different stations so that everyone could join in.”

In Uganda, Selam has been operating in similar fashion since 2004, providing skills enhancement training at all ­levels in the music industry and also engaging in 40

Music as a force for unity and change

l­ obbying. In K ­ ampala, James Isabirye acts as the spider in the web, and according to him the Ugandan music sector has become more professional.

“Thanks to the projects, we’ve gained inspiration and skills from outside and have been able to build up both our expertise and a better infrastructure in the industry. Hopefully, this will eventually help us to produce more internationally known artists.”

A number of the producers who have taken part in Selam courses have begun to cooperate more closely with one another and have set up their own organization, the Audio Producer Association, which Selam also cooperates with.

Among artists, too, cooperation has increased. They are also becoming more aware of their rights and have begun contracting managers to a greater extent. Furthermore, Isabirye notes an improvement in the way journalists are covering music.

“The media are becoming more used to writing about music,” he says. “They’re no longer focusing just on the artists’ private lives, on gossip and scandals, but are writing more objective reviews about their performances and the quality of their music.”

The problem of pirate copying, however, is still a major concern in the music scene. A copyright law has been in

place in Uganda since the early 2000s but has proved difficult to enforce. This is due partly to inadequate awareness of the legislation and partly to a lack of interest in the matter, Isabirye says. To help ensure that artists have the opportunity to live off their music, Selam and its partners have been focusing on copyright issues in Uganda since 2005 and have organized a number of workshops on the subject.

Artists and producers who have worked with Selam often come back. Collaboration like this gives them inspiration, new contacts and networks. Several of the artists, including Jaqee, whose roots are in Uganda, have chosen to record their music videos on the spot in East Africa. Swedish and African artists also put together co-productions, and artists from different countries in East Africa are cooperating across borders.

“These countries are dissimilar enough to have interesting and creative regional exchanges,” Cherinet says. “To encourage sustainability, our projects often seek to build on ideas that have been developed during previous exchanges.” • 41

The 覺mportance of culture and creat覺v覺ty for the development of a soc覺ety.

Anja Susa Theater Director and Curator of Bitef (Belgrade International Theater Festival)

42

During the open rehearsals of the performance 5 boys.com at the Backa Teater in Gothenburg1 we asked our test audience the question: “Where does the story take place?” It was a Slovenian contemporary play, the production was a part of collaborative process entitled “Backa goes Balkan,” the characters had Slavic names like Jurij, Kristof, Blazž and Vid, but still the answer was: “In Sweden.” I was really intrigued but also satisfied with this answer, because it meant that we really reached our audience, and made them believe that what we were dealing with was their concern, too. And I believe that reaching the audience in a young people’s theater is the most precious goal but also the hardest one to achieve.

But once it’s reached, the reward is enormous. It’s on the faces of young people, in their urge to discuss the performance, to take a stand and oppose it, it’s in their belief that it’s about them…

Living in Serbia since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia has been full of dramatic potential. Because of the vibrant political changes after October 5, 2000, when the regime of Slobodan Milosevicć—which had seen horrible bloodshed at the very end of the 20th century—was defeated, Serbian society has undergone very dramatic changes. This has given theater the serious task of dealing with the very specific, newly established socio-political context. Events from everyday life 1 The performance 5 boys.com by Simona Semenic opened on March 17, 2012, in the Backa Teater in Gothenburg

have often been more powerful than those on the stages of Serbian theaters. It is completely in accordance with the thesis of Jean Duvignaud, who said that when a society is going through revolutionary changes a theater can’t follow immediately. Therefore, it took more than a decade for Serbian contemporary theater to really start dealing with painful subjects from its recent history. But it has finally happened in the past few years, with the appearance of a new generation of young theater artists from the region of the former Yugoslavia, but also because in that period Serbian theater institutions had very frequent and fruitful international collaborations. This process of dealing with reality hasn’t always gone smoothly, but one can say without exaggeration that it has reached the point of no return.

Being an artistic manager of one of the oldest and most prominent theaters for children and young people in the former Yugoslavia—Little Theater Dusko Radovic—for nine years (2002-2011) brought many challenges, the biggest of which was to make a theater for children and young people aware of the Serbian transitional reality. I have always believed in the potential of theater for children and young people as a way to change society for the better, even when I doubted the possibility of theater seriously influencing political change. The starting point of my attempts to reform the Little Theater Dusko Radovic was the idea that dealing with children and young people was, in fact, dealing with the future. After a nationalistic obsession with the ­“heroic,” 43

The Importance of culture and creativity for the development of a society

and an ­unrealistically idealized and romanticized past that the Serbian nation was constantly terrorized with after the break-up of Yugoslavia, I was in a position to shift the ­focus to the future. What a relief! The theater has produced many projects addressing children and young people not as ­passive consumers of careless and cheerful theater art, but as important social subjects whose presence in the process of mediation between theater and life was precious. It was also important to develop different approaches that would encourage both social and creative ambitions. During that period there were numerous theater productions that approached our young spectators from different angles. We had text-based performances dealing with classic playwrights like Frank Wedekind or William Shakespeare, but from the perspective of contemporary society—and also a number of contemporary plays by young Serbian and international authors with special focus on contemporary Swedish authors like Mattias ­Andersson (The Runner), Lucas Svensson ­(Klaus-ont-Erika), Irena Kraus (Spring Awakening) and Greta Sundberg (The Red Moon). Topics that were targeted in the repertory of the theater included: school violence, diversity, fascism, sexuality, Down syndrome, divorce and more. We were trying not to escape our reality, but to face it—at the same time facing our fears of it. Another project made us go even further, giving our theater a more significant social role—the Theater is Solidarity project, dedicated to all the marginalized social groups of children and young people in Serbian society, such as the Roma population, 44

children without parents, children with autism, homeless children… that is, all the children who were not regular visitors to cultural institutions. And once they came, they got the same look on their faces as the Swedish children in the test audience at the Backa Teater. That kind of look that made us proud of what we were doing.

When I go back to the title of this article, I am inevitably thinking about the Serbian politicians, hoping that they would somehow, someday, become aware of the importance of culture and creativity for the development of a ­society. I hope… •

A new outlook on chıldren’s theater.

46

Project: Children’s theater workshop The status of children’s theater in a country Partners: ASSITEJ, Sweden; ASSITEJ, Rwanda; ASSITEJ, Uganda often reflects how that society views young Countries: Rwanda, Uganda people and their place in life. In Sweden, children’s culture enjoys relatively high status and we are not afraid of raising difficult issues in plays for young audiences, says Niclas Malmcrona, director of ­ASSITEJ ­Sweden. This is an organization that works internationally with theater for the young via exchanges, seminars and guest productions.

“People who take part in our partner projects often say they’ve acquired a new outlook on theater—but then it’s up to them to try and change the status of children’s culture in their countries.”

ASSITEJ Sweden is part of the international ASSTEJ network embracing 85 countries around the world. The network functions as a platform for all who are interested in or work with theater for children and young people and who want to strengthen the position of performing arts targeting this age group.

Niclas Malmcrona, a former secretary-general of ASSITEJ International, has considerable experience organizing cul-

tural exchanges and theater seminars, particularly in African countries. Between 2000 and 2007, he worked in a Sida-­ financed partner project building up the ASSITEJ operation in 14 countries in southern and eastern Africa.

Several of the countries had a didactic type of children’s theater, the main aim of which was to teach children about things like drugs, alcohol and HIV/AIDS. In ­Sweden, we tend to view theater in a broader perspective. A case in point 47

A new outlook on children’s theater

is the work of Suzanne Osten and the Unga Klara drama company, who together examine the role of children in society in cooperation with psychologists and educators. Their unconventional methods have changed the status of Swedish theater for the young.

plays’ directors and actors then took part in workshops centering on theater direction and acting. Other thematic areas that ASSITEJ dealt with were theater administration, production, puppet theater and writing for the stage.

Rwanda was one of the countries that Malmcrona was in touch with during his stay in Africa, and ASSITEJ Rwanda came back to him with a request for further cooperation. As a result, a new workshop week was held in 2009 with the support of SI—Creative Force.

Actor Carole Karemera is one of the people behind ASSITEJ Rwanda, which joined ASSITEJ Sweden in organizing the workshop in 2009. She emphasizes that the enhancement of professional skills is badly needed in Rwanda, one of the poorest countries in Africa. Also, many theater practitioners have expressed a strong desire to bring together the ancient storytelling tradition of Rwanda with a more European-style, artistic type of performing art.

“The idea in holding the workshop was to show how you can produce good children’s theater with little funding and only limited technology,” he says.

In Rwanda, there is no institutional children’s theater. Instead, a number of independent drama groups work on a more or less professional basis with funding from the Ministry of Culture and from foreign NGOs. Theater has frequently been used in the reconciliation process that followed the genocide of 1994 in which almost a million people lost their lives.

ASSITEJ Sweden uses a model that usually involves beginning workshops with two Swedish performances. In Rwanda, it put on the family play Skrattlösa (‘Laughterless Village’) and a play for teenagers entitled Blästrad (‘Blasted’). The 48

The country lacks a national stage and proper infrastructure in the form of cultural policies. Nor are there any drama schools, and those actors who have acquired training have studied abroad.

“Our greatest challenge is that we have to think differently,” Karemera says. “Among actors, there are maybe six of us in the country who have been trained abroad, the rest are self-made people. In a drama production, our roles are not separated in the same way— we often jump into different areas like dramaturgy, set design or production. That’s why it’s particularly

A new outlook on children’s theater

49

A new outlook on children’s theater

important to probe deeper into your own professional area at a workshop.”

In Rwanda, about 65 per cent of the population are under 18, and there is huge potential for developing a new young audience. The country’s schools, however, lack the means to buy children’s theater productions. Instead, it is the free groups that take their plays out to public spaces. Most theater practitioners produce the odd play and earn a living from other jobs on the side.

For Karemera, culture is an important counterweight to the genocide that wracked Rwanda. It has become a way of restoring children’s faith and trust in humanity.

“Knowledge is vitally important if youngsters from the new generation are to become tolerant and show respect for one another. Through our theater productions, we try to show that the world can also be a beautiful place, despite all the fighting and destruction.”

As a result of the cultural exchanges that took place during the 2009 workshop week, a children and youth festival was launched in Kigali in the same year. It was the first theater festival for the young ever held in Rwanda, and drama groups came from other African countries, including South Africa and Burundi, to give performances. Besides plays, there were also dance productions and 50

A new outlook on children’s theater

­ oetry readings. A newly established Rwanp dan company, Talking Stones, presented a play about how the genocide had affected the lives of young people. When the next biennial was held in 2011, the number of Rwandan drama groups had increased to six, and there were more guest productions from other African countries.

A number of Ugandan theater practitioners attended the 2009 workshop week in Rwanda and expressed a wish at the time to see a similar seminar in their country. Two years later, such an event was organized in the capital, Kampala, with funding from SI—Creative Force, and attracted some 60 participants.

At the workshop dealing with theater production and the role of drama in society, the participants discussed the need for a national arts council in Uganda. Both independent cultural practitioners and officials from the Ugandan Ministry of Culture took part in the workshop.

ASSITEJ Sweden had invited a representative of the Swedish Arts Council, who described how the agency operated. During the workshop, a network was established, NACEDO, tasked with continuing efforts to spawn a similar type of agency in Uganda.

Malmcrona emphasizes the importance of international cultural exchanges whereby theater practitioners are able to come to the Nordic area to visit festivals and other events. He also notes that the present director of ASSITEJ International is from South Africa, which he believes is a reflection of the organization’s long-term efforts on the African continent.

At the Performing Arts Biennial for Children and Youth, Bibu.se, in Lund in 2010, representatives from both Rwanda and Uganda took part in seminars and described the conditions under which they work in their respective countries.

“When theater practitioners feature in international contexts, this strengthens them as individuals and also strengthens their theaters,” Malmcrona says.

“In this case, it gave Africa a place on the map. It’s good that both Swedish media and theater practitioners realize how much quality theater there is on that continent.” • 51

G覺v覺ng street ch覺ldren a future.

52

With tough training and plenty of passion, street children in Senegal are acquiring a new identity as circus artists and instructors.

Those who once begged on the streets of Dakar now use the city as their stage.

Project: Circus training for street children Partners: Djef Djel, Sweden; Empire des Enfants, Senegal; Fan-attics, Sweden; Sencirk, Senegal Country: Senegal

“I was once a street kid in Senegal, but I managed to become both a circus ­artist and a musician,” says Mamadou Sene, chair of the Djef Djel cultural ­association. “Culture is a tremendous force that can change your life.”

Sene, who has lived in Sweden for the past 20 years, is now a successful world music artist with an international career.

Together with Ida Burén he founded Djef Djel, a non-profit cultural association based in Stockholm. Burén is also head of Intercult in Stockholm, an organization with considerable experience in managing international cultural projects.

Both Sene and instructors from Fan-atticks, a circus company based in Stockholm, have worked with the street children.

The training begins as a game and a recreational activity outside school hours. Those youngsters who are interested can then go on to develop circus skills that will give them a profession they can live on later in life.

In 2006, Djef Djel started a cultural exchange with a center for street children, Empire des Enfants, in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Since then, the Swedish association has organized regular workshops that provide circus training at the center, as part of a project supported by SI—Creative Force.

“Children have an amazing amount of energy that can be channeled into this kind of training,” Sene says. “Circus work requires both discipline and cooperation, and strengthens the children’s self-esteem. This helps to equip them for adult life and also gives them the chance of a job when the time comes.”

53

Giving street children a future

Senegal’s high rate of youth unemployment and deep-rooted poverty means that many young people in the country lack faith in the future. Dakar has become one of the departure points for illegal migration to Europe, and children and teenagers from all over West Africa gather there. They often end up in risky situations and fall victim to the child trafficking that is rife in the area. Many of the children are forced to live on the streets, where they are exposed to assault and other types of abuse. At the Empire des Enfants center, street children can find protection and are also given food, accommodation and a degree of education.

When conducting circus training at the center, Sene offers himself as an example to the street children, often telling them about his own childhood. He ran away from home at the age of ten to find his mother, who had left to seek work in Dakar. Mamadou then alternated between living with his mother in the city and his father in his native village. He taught himself to play different instruments and eventually became a traditional folk musician.

self after running away from home to escape beatings by his uncle. Modou took part in the first workshop of the project while living at the center and quickly decided that he wanted to get into the circus trade. He has been to Sweden several times, and his visits have included training at the circus high school run by Sweden’s Cirkus Cirkör.

But instead of staying on in Europe—which is the dream of many other Africans—he has taken his skills back with him. Today, he works as an instructor training children and young people in Dakar.

“I was lucky enough to meet people who believed in me despite my background,” reflects Modou, “and this meant I could realize my dream of working with circus.”

“Now I show the children at Empire des Enfants that you can succeed in life if you get a bit of support from adults, and that you can make a living from being a cultural worker, both as a musician and as a circus artist.”

The circus project enabled him to begin trusting adults, he says, and also gave him the courage to get in touch with his family.

In the future, he hopes to be able to continue working both as an artist and as an instructor.

One of the principal enthusiasts in the circus project is Modou Touray. Like Mamadou, he became a street child him-

“We want to produce creative productions that we can tour Senegal and other countries

54

Giving street children a future

Photo: David Palicine

with. But I want to go on living here, and eventually buy my own house and start a family.”

In 2010, Sencirk, a contemporary circus company that had evolved in collaboration with Djef Djel, began performing.

It was formed at the initiative of Aminata Kamara, a former social worker at Empire des Enfants, and Touray is employed by the group. Like him, most of the organization’s instructors and artists were once street children and acquired their training through Djef Djel’s circus project.

Sencirk and Djef Djel work closely together. Sene, for instance, has acted both as tour manager and artist on Sencirk productions. The new group has also received assistance from Djef Djel with skills enhancement, strategic work, and planning.

Sencirk engages in both artistic and educational activities, and also works at two other centers for street children besides Empire des Enfants. In addition, its members provide circus training at an American and a French school in the city, and give performances at children’s hospitals. These and other engagements, it is hoped, will eventually enable Sencirk to become a self-supporting, independent circus company with a professional operation.

Dakar’s street children often encounter prejudice, Kamara says. People tend to assume that they are hooligans and 55

Giving street children a future

56

Giving street children a future

­ elinquents who are bound to d go astray.

“But when they perform with the circus, people look at them differently. Their acts make a great impression on everyone, and this helps remove the stigma attached to these kids.”

The work also involves ensuring that the trainers, artists and other members of Sencirk, who had little education when living on the streets, learn how to read and write in French. The idea is to prepare everyone for adult life and enable them to become fully-fledged citizens capable of playing their part in the community.

“My dream is that the instructors and artists will continue living and working here in Senegal and then take over and run our organization in the future,” Kamara says. • 57

Culture and development: Towards plural覺sm, tolerance and freedom of express覺on?

Mike van Graan Executive Director, African Arts Institute, Cape Town 58

Culture and development At an international seminar on culture and development hosted in 1991 by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), Dr Carl Thamm—the Director General of Sida at the time—opened the seminar saying, ….material growth alone does not compose the evolution and transformation of a society. It is also this conviction which constitutes the foundation for…

SIDA’s work in the field of culture. In a world characterized by enormous chasms between rich and poor countries, by mass poverty and desperation emanating from misery and injustice, by enormous environmental problems…it might appear extravagant and esoteric for a development agency to deal with cultural issues. I believe—I am convinced— that this is an error of judgment.

The Stockholm Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development in 1998 further agreed that …cultural policy, as one of the main components of endogenous and sustainable development policy, should be implemented in co-ordination with policy in other social areas, on the basis of an integrated approach. Any policy for development must be profoundly sensitive to culture itself.

While the above policy statements are fairly recent, today there is very little recognition of the cultural dimension of development in most development agencies, with contemporary development strategies largely defined—again— in terms of economic growth. Even where the cultural dimension of development has been recognized e.g. the EU’s “culture as a vector of development” symposium in Brussels in 2009, the creative industries are promoted in accordance with this materialist definition of development, as key economic drivers to help realize the Millennium Development Goals with their fast-approaching 2015 deadline.

But, while the creative industries have contributed significantly to Europe’s development, this model may be inappropriate to Africa, whose share of the global creative economy stands at less than 1% pointing, among others, to the relative absence of markets to sustain such industries (most Africans live on $1.25 or less per day with little disposable income to purchase creative products).

Development versus human rights The United Nations Human Development Report of 2009 states …human development shares a common vision with human rights. The goal is human freedom….People must be free to exercise their choices and to participate in decision-making that affects their lives.

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Culture and development

­ uman development and human rights are mutuH ally reinforcing…

The Human Development Index, which measures well-being in terms of life expectancy, education and having a decent standard of living, showed in 2010 that Libya, Tunisia and Algeria were at the top of the list of African countries, and yet, all of them subsequently experienced some form of popular uprising with Tunisia and Libya (the African country ranked highest on the HDI), experiencing dramatic changes in government.

What the overthrows of these dictatorships show is that human development is not sufficient i.e. long life, being educated and having a relatively decent standard of living do not compensate for the absence of other human rights and freedoms.

On the other hand, China has been able to sustain economic growth, development and the eradication of poverty without Western-styled democracy or respect for human rights.

Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “everyone shall have the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts.”

Development founded on and that seeks to extend human rights and freedoms needs to integrate this fundamental ­human right too.

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Culture for good, culture for bad The Kigali Memorial Centre was opened in 2004, built at a site which also houses the graves of 250,000 people slaughtered in the Rwandan genocide a decade earlier. In the same year as this genocide, elections in South Africa delivered Nelson Mandela as the president.

The cultural rationale of apartheid was that different ethnic entities could not live in the same geographical area; their different worldviews, traditions, histories, values, religious beliefs and languages were such that inevitably, there would be conflict between them, hence the need to separate them into different “homelands.” The victory over apartheid resonated the world over while ironically, culturally-based genocide (the kind that apartheid’s rulers had argued they were trying to prevent) was taking place just a few countries to the north.

There is no one role for culture, or one default role for culture. Culture can be used both to divide people, even to the point of genocide, while they can also be used to seek to unite people across racial, cultural, ethnic and other divides.

Culture and development

The arts versus culture

The arts for good, the arts for bad

Practice in the arts is founded on the principle of freedom of creative expression. Artists, particularly where they have the political space to exercise this right, use their art to challenge political, religious, economic and other social dogmas, to present alternative views, to push back the barriers and obstacles to democracy through the very practice of freedom of creative expression.

Given their location within the sphere of culture and thus within the soft battle for power through hegemonic contestation, the arts—music, theater, dance, literature, visual art, film, etc—are often appropriated for one end or another, provided with support to achieve a particular social end and increasingly, are not funded in their own right simply for artists to exercise their democratic, human right to freedom of creative expression, but rather to achieve some socially good end.

However, in doing so, the arts may clash with culture, with the values, beliefs, worldviews and social mores of particular communities. The well-publicised tensions over cartoons that depict the prophet Mohamed reveal the extent of the clash between the right and human freedom of creative expression as valued by the democratic West on the one hand, and the religious and cultural sensitivities of the global Muslim community on the other.

Art and culture exist in a dialectical relationship, with one informing but also challenging the other. Culture is the arena of hegemonic struggle: the battle to provide leadership within a community. The arts are one means through which these hegemonic battles may be fought. The arts may reinforce or challenge and help to reshape culture.

Security and social cohesion imperatives lead many Western governments for example to appropriate the arts for the purpose of “intercultural dialogue” or “cross cultural communication” or “cultural diplomacy.” Yet, while governments promote “intercultural dialogue” through the arts, some artists may exercise their right to freedom of creative expression in a manner that causes tension. The arts can promote tolerance, but they can just as well be the cause of intolerance and tension between different communities.

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Culture and development

Conclusion There is no one particular role for culture; rather, culture cuts across all aspects of society. Culture can be a force for, or an obstacle to, development. Development itself is a cultural act, premised as it is on particular cultural values, ideological perspectives, worldviews and understandings of what constitutes progress. Insofar as it acts on a community, it will disrupt and bring about changes to their value systems and beliefs and itself will be impacted upon by the values and beliefs of its intended beneficiaries. The arts are an expression of culture in its broad sense and they too, like development, exist in a dialectical relationship to culture, shaping and being shaped by it, giving expression to, and challenging culture. The arts do not only serve one particular end, but may—like development and culture—serve a variety of purposes; whether these are “good” or “bad”, constructive or destructive, progressive or reactionary, depends on the circumstances prevalent at the time, who determines the outcome or purpose and whose interests these artistic interventions or practices serve.

Given the need for global, regional and national political stability in order for economic growth to take place, it would be wise to put in place the integrated strategies that in the long term are best able to create sustainable political stability by promoting tolerance and mutual respect though a rigorous understanding, and then integration of culture and the arts into such strategies. • 62

LGBT h覺story made v覺s覺ble.

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Project: Article 1—History from a LGBT “All human beings are born free and equal in ­perspective Partners: Transpond, Sweden; Civil Right Dedignity and rights.” The exhibition Article 1 is fenders, Sweden / Serbia; Cultural Center Rex, ­Serbia; Museum of Yugoslav History, Serbia based on the opening article of the UN UniverCountry: Serbia sal Declaration of Human Rights. This Swedish exhibition project focuses on groups who have long been invisible in historical accounts: homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people.

“The museums must accept their responsibility and document the common history of all citizens, otherwise they’re not fulfilling their mandate,” says Ulf Petersson, who initiated the project and leads it.

LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual) issues are basically about human rights, says Petersson, a freelance museum consultant. “People who aren’t visible don’t exist. And people who don’t exist can’t assert their rights.”

The Article 1 exhibition was initiated in light of the fact that LGBT people are seldom visible in Swedish society. The idea was to invite Swedish museums to examine themselves from an LGBT perspective and together produce an exhibition of their own choosing. Those that agreed to take part were the

Nobel Museum, the Police Museum, the National Museum, the Army Museum, and the National Museum of Science and Technology.

The exhibition is based on such LGBT-related Swedish material as the various museums have been able to dig out of their archives. The Museum of Science and Technology, for instance, has contributed a record player and a cassette radio previously used by the Gayradio station in Stockholm.

Broadcasts began in 1979, the year in which homosexuality was no longer classified as a disease in Sweden, and they 65

LGBT history made visible

played an important part in the LGBT movement’s efforts to influence political opinion.

From the outset, the Article 1 exhibition was intended for foreign consumption as well. Following the opening, which coincided with the 2008 Stockholm Pride festival, it has been shown in the Balkans and elsewhere with funding from SI— Creative Force.

“We could have focused on New York, Paris and London, but that wasn’t what we had in mind for this exhibition,” Petersson says. “We wanted to create networks and fruitful partnerships between countries that have made little progress in terms of LGBT rights.”

In Belgrade, Article 1 was shown at the Cultural Center Rex and later at the Museum of Yugoslav History to coincide with an international conference on human rights for sexual minorities. In Serbia, homosexuality was illegal until 1994.

Opinion polls from 2010 show that more than 70 percent of the population still regard homosexuality as a disease. About 55 per cent of Serbs feel that gays do not have the same human value as heterosexuals.

“These are daunting figures that show just how negative people’s attitudes are towards LGBTs,” says Goran Miletic, regional officer for the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic 66

LGBT history made visible

of ­Macedonia, and Serbia) at Civil Rights Defenders, one of the project’s partners in Serbia. “A majority of the population say they wouldn’t like to have a homosexual person as a neighbor or a work colleague. That’s why we think this exhibition is so important and have chosen to support it.”

Discrimination against LGBT people is found in all areas of society, according to Miletic, which has meant, for instance, that organizing Pride parades in Belgrade has proved difficult.

In 2001, the parade was attacked and several participants were injured by counter-demonstrators. When a new attempt was made to organize the festival in 2009, permission to hold the event was withdrawn after police said they could not guarantee the safety of those taking part. The following year, the parade could be held but only with the aid of a giant security operation.

The participants, who numbered about 1,000, were protected by some 6,000 police from attack by 6,000 counterdemonstrators.

“We could scarcely be seen since the police ringed us three deep,” Miletic says, “but the fact that the parade took place at all was nevertheless a victory.”

A few months later, in early 2011, Article 1 opened with police protection both inside the premises and on the street outside. But the exhibition became something of a safe area while it lasted. Many LGBT people who saw it expressed the view that it was fantastic that someone was taking notice of them and their history.

“The exhibition meant a lot to everyone, including visitors who knew nothing about LGBT issues and could now learn more,” Miletic says. “It’s important to show that what is history in Sweden is still a reality in Serbia today. But eventually we can catch up with Sweden—changing people’s attitudes isn’t impossible.”

To coincide with the exhibition, program activities were organized in the form of talks and debates organized by local LGBT groups. Petersson recalls in particular the concluding panel debate, “Whose History is Our History?,” about the role and responsibility of museums in society. The panelists were representatives of the museum sector in both Serbia and Sweden.

“The discussion came to deal with the need for museums to stop being passive institutions,” Petersson says. “They have 67

LGBT history made visible

68

LGBT history made visible

to change and have the courage to tackle difficult and controversial issues.”

Many people from the Serbian museum community visited the exhibition to find out how Swedish museums had dealt with what many regard as a controversial issue, namely the situation of sexual minorities. Petersson stresses that the exhibition project is also important for Swedish partners, despite the fact that Sweden has made considerable progress in terms both of openness towards LGBT people and of legislation designed to protect them. In Serbia, people still have to fight for their rights—a struggle that many LGBTs people feel is no longer required in Sweden.

“Precisely because of that, it’s important to view this question in a global perspective,” Petersson says. “Perhaps we Swedes haven’t made as much progress as we like to think and we’re presenting ourselves in a false light. Swedish museums, for instance, have definitely not progressed much when it comes to focusing on LGBT people and their history.”

The project work enabled the parties involved to develop new networks and partnerships both within and between the countries hosting the exhi-

bition. Petersson notes that the previously divided Serbian LGBT organizations had been able to work together on Article 1, which in turn had opened up the prospect of further cooperation on projects in the future.

There are also tentative plans for other types of cooperation at the regional level.

The director of the Museum of Yugoslav History in Belgrade, Katarina Zivanovic, has shown an interest in producing a regional exhibition on LGBT history.

In Croatia, meanwhile, Queer Zagreb recently produced a book about the history of sexual minorities in the former Yugoslavia. This organization seeks to combat discrimination against homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals and queers in Croatian society.

“The idea is to bring the two together so that the museum can get ideas for the exhibition from Queer Zagreb,” Petersson says. “By constantly finding new areas of contact for small organizations, we boost their credibility and create the potential for new partnerships.” • 69

The museum as forum and actor.

70

Project: Museum development in Serbia Who writes a country’s history? What should Partners: Swedish Embassy, Belgrade; National Historical Museum, Sweden; Belgrade City Mua society remember and what should it forseum, Museum of Yugoslav History, Serbia; B92 Fund/Cultural Center Rex, Serbia; C31, Serbia get? And what accounts of history should be Country: Serbia taught in schools? In the Balkans, the way history is used and described is often controversial. Since 2009, the Swedish ­Embassy in Belgrade has been pursuing a project entitled ­Museum Development in Serbia under the auspices of Creative Force. The idea is to establish both e ­ xchanges between Sweden and S ­ erbia and a platform for discussing the ­global role of museums.

Serbia, which is striving for EU membership, is going through a comprehensive process of change that is affecting the nation’s self-image. Its museums, too, are facing a major transformation, and the discourse is centering on the role they play in society today—but also, and even more importantly, on the role they can play tomorrow.

Sweden’s cultural attaché in Belgrade, Helene Larsson, a veteran of the museum world herself, is leading the development project, which began in 2009 with a conference in the Serbian capital entitled “Why museums and for whom—the

museum as forum and actor.” The participants, comprising museum professionals, academics and members of the general public interested in history, struggled energetically with the question of what the future role of museums should be.

In the wake of that conference, a number of seminars and workshops have been organized in Belgrade, and a range of museums and other cultural institutions are now linked to the project. Also, Serbian museum staff have made study trips to Sweden in cooperation with institutions such as Malmö Museums and Moderna Museet (the Modern 71

The museum as forum and actor

­ useum) in Stockholm. The project focuses on four areas of M work: educational methods, the use of history, contemporary collecting and the role of museums in society.

Larsson underlines the fact that this is an exchange between Serbia and Sweden and that all the projects have both Serbian and Swedish partners.

“In Serbia, people are confronted with their history on a daily basis, which is very different from our situation in Sweden.”

Danica Prodanovic, head of the Belgrade City Museum, one of the project partners, agrees that this exchange is important. She has taken part in a number of conferences and workshops, and staff from the museum have travelled to Sweden on exchange visits to study such things as educational method.

“An exchange of ideas and experience is always most valuable, even if you cannot import ready-made methods directly from another country’s culture,” she says. “But despite the fact that our economic situation is very different from that of Sweden, we can get a lot of inspiration and know-how from your country.”

Serbian museums tend to be traditional institutions that collect and preserve artifacts. Prodanovic feels they need to 72

The museum as forum and actor

c­ oncern themselves more with topical themes such as social issues, religion, gender equality, and minorities. She would also like to see closer cooperation between schools and ­museums.

“We wish we had a much younger audience and more proactive programs. In this country, history is very important for everybody because it determined our lives to a great extent and that is why it’s necessary to find ways of dealing with it on viable levels. But because our economic problems have forced us to cut back on staff we’ve had to rely on a few young, enthusiastic colleagues. They’ve managed to establish cooperation with a few schools but we’re very far from reaching our goals.”

The project Museum Development in Serbia comprises a range of activities designed both to strengthen the right of children and young people to culture and to develop interaction between the educational and the cultural spheres.

“The museums have few educational staff,” Larsson says.

“After launching an exhibition, they almost never focus on the visitors during the exhibition itself. We want to contribute inspiration and know-how in this area and discuss how to relate to topical issues in the museum sphere.”

In 2011, therefore, a pilot project was launched ­entitled Creative Society, with two municipalities in Belgrade, a ­number of 73

The museum as forum and actor

schools and the Museum of Science and ­Technology as partners. The work was inspired by the Swedish project Creative School, a government initiative designed to give elementary and junior high school pupils more access to culture. As part of the pilot project in Serbia, workshops have been organized for museums and artists for the purpose of developing manuals for educational work.

One of the partners who co-organized the conference with the Swedish embassy in Belgrade was B92 Fund, an independent cultural group affiliated to the Cultural Centre Rex. B92 Fund produces documentaries and books and stages exhibitions, film shows and culture festivals. The idea is to promote human rights, freedom of expression and the democratization process, using culture as a tool.

“We’re now seeing how several museums in Belgrade have increased their educational programs in connection with their exhibitions,” Larsson says. “But this is a very longterm task. In time, the idea is to increase strategic cooperation between schools and cultural life, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and others.”

Maja Cecen, director of B92 Fund, emphasizes the importance of arranging conferences such as the one on hot topics. Guest speakers can contribute both inspiration and new tools for developing educational methods in exhibition contexts. Also, seminars and workshops can act as meeting places for different actors in the museum world.

Another part of the Museum Development in Serbia project involved organizing a conference focusing on what are termed “hot spots,” that is, sensitive and controversial topics. The conference, entitled Contemporary Collecting on Hot Topics, was held in June 2011 and was attended both by representatives of state museums and cultural institutions and by representatives of the independent cultural sector.

Guest speakers from Sweden included Samuel ­T helin, an education officer with Malmö Museums, who has developed methods for tackling sensitive topical issues in the museum world. In his view, museums should be forums for open debate and should dare to raise burning social issues of the day as part of their exhibition work.

“It’s important that representatives of the country’s independent cultural scene get to meet museum staff from state museums to exchange ideas and start cooperating,” Cecen says. As a direct result of the conference, she adds, B92 Fund is going to cooperate with the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, a state institution.

74

The events organized by B92 Fund are often startling and raise controversial issues that are normally taboo. ­Cecen feels that one of the hottest topics Serbs must learn to deal with is what happened after the collapse of Yugoslavia, which sparked war and ethnic conflict. She thinks that many Serbs are looking for objective facts about their

The museum as forum and actor

c­ ontemporary history while others would rather forget and move on. The government for its part, she says, has made no serious attempt to discuss or deal with the sensitive issue of Serbia’s part in the war. Young Serbs in particular need to cultivate a more critical way of thinking and understand how history has been used in the past for such purposes as building up a Serbian national identity.

“It’s as though the whole of our society was based on misleading myths and misinterpretations. It’s only when we have the courage to raise these issues and discuss them on an objective level that we can move on as a nation. But there is a great need for critical analysis, and state museums haven’t had any exhibitions or program activities that meet these needs. Most of them have simply organized permanent exhibitions without any links whatsoever to the world outside their walls. I hope the project on museum development run by the Swedish Embassy with funding from SI—Creative Force will improve the situation and that the museums can become forums for more relevant issues and thereby play a more important part in society.” • 75

The art of l覺v覺ng on art.

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Project: The Art of Living on Art Culture is traditionally associated with values Partners: Nätverkstan, Sweden; GoDown Arts Centre, Kenya such as democracy and freedom of e ­ xpression, Countries: East Africa but it can also create new jobs and growth. ­Artistic creativity is making an ever-increasing contribution to countries’ economic development. But how do you learn the art of living on your art? With support from SI—Creative Force, cultural workers in East Africa are now getting the opportunity to enhance their artistic and entrepreneurial skills.

Kenya is often seen as the engine of growth in East African cultural and media life, and here the copyright-based industries account for approximately 5 percent of the country’s GDP. In a bid to create more jobs in the cultural sector and, in the longer term, to strengthen the region’s cultural life, a university course entitled “East Africa capacity-building program for artists and creative entrepreneurs” was launched in Nairobi in the summer of 2012.

The program is a joint initiative on the part of the GoDown Arts Centre, a cultural organization based in Nairobi, and the Swedish cultural organization Nätverkstan in Gothenburg. The ten-week course is designed for freelance cultural practitioners in East Africa who need to learn more about how to support themselves on their art. The syllabus

includes subjects such as entrepreneurship, financial adroitness, copyright, mentorship and cultural leadership.

“This course provides the participants with the skills and knowledge they require to make choices, seize opportunities and meet challenges,” says Joy Mboya, director of the GoDown Arts Centre.

The course is a pilot project that will subsequently be evaluated, and the idea is for it to develop into a one-year program of studies. A further aim is to seek to interest young East Africans aged 18-28 in working professionally in the fields of arts management, arts marketing and public relations.

“To anchor it in the national framework of education, we are partnering with the Kenya Polytechnic University’s 77

The art of living on art

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The art of living on art

Centre for Creative and Cultural Industries,” Mboya says. “This way it becomes a part of the ongoing vocational programs offered by this institution.”

The educational cooperation between GoDown and Nätverkstan has its roots in the SI—Creative Force project The Economy of Creativity, launched in 2009. All around the world, people met to discuss ways in which the cultural sector might create new employment opportunities and economic growth. At the EU conference “Culture and Creativity: Vectors for Development” in that year, participants concluded that the creative industry is an important force in development cooperation.

During the time the Economy of Creativity project was in progress, a number of conferences and meetings were held in Nairobi and Mombasa on the theme of creative industries. These activities were

organized by SI—Creative Force, in close cooperation with the Swedish embassy and the Norwegian culture and development aid body Mimeta.

The first joint workshop run by GoDown and Nätverkstan, entitled The Art of Living on Art, focused more specifically on how people can support themselves as cultural practitioners. The participants were visual artists, dancers, ­choreographers, writers and set designers.

“We took a multidisciplinary approach so that the participants could pick up ideas from one another, and the course was greatly appreciated,” says Lotta Lekvall, director of Nätverkstan.

The organization has been arranging courses for a number of years on art and entrepreneurship, targeting those involved at the small-scale local level in Swedish cultural life. Following the workshop in Nairobi, Lekvall noticed that there were considerable similarities between freelance cultural practitioners in Sweden and Kenya, although they operated in widely differing circumstances.

In Sweden, cultural life is government-sponsored to 90 percent. In Kenya, funding often comes from prominent international sponsors such as the Ford Foundation or organizations such as the British Council. The country is still without a national arts council, and the culture policy 79

The art of living on art

adopted in 2008 has yet to be implemented. An infrastructure that could make it easier for cultural workers to live on their art is almost completely lacking, and in Kenya most artistic practitioners are self-employed more by necessity than by choice.

“After our workshop, we realized that there’s a great need for further development in various areas among cultural actors, both newcomers and professional artists,” Lekvall says.

“The country needs both to build up a vibrant, sustainable cultural sector and to offer cultural workers skills enhancement training.”

Nätverkstan and GoDown organized a number of workshops in Nairobi in 2010, and subsequently came up with the idea of a longer course of studies for East African cultural workers, with the support of backers such as SI—Creative Force. The course leaders, who are active artists themselves, were trained in Kenya, and a course plan was drawn up. In 2011, the course leaders undertook study trips to London, Gothenburg and Stockholm to get inspiration and improve their skills. The project had by then acquired additional partners, including the British Council and Goldsmiths University of London.

Now, in 2012, the first university course is on offer: “The East Africa capacity-building program for artists and creative entrepreneurs.” Those responsible for initiating it 80

would like it to become an annual one-year course of training, but the post-course evaluation will determine its future. One long-term goal is to lift the role of culture onto the agendas of East African governments so as to improve their understanding of the need for economic support and a for better ­infrastructure.

Joy Mboya stresses the important role that culture can play in Kenya; not only for democracy and freedom of expression but also for the country’s economy. The Kenya Film Commission, which carried out a study on the specific contribution on film, found that the cinema and TV industry generated about 4 percent of the Kenyan GDP. “And we know that music in Kenya is also quite a vibrant sector,” Mboya says. “This means that the creative economy is a significant contributor to overall GDP and attention needs to be given to it.” •

The art of living on art

81

CREATIVE FORCE—Africa 2008–2011 Projects: Stockholm International Poetry Festival Journal 1OTAL, Sweden Poets in Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali On tour with African Cinderella Swedish National Touring Theatre National Theatre of Ghana Women and theatre in Somiaga Burkinas Vänner, Sweden Anar, Burkina Faso Yam Wékré Theatre Group, Burkina Faso Children’s theatre workshop ASSITEJ, Sweden ASSITEJ, Rwanda Mashirika Creative Performing Arts Group, Rwanda Theater and performance Angereds Teater, Sweden Circus Debre Behra, Ethiopia 82

Women film-makers’ workshop Widerberg Film, Sweden Kapetanovic film produktion, Sweden Rwanda Cinema Center Circus training and HIV/AIDS information Clowns without Borders, Sweden IOGT-NTO, Rwanda Rwanda Scout Association Swedish and African film in partnership CinemAfrica, Sweden FESPACO Film Festival, Burkina Faso Zanzibar International Film Festival, Tanzania African Digital Art Network Circus training and music performances Djef Djel, Sweden Centre Empire des Enfants, Senegal Sencirk, Senegal Association Takku Ligey, Senegal

Video and Performance Bonanza Selam, Sweden Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts & Design ASNI Gallery, Ethiopia Women writers’ network Karavan Magazine, Sweden FEMRITE, Uganda Children’s literature project Bokspindeln, Sweden International Library, Sweden Ethiopia Reads, Ethiopia Musical exchange Vara och Gävle Konserthus, Sweden Saint Louis Jazz Festival, Senegal Art glassware project Hot Glass Glasakademin, Sweden Ethiopian Reflection

Swedish African Cultural Network Selam, Sweden Artists and organizations in Ethiopia, ­Senegal, Uganda, Kenya and other African countries.

Dance production Boundaries CE Dans /Zebra Dans, Sweden Tanzania House of Talent Monzi Dance Theatre, Tanzania Circus training for street children Fan-atticks, Sweden Africa Keur Festival, Senegal Centre Empire des Enfants, Senegal Open Dance Lab/Rue de la princesse Göteborgs Dans & Teater Festival, Sweden Association Donko Seko, Mali Dense Bamako Dance, Mali Art and fashion incubators University College of Arts, Crafts and ­Design, Sweden Transit Kulturinkubator, Sweden Ecole Nationale des Arts, Senegal Institut de Coupe, Couture et de Mode, ­Senegal

Flying Widows and Orphans—circus training Clowns without Borders, Sweden Orongo Widows and Orphans Group, Kenya

Workshop on women and literature Tranan & Trasten Publishing House, Sweden Mbaasem Foundation, Ghana

Arts and crafts project Husby—Dakar Husby Konst & Hantverksförening, Sweden LAPDA, Senegal

Performing arts for children and youth ASSITEJ, Sweden ASSITEJ, Uganda

Workshop for playwrights Abako International Partners, Sweden Children and Youth Theatre Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Project management for arts and culture Intercult, Sweden Arterial Network, South Africa /Kenya

Literature for children and youth Tranan & Trasten Publishing House, Sweden Sub-Saharan Publishers, Ghana Circus training and young leaders Clowns without Borders, Sweden NAYOU, Uganda Promoting literature for children and youth Afrikultur, Sweden Editions Balani’s, Mali The Art of Living on Art Nätverkstan, Sweden GoDown Arts Centre, Kenya

Africa Film Update Tempo Documentary Festival, Sweden Zanzibar International Film Festival, ­Tanzania FESPACO, Burkina Faso IKON, South Africa The Economy of Creativity Mimeta, Norway GoDown Arts Centre, Kenya Film students’ exchange Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, ­Sweden ISIS, Burkina Faso

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CREATIVE FORCE—Western Balkans 2009–2011 Projects: Special performance—Hamlet

Theater for children and youth

Royal Dramatic Theatre, Sweden

ASSITEJ, Sweden

National Theatre, Serbia

National Theatre of Kosovo

Mundesi—opportunities for young people with disabilities Share Music Sweden Youth in Free Initiative, Albania

Shadow theater workshop in schools

Shimmering—light art and drama

Pygméteatern, Sweden

Stratimirovic Art Light Design, Sweden

Exhibition and workshop on art, craft

Puppet theatre Pinokio, Serbia

Cultural Front Belgrade, Serbia

and design

Children’s Cultural Center Belgrade, Serbia

LOD, Sweden Young people’s participation and influence

Workshops for young playwrights

Cultural Front Belgrade, Serbia

Botkyrka Municipality, Sweden

Irena Kraus, Sweden

Cair Municipality, Macedonia

Theatre Duško Radović, Serbia

Children’s Theatre Centre, Macedonia

Museum development in Serbia National Historical Museum, Sweden Swedish Embassy, Belgrade

Promoting literature for children

Documentary film production

C31, Serbia

Swedish Institute for Children’s Books

Swedish Arts Council

Museum of Yugoslav History, Serbia

Book Club Mali Princ, Bosnia and

Rende Publishing House, Serbia

Belgrade City Museum, Serbia

Herzegovina

B92 Fund / Cultural Center Rex, Serbia Fast Forward—dance and art

Stepping Out—film and media project

Intercult, Sweden

MOST-ARTT—children and youth with disabi-

Filmosont, Sweden

STATION—Service for Contemporary Dance,

lities

Omen Theatre, Serbia

Serbia

FUB Stockholm, Sweden

CDA T-HOUSE, Macedonia

Lokomotiva, Macedonia

Ruzicnjak, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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The Sign is Loud—theater by and for the deaf community National Touring Theatre /Silent Theatre,

International Youth Work Festival

Cultural Heritage without Borders, Sweden

PRONI, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Museums in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,

­Sweden Children’s Theatre Centre, Macedonia

Hidden voices—art works by disabled people

CIVIS, Sweden

and Macedonia Choir workshops for children Romeo and Julia Choir, Sweden

Gender and Culture—storytelling and ­animation

How do I want to live in the future?

Balkan Sunflowers, Kosovo

RåFILM, Sweden

— workshops for young people

Association of Citizens Sumnal, Macedonia

Zene na delu, Serbia

Art, Architecture and Education, Sweden Creativity to go, Serbia

Čerain—culture and education for Roma

Multimedia Youth Association, Macedonia

­children Serbian Youth Organization in Sweden

Digital Crossing, No Borders—artistic c ­ reativity and digital media Formverk, Sweden

Theater co-production THEATRON Theatre, Sweden Sombor City Theatre, Serbia

Terraforming, Sweden Roma Cultural Association Čerain, Serbia Vojvodina Roma Center for Democracy, Serbia

Biro for culture and communication, Serbia

BeFem—feminist cultural festival Silc, Sweden Glas Razlike, Serbia

Workshops on the role of art in a democracy Animated film workshops for children

Vision Forum, Sweden

I read, I write, I direct, I act—theater project for

Erling Gör Film, Sweden

Press to exit, Macedonia

children

Media Education Centre, Serbia

Cultural Center Rex, Serbia

Save the Children, Kosovo SOS Children’s Villages, Macedonia Focus Self-Image—young people making film

Pygméteatern, Sweden Panevo Cultural Center, Serbia

Circus school and Lady Star

Festic, Serbia

Unga Örnar, Sweden

Bijeljina Theatre Academy, Bosnia and Herze-

City Foundation Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

govina

Film i Halland, Sweden Media Education Center, Serbia

Children with disabilities

STAD #3 Confluence Belgrade—city planning

Youth Center Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Swedish Institute of Assistive Technology

STAD Magazine, Sweden

Docufest Prizren, Kosovo

Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Serbia

BINA, Serbia

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CREATIVE FORCE—Western Balkans 2009–2011

Workshops on cartooning and sustainable ­development Global Action Plan International

Feminist culture and debate

Art for vulnerable groups

Bang Magazine, Sweden

Konstfrämjandet, Sweden

BeFem feminist cultural center, Serbia

Refraction Association, Albania

ERA, Kosovo Artists-in-residence initiative Seminar Art and Democracy Intercult, Sweden

Semmy Stahlhammer, Sweden

GRAD/Cultural Front, Serbia

Swedish Embassy, Skopje

Oktobarksi Salon, Serbia

Music Academy, Macedonia Art exhibition and workshops

Article 1—History from a LGBT perspective Transpond, Sweden

Färgfabriken, Sweden Biro Beograd, Serbia

Civil Rights Defenders, Sweden /Western Balkans

Feminist cultural cooperation

B92 Fund/Cultural Center Rex, Serbia

Föreningen Idyll, Sweden

Museum of Yugoslav History, Serbia

CURE Foundation, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Euro Balkan Institute, Macedonia Art Cinema Kriterion, Bosnia and Herzegovina Qesh, Kosovo

Roma artists’ cooperation Terraforming, Sweden Roma Theatre Suno, Serbia

My Bright Future—children’s voices and light art Stratimirovic Art Light Design, Sweden

Visibility—workshops on creativity and

Youth Cultural Center Abrasevic, Bosnia and

­democracy

Herzegovina

Formverk, Sweden

Cultural Front Belgrade, Serbia

Art Association MOBA, Serbia

Home is where the heart is—dance cooperation

Baby (Revolution) Comeback—art project

Lava-Dansproduktion, Sweden

Moderna Museet, Sweden

Kulturanova, Serbia

Stacion-Center for Contemporary Art, Kosovo

86

Music exchange project

Johan Pousette, Sweden

DMBUC, Macedonia

ISBN: 978-91-86995-19-5