Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | A thousand artists from over 50 countries will gather in Ivory Coast on Saturday for a week-long festival of African music, theatre, dance, comedy, slam poetry and storytelling. The 10th edition of the biannual Market for African Performing Arts, known by its French initials as …
Read More »ARTS: The OBAMA portrait
Kampala, Uganda | KEHINDE WILEY | Over the course of the past year, I have had the life-changing honour of painting President Obama’s portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. On Monday, we unveiled it to the world. I’d like to tell you a bit about it. In choosing the composition …
Read More »Pallet wood possibilities
Pallet wood: Creativity, innovation, recycling, pushing boundaries of art Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Good art can be made from anything, regardless of the material used. This is evident in a current exhibition titled `Possibilities: Unspecified qualities of a promising nature’. On show are constructions; abstract and functional …
Read More »Turning e-waste into art at Ghana’s toxic dump
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Joseph Awuah-Darko sits on a stool at one of the world’s largest electronic waste dumps, watching polystyrene and insulation cables burn on the blackened ground. “It’s survival and dystopia,” says the 21-year-old British-born Ghanaian, surveying the stretch of wasteland around him as dense plumes of …
Read More »Russian strongman appears as “Superputin” in new exhibition
Moscow, Russia | AFP | From a musclebound Superman to ice hockey player to jet pilot, Vladimir Putin plays various heroic roles in paintings at a Moscow exhibition called “Superputin” that opened this week as he began his campaign for a fourth Kremlin term. Displayed at an arts centre in a …
Read More »ARTS: All the light we can see
An art exhibition for the blind Kampala, Uganda | Dominic Muwanguzi | Public monuments in Kampala are only accessible to the privileged. This statement gains even more power when you visit the exhibit of artworks that are designed for the blind at the Makerere Art Gallery. The art on show is …
Read More »‘What does it mean to be a civically engaged musician?’
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kampala’s German Culture organization Goethe-Zentrum Kampala is hosting socially conscious artists from across Africa this week for the “Your Music Your Voice” event. “Your Music, Your Voice” will create a platform for Pan-African dialogue between socially active artistes to discuss their role in using music …
Read More »CEO AWARDS: Wangusa is E.Africa’s most influential woman in art, culture
CDEA’s Executive Director wins Tanzanaia and East Africa CEO awards Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | Culture and Development East Africa CDEA’s Executive Director Ayeta Anne Wangusa is East Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government in the Arts and Culture category of the CEO Global Africa awards 2017. …
Read More »Culture, creativity on display as PM Rugunda opens JAMAFEST 2017
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The 3rd edition of the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat organised Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki Utamaduni Festival (JAMAFEST) entered day two Sunday, with the highlight being the official opening of the culural festival by Uganda Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda. The main objective of the …
Read More »Govt taken to court over proposed demolition of National Theatre
Govt taken to court over proposed demolition of National Theatre Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | Civil Society Organizations have dragged government and the Trustees of the Uganda National Cultural Centre to the High Court in Kampala, challenging the proposed demolition of the National Theatre and Nommo Gallery. National Cultural …
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