Today is a momentous day for us at CivSource.
Today we will announce the awardees of the Kuonyesha Art Fund. The fund was established to support and show case art in Uganda, starting with 3 pilot sites of Gulu, Karamoja and Kampala.
Beyond just supporting art, we at CivSource believe in the centrality of art as part and parcel of our African identity and as critical to the right to freedom of thought and expression. The arts lift us, they show us for who we are and they also point us to the future and to worlds not yet known. Art therapy has been used in addressing trauma of war. Art has been used to support and advance human rights. We know that artists have also fought for and been in danger of rights violations across this continent and thus, there is every need not just to fund the arts, but to ensure artists rights are protected and defended.
Artists are an integral part of civil society and through funding the arts, CivSource is trying to expand our interaction with and understanding of civil society in its breadth and depth.
Through Kuonyesha, we tried to look out for and reach artists on the margins - especially female artists and artists with disabilities. I know we can always do better in this regard. At the same time, we also know that marginality goes beyond just these two broad categories, but this is a start as we, together with artists, figure out a way to make the arts more inclusive.
We look forward to working with and learning from the Kuonyesha Art Fund awardees. We especially want to learn and hone our skills at running and managing flexible funds that speak to the needs, realities and contexts of the communities that the funds serve.
Throughout the year of implementation of the Kuonyesha Art Fund, we will bring you highlights and updates of the awardees, we will capture and share most significant changes stories and we will show case their work on our social media platforms. We also hope to raise more money from more partners, so that we can roll out the fund to many more artists and regions of Uganda (and eventually Africa!).
We invite you to stay tuned, stay connected and walk this journey with us as we Kuonyesha art in Uganda!
By: Jackie Asiimwe