What happens when a cultural cornerstone faces last-minute bureaucratic hurdles? In this gripping episode, we uncover the behind-the-scenes drama of the Kampala International Theatre Festival's 2022 edition. Just days before the opening, organizers were confronted with unreasonable demands from the media council, threatening to derail the entire event. With international artists already on site and negotiations stretching into the wee hours, the festival’s future hung by a thread. Hear first-hand accounts of the relentless efforts, including hiring a lawyer, to ensure the show went on, albeit with some compromises like a shortened audio installation. We also delve into the broader challenges of operating without government support and the urgent need for more informed regulatory personnel.
This episode also takes a deep dive into the core values and mission of the Tiberi Arts Foundation. Learn about our unwavering commitment to fair compensation and professionalism in the arts. By adhering to strict schedules and ensuring adequate funding, we aim to shatter stereotypes that paint the industry as disorganized. Discover how these principles allow artists to focus fully on their craft without financial distractions, and hear our reflections on the importance of cultural spaces like the Uganda National Cultural Center. These venues hold personal and historical significance for festival organizers and are crucial in fostering a vibrant arts scene. Join us as we explore how we are dedicated to changing the narrative around arts and theater in our country.
Listen to Ugandan Art Speaks Out on all podcast platforms. For more information and to explore further, visit our website at https://www.ugandanartspeaksout.com/ Contact us at adnan@omuti.org or director@omuti.org
What happens when a cultural cornerstone faces last-minute bureaucratic hurdles? In this gripping episode, we uncover the behind-the-scenes drama of the Kampala International Theatre Festival's 2022 edition. Just days before the opening, organizers were confronted with unreasonable demands from the media council, threatening to derail the entire event. With international artists already on site and negotiations stretching into the wee hours, the festival’s future hung by a thread. Hear first-hand accounts of the relentless efforts, including hiring a lawyer, to ensure the show went on, albeit with some compromises like a shortened audio installation. We also delve into the broader challenges of operating without government support and the urgent need for more informed regulatory personnel.
This episode also takes a deep dive into the core values and mission of the Tiberi Arts Foundation. Learn about our unwavering commitment to fair compensation and professionalism in the arts. By adhering to strict schedules and ensuring adequate funding, we aim to shatter stereotypes that paint the industry as disorganized. Discover how these principles allow artists to focus fully on their craft without financial distractions, and hear our reflections on the importance of cultural spaces like the Uganda National Cultural Center. These venues hold personal and historical significance for festival organizers and are crucial in fostering a vibrant arts scene. Join us as we explore how we are dedicated to changing the narrative around arts and theater in our country.
Listen to Ugandan Art Speaks Out on all podcast platforms. For more information and to explore further, visit our website at https://www.ugandanartspeaksout.com/ Contact us at adnan@omuti.org or director@omuti.org
Speaker 1:
Imagine the thrill of creating a platform for artistic expression. Today I saw you in virtual images Shadows lined bright with white boundaries repelling the stare. My eyes were compelled to adhere. A space that fosters culture exchange and showcases your nation's vibrant spirit on a global stage.
Speaker 2:
I think having challenges is so great because it allows us to think about things differently and to ask ourselves a question of what the future of theatre and live performance is supposed to go in our country.
Speaker 1:
Now picture the crashing weight of uncertainty threatening to silence it all, Just days before the opening.
Speaker 2:
Usually, the festival opens on Wednesdays, usually the last week of November, and I remember that year 2022,. By the morning of Tuesday, we didn't know whether the festival was going to happen or not.
Speaker 1:
This is the story of Kampala International Theatre Festival a beacon of creativity withering a storm 2022,. The Festival, a cornerstone event in its ninth year, pulsed with anticipation. International artists have arrived eager to share their craft. The energy is palpable.
Speaker 2:
What was so difficult was because some international artists were already in the country. I think it would have been easier Of course, not easier in terms of communication, in terms of explanation if we were only dealing with our local artists because they are familiar, was. But you didn't know that this was going to happen and we were like, no, we didn't know. I remember that year we were summoned five days to the opening of the festival and we were told if you don't meet A, b, c, d, e, abcdefg, your festival will not be allowed to happen.
Speaker 1:
Their demands were unreasonable, impossible to meet in the limited time. International artists, understandably frustrated, questioned our preparedness.
Speaker 2:
For example, asking an international artist to produce a copyright certificate that they own the work they are going to produce was very difficult.
Speaker 1:
Lawyers were called. In Negotiations stretched late into the night, we fought Not just for the festival but for the very lifeblood of artistic expression.
Speaker 2:
So thankfully, we were able to engage a lawyer, who then had several conversations with the media council and eventually the festival happened. But you know, we some, some artists, pulled out our. That year was the year that we were going to curate our audio installation. We had planned it to run for the entire duration of the festival, which which is five days, and the audio installation ended up happening for just one day, because just getting the permission for them to be accessed by the public did not happen until the second last day of the festival.
Speaker 1:
The silence in that empty space spoke volumes. The silence in that empty space spoke volumes. Aspects created to uplift and inspire were stifled by bureaucracy.
Speaker 2:
When someone has put in so much to create this space that we think is supporting the art sector, supporting tourism, to really put our country on the map, and the organizations that are purportedly supposed to support such spaces seem to be stifling those spaces, is really heartbreaking. And also knowing that we do all of this with absolutely zero government support zero. So I always joke in the office that oftentimes I have to engage my brain that is not so creative to be able to write grants. I spend most of my time writing grants to raise money so that all of these programs that I have talked about can actually happen. And so you know, like for one, to have to write all of these grants to be able to raise money for these programs to happen and then to be told, sorry, you can't have this is very painful and I'm hoping that you know. Whoever is running the media council needs to employ people who understand the arts, because I want to believe that if such a council has an art practitioner who understands what's involved to create all of these programs, our conversation with them would be much better, and we have actually proposed to them to have a seminar where artists can air their grievances to them, where we can also hear from them what their mission is, why it is important for them to, you know, do what they do at the last moment. So we hope that our proposal can be considered.
Speaker 2:
We invited last year at the festival. We had a conversation on law and the arts and on the panel there was a gentleman from the media council and he's the one who told us okay, we have had a great conversation, you people have been open to us. Ok, can you now create a report and send it to us? We did that. We submitted the report in real time capturing all the views that were said in that conversation, and we have never heard back from the media council. So I hope they are going to listen to this podcast and maybe they can reach out to us and we see how and we are more than happy to support in terms of mobilization of the artists to be a part of such a conversation if they can, you know, create a seminar. And the great thing also is that on that panel there was a member of parliament, there was a representative from the Uganda National Cultural Center, national Theatre. So it's not something that we just came up with, it's we put together all the views that the artists present the people on the panel talked about, and we presented our proposal and report to the media council. I hope they will get back to us.
Speaker 2:
Finding space is a challenge, but Asimwe Deborah uses creativity to find solutions. We have been doing most of our activities here at Nderere Cultural Centre and for the past two editions of the Kampala International Theatre Festival we have had the opening at the Uganda National Cultural Center, which is great because that's where the festival started from anyway, and I was very adamant about putting starting the festival at the Uganda National Culture Center because it is a space that nurtured me. I had the opportunity of working under Mr Kalundi, robert Serumaga, and he nurtured me, he mentored me, so I had an attachment. My first ever public performance was at the National Theater in Medea. I was acting as Medea, so the fact that I performed there, the fact that I had an opportunity to work there, the space holds such a special place in my heart. But along the way I think that their own priorities changed and so we ended up leaving. Mainly it came from double bookings, triple bookings and also booking bookings and also booking things that are too loud for a theater, quiet theater performance to happen. And so, in all good faith, we're like you know what we can't continue working like this, and so we moved to Nderi Cultural Center, which has been wonderful for us in terms of hosting us. This is where we have our office been wonderful for us in terms of hosting us, this is where we have our office, but we think that Uganda National Cultural Centre, as the seat of the Ugandan culture, would be the ideal space for this kind of festival. We are also aware that they have other cultural centers within Kampala. We're also aware that their mandate is also to support other cultural centers countrywide, and we think that if they would be able to do that, we wouldn't be struggling with space.
Speaker 2:
For example, our interest is to be able to take theater to the people. There are people who will never feel comfortable, never feel comfortable to go all the way to the National Theater to see a show, and that is one of the reasons, for example, we are doing this work in Kamocha. We don't want our festival to be branded elite, to be branded that it caters for expatriates, because we created this festival for Ugandans first and foremost. And so if there were other spaces, if, like, for example, this space in Naguru was functional, why wouldn't we take the Kampala International Theatre Festival there as well, in addition to having it at the National Theatre? So, just like we have been very creative, like I said, challenges always give us an opportunity to think outside of the box.
Speaker 2:
So we have been very, very creative in taking this festival into spaces that people would never have thought that a theatre performance can happen. We have been very excited about transforming spaces that are not conventional for performances at all and turn them into performance spaces. And you know, that has been wonderful and we have learned so much along the way, and I honestly think that is the future of theatre to be able to use whatever space that's available, to create it as a performance space, to be able to take theatre to the people. One of the things we are hoping to do is to curate an audio installation within Kamocha Slum so that people can hear their own stories, and also into other public spaces. So, yeah, I mean space, yes, is a challenge, but we are also thinking around that challenge in creative ways.
Speaker 1:
Another challenge is finding for the arts.
Speaker 2:
The third challenge and I'm laughing because I know I've always told our young artists in our residences that they should never think about this as a challenge. The other challenge, of course, for us to be able to run this program, we need money. We need money, and support for the arts was already very, very small, but then the pandemic made it worse. Our major supporter used to be the Sundance Institute Theatre Programme, and earlier on I talked about how it closed because of the pandemic. So for us to be able to run our this space called Tebere Arts Foundation, we definitely need money. We need money not just to support the artists, but also to be able to pay staff. We need money to pay the artists that we curate at the Kampala International Theatre Festival.
Speaker 2:
One of our values as Tiberi Arts Foundation is that whoever works with us must be paid, that whoever works with us must be paid and must be paid well, and that is actually one of the reasons, one of the other reasons we established Tiberi Arts Foundation we pay attention to professionalism.
Speaker 2:
We know that in this country, all sorts of things have been said about the arts, about theater, how we are unserious, how we are uncouth, how we don't know how to be professional. But we said with Tebere we are going to change the narrative. If we say that you are expected to be here at a certain time, that time has to be respected. If we say that we are required to be somewhere at a certain time, that time must be respected. And if we are doing something, it is absolutely what we are doing, 100%, without having to run 1,001 things. We focus on that. And so when we invite artists, who we know need money and have to be, you know, have to make ends meet, we try as much as we can that when they are with us they are not thinking other things. You know, running, running away, doing one thing, doing the other. So, yeah, so for us to be able to run the program successfully, of course we need money to be able to run them successfully.
Speaker 1:
This is the spirit of the Kampala International Theatre Festival, a spirit that refuses to be broken, a spirit that reminds us that art, even in the face of adversity, will find a way to shine you.