Culture at the 2007 CPF
Culture will play a large part in the 2007 Commonwealth People's Forum, with the People's Space, adjacent to the Africana Hotel, forming a real centre of cultural activities.
The People's Space will be a dynamic and interactive marketplace of ideas and conversation. For the week of the Commonwealth People's Forum, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the other associated events, it will be lively and energetic cultural hub.
Cultural activities at the People's Space will go beyond simple showcasing and presentation of works. Activities will be collaborative and creative. They will make connections across cultures and lead to the development of new work and lasting alliances beyond the Forum. They will help make the People's Space a zone of spontaneity, somewhere where something new is always happening. They will connect culture to the substance of the development and democracy discussions, using arts-based methods to help articulate people's voices and commentate on discussions. They will go out from the Space to engage with the public of Kampala and beyond at different venues, such as the Ndere Centre, the National Theatre, Makerere University, Lugogo Cricket Ground and video halls.
The Commonwealth Foundation, through its Culture and Diversity Programme, is supporting work in four main areas, in partnership with others, as part of the Commonwealth People's Forum, described below.
All activities will have a presence in the People's Space. Events in the People's Space are free and access is unrestricted.
Music
The Commonwealth Foundation is working with the Commonwealth Resounds, a Commonwealth voluntary network of people working in music, to put together the music programme. Many other partners are also contributing towards the music programme, particularly the British Council, the Royal Over-Seas League and a large number of Ugandan musicians. Commonwealth Resounds is responsible for identifying international talent to come to Uganda, fundraising for these musicians, co-ordinating and managing them while in Uganda and putting on events in partnership with others. There will be a wide range of performance on the cultural stage of the People's Space but extending to other venues. A particular highlight outside the Space will be the Bring the Noise concert organised by the British Council at Lugogo Cricket Ground on Tuesday 20 November. Time will be built in for musicians from different countries to rehearse and collaborate spontaneously. There will also be discussions, led by the International Federation of Museums (FIM) about common issues for musicians, such as livelihood and copyright issues, and ways of dealing with them. Other activities will include a project with the London Sinfonietta for young Ugandan and Commonwealth musicians at the National Theatre and an Outreach Day, where talented young musicians from Ugandan villages will travel to Kampala for workshops and performances. The programme will culimate in a gala concern for CHOGM at the Ndere Centre on Saturday 24 November.
Film
The Amakula Kampala Cultural Foundation, supported by the Commonwealth Foundation, will be running a film programme as part of the People's Space. They will show films both from their archive of African films and from wider afield, and films will include a mix of features, shorts and documentaries. Several of the films will be used to prompt discussions, making use of civil society personnel and other people present with experience of a particular country or issue. Films will also be presented in some of the video halls of Kampala and environs, starting with a grand opening event in Kawempe on Saturday 17 November. In addition, a mobile cinema toured Jinja, Iganga, Tororo, Mbale, Soroti and Lira from 8 to 14 November. At the same time, the Maisha Film Lab will be supported by the Commonwealth Foundation to train young film-makers to make three short films on the theme of the Forum, Realising People's Potential, to be shown at the end of the week.
Literature
Recent African Commonwealth Writers' Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Competition winners, including Doreen Baingana and Shaun Johnson, and other Ugandan writers will read from their works in the People's Space and take part in discussions, while East African literature will be on display. The visiting writers will also take part in a discussion with local writers at Makerere University on Wednesday 21 Novenber and hold a workshop with writers' and readers' groups on Monday 19 November. The Commonwealth Foundation's partners for this strand are Femrite, Uganda PEN and the Literature Department of Makerere University.
Visual arts
Paul Ssendangire, recent Ugandan Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Awards winner, will demonstrate his print-making techniques in the People's Space from 2.30 to 4.30 on Tuesday 20 November. Alongside this, local craft skills will be demonstrated in the Space, and high quality, authentic crafts made available for sale.
In addition, for the first time culture will form part of the substance of civil society discussions at the Commonwealth People's Forum, with a workshop on Culture in Development being organised by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda.
