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Since 2002, the Prince Claus Fund and its Culture and Development advisory Committee have been supporting the Culture and Globalization Series, a series destined to highlight key contemporary cultural changes and their policy implications as well as encourage a broad-based debate about the relationship between cultures and globalizations. The first edition of these series is a publication edited by Helmut Anheier and Yudhishthur Raj Isar entitled Conflicts and Tensions.
This 2007 publication, coincides with the Prince Claus Fund annual theme. Given the publication’s actual and thematic relevance and its high academic standard, a book launch is scheduled on the 10th of December 2007 at the Academiegebouw of the Utrecht University. This event is part of the side programmes surrounding the Prince Claus Fund awards ceremony on the 12th of December at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Festival to take place from September 30 to October 25 at the SESC Avenida Paulista provisional unit will discuss the relations between film and contemporary art and feature Peter Greenaway, Marcel Odenbach, Kenneth Anger, Arthur Omar, and Edgard Navarro among its guests.
In its 16th edition, Latin America’s biggest video and electronic art Festival will bring together, in the Southern Panoramas competitive exhibition, sixty-six works made in the last two years by artists from seventeen different countries in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. The Brazilian participation has increased, featuring twenty-nine works, followed by Argentina, which has ten works, and
Australia and Mexico, with four works selected each (view complete list below).
List of the works selected...
The 16th International Electronic Art Festival_SESC Videobrasil will be held at the SESC Avenida Paulista provisional unit from September 30 to October 25. The Southern Panoramas exhibition is divided into three segments: State of the Art (dedicated to the production of established artists), Contemporary Investigations (for research processes), and New Vectors (for emerging artists of up to thirty years of age).
During the selection process, 791 submitted works have been reviewed, including both the output of artists with a background in the field of electronic art, and that of those who use video as a tool for research. Among others, the exhibition will feature works by the Brazilians Eustáquio Neves, Lucas Bambozzi, Wagner Morales, Eduardo Climachauska, Marco Del Fiol, Maurício Dias & Walter Riedweg, Cao Guimarães, Caetano Dias, Louise Ganz, Giselle Beiguelman, Marcellvs L., Gustavo Rosa de Moura, and Nuno Ramos, the Argentines León Ferrari, Andrés Denegri, Gustavo Galuppo, Marcello Mercado, and Federico Lamas, the Australian John Gillies, the South African Gregg Smith, the Lebanese Akram Zaatari, the Chilean Claudia Aravena Abughosh, and the Moroccan Bouchra Khalili.
Cinema and contemporary art: convergences
The Southern Panoramas exhibition is a key part of the International Electronic Art Festival_SESC Videobrasil, which has been promoted by SESC São Paulo since the 1990s. In 2007, the curatorial framework for the Festival will focus on convergences between video, cinema, and the visual arts. The theme will unfold into a tribute to Limite (1930), by Mario Peixoto, which marked the emergence of experimental filmmaking in
Brazil, and will include guests such as British filmmaker Peter Greenaway, German artist Marcel Odenbach, U.S.-based underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and the Brazilians Arthur Omar, Edgard Navarro, and Carlos Adriano.
The competitive exhibition will contemplate significant trends in current production, including the one in line with the Festival’s curatorial framework. “The selection includes various proposals that use cinema as their raw material, remixing and recontextualizing sequences, scenes, and conversations,” says Solange Farkas, curator of the Festival and director of the MAM-BA. The Selection and Programming Committee for the 16th Videobrasil also features researchers André Costa, Christine Mello, Eduardo de Jesus, Ivana Bentes, Marcos Moraes, and Paula Alzugaray.
16th Videobrasil will bring Greenaway, Odenbach, and Anger to the SESC Avenida Paulista provisional unit
The 16th International Electronic Art Festival_SESC Videobrasil will be held for the first time ever at the SESC Avenida Paulista provisional unit, taking over all five floors of the building with video and film screenings, exhibitions, installations, lectures, debates, meetings, and workshops. Guests will include some of the greatest pioneers in the fields of experimental filmmaking, expanded cinema, and video art. International guests include:
Marcel Odenbach
Regarded as a video art pioneer, the German artist will have the largest ever exhibit of his work in Latin America, featuring installations, film screenings, a lecture, and a never before seen work, Disturbed Places – Five Variations on India, to be commissioned by the Festival and by SESC São Paulo. Political and social issues lie at the core of Odenbach’s recent work, which has featured at the MoMA New York and at the Documentas
6 and 8, in Kassel. His productions use excerpts from classic movies, newsreels, and personal photographs to explore the formative role of past images in the perception of the present.
Peter Greenaway
The British filmmaker will bring to SESC Avenida Paulista new unfoldings of the Tulse Luper Suitcases project, which he has been developing for nearly ten years. Centered on the story of a writer who lived from prison to prison and disappeared in 1989, leaving his testimony in ninety-two suitcases, Tulse Luper seeks expanded models of cinema: it involves exhibitions, films, Web sites, games, and VJ sessions. The participation of the maker of The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (1989) in the 16th Videobrasil kicks off with a live image performance, and will include the Tulse Luper Suitcases installation, a lecture, and film screenings. In the blog Peter Greenaway no Videobrasil (http://blogdovideobrasil.blog.uol.com.br), which is open to readers’ comments, the artist discusses his participation in the Festival with the board of curators, and talks about the Tulse Luper Suitcases.
Kenneth Anger
One of the inventors of U.S. underground cinema, Anger pioneered the use of images edited from pop music, and created the cuts that would later become the foundation of music videos. His surrealistic films are filled with gay fetishes and references to the occult. At the Videobrasil, his work will feature in a retrospective never before seen in the country, comprising nine short films made between 1947 and 1972, including Fireworks, which he shot when he was twenty years old. Alongside works by Jean Genet, Luther Price, Derek Jarman, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, James Bidgood, and Isaac Julien, the retrospective comprises the curatorial framework A Handful of Pleasant Delights by Rodrigo Novaes, dedicated to artists who explored the boundaries of film and were marginalized by the film industry.
Arthur Omar
A filmmaker, photographer, multimedia artist, his career has broken down borders between different artistic territories ever since the 1970s. Omar worked with film, photography, video, installations, and Web art. His more recent works were shown in Zooprismas, a solo exhibition held in Rio de Janeiro, which redefined the dialogue between cinema and visual arts.
Edgard Navarro
At nearly sixty years of age, Bahia-born Navarro has made some of the most irreverent and original videos in the history of visual arts in Brazil. The Festival will present titles known almost exclusively by the public that attends festivals in Bahia, such as the short films Alice no país das mil novilhas and O rei do cagaço, which became notorious due to a famous scatological sequence. An iconoclast, Navarro became more known after his first feature film Eu me lembro was the grand winner of the Brasília Festival in 2005.
Carlos Adriano
Adriano is a filmmaker, holder of a master’s degree in cinema from USP, and organizer, along with Bernardo Vorobow, of the book Julio Bressane: CinePoética. His oeuvre transits between documental and experimental cinema. Remanescências (acquisition/collection The New York Public Library), made in 1997, rescues the eleven frames in the oldest existing footage in the history of Brazilian cinema, and elaborates a study in aesthetic ecstasy that discloses the creative myth of our cinema. His A voz e o vazio: a vez de Vassourinha won a prize for best short documentary film at the Chicago International Festival (2000). More recently, he made O papa da pulp and Militância.
Eder Santos
One of the greatest Brazilian electronic artists, Santos straddles the boundaries between video, installation, and performances, using electronic image as a powerful element in scenic design and narrative. He participated in the 23rd Bienal de São Paulo, with the installation Memória de ferro (1993), and in the Biennial’s fifty-year-celebration exhibition, with Planetarium (2001), as well as in festivals and exhibitions in Mexico, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States.
Bintou Were, a Sahel Opera, premiered in Bamako, Mali, in February 2006 and had its European premier in Amsterdam in four sold-out performances in June, 2007 is now moving on to Paris.
The idea for this international production originated with Prince Claus, the first honorary chairman of the Fund. Initiated by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, The Sahel Opera was written, composed and developed by artists from various countries in the Sahel region and is a co-production of the Fund, the Republic of Mali and Théâtre du Châtelet.
A production that expands horizons
The idea was to create an opera that would showcase the enormous talent and diverse musical and artistic traditions of the region. From the moment it was proposed to a number of African artists, the project has sparked enthusiasm. It has been a process of learning and exchange, and the process continues.
The two lead singers have been inspired to enhance their skills. Both Djeneba Kone, who sings the role of Bintou, and Ibrahim Loucard (alias Carlo D’) have extraordinary vocal skills, but neither could read a note when they were cast for the Opera. Djeneba began studying French during the opera workshops. She is taking a short course in voice at the conservatory in Amsterdam in September and will join a touring production of Caravane for four weeks before her Paris debut.
Ibrahim Loucard went for an informal audition at the Amsterdam Conservatory while the opera was in rehearsals for the Holland Festival. The conservatory was enthusiastic and their advice was to take a qualifying year of study in music theory and history and then apply. On his return to Dakar, Ibrahim immediately enrolled in a course there.
The librettist Koulsy Lamko has been invited by the city of Amsterdam to come for a year as “Writer in Residence”.
The work of costume designer Oumou Sy has been featured in a number of publications and most recently she organised a fashion show at the Documenta in Kassel, on September 22nd.
A theme that remains topical
The story of the opera follows a group of disaffected young people on their trek across the desert in search of a better life in Europe. Attempts at illegal migration remain a problem for both African and European nations alike. The European Union has chosen to set up a jobs centre in the capital of Mali to regularise the flow of migrant labour, making it possible for people to work in Europe without risking their lives in precarious boat or desert crossings.
Instituto Buena Bista invited Supersudaca, within the framework of the 6th Caribbean architecture Biennial, to do an intervention in the public space with their students.
The results of this workshop will be presented at the opening of the Biennials exposition at Mattheywerf on September 30 at 18 0 Clock.
2 supersudaca members ( Sofia Saavedra Bruno and Max Zolkwer) will teach from tuesday September 18nd till Sunday September 30th.
Theory: Direct architecture
By means of introduction, Supersudaca will make the students familiar with several examples of direct architecture and the principles behind it. Supersudacas urban actions in Buenos Aires, Talca and Lima will be explained, as some recent examples of other forms of direct architecture. The students will be notified that perhaps there are some spaces where their limited power could make a difference, that there is great potential in operating in the blind spots of traditional architecture and urbanism. At a scale smaller than the building but at which effects can have urban proportions nevertheless. There they will exercise the knowledge of architecture by practicing a no-budget urbanism of minimum resources but maximum impact. A space where the main tool is ingenuity, where projects are executed without means or intermediaries: Direct Architecture.
All Supersudacas interventions have profited from the acknowledgement that it is the relationships between urbanism and citizens which matter the most. It is the simple ordinary issues that impact our quality of life. Civic architecture in its moste pure form?
Area of intervention
The surrounding area of the Rouvilleweg stretching from Brionplein to the entrance of Mattheywerf (private area) where the biennale exposition will be held. This recent street (1950) has nowadays multiple functions: Being an important exit for cars out of Otrabanda’s city centre, it also has to guide cruise tourists in the opposite direction from Mattheywerf to the Emma brug. The street will also be used by the visitors of the Biennial exposition during the first days of October.The area of intervention will be limited clearly by a digital illustrator map on scale that will be handed to the students by Supersudaca and the students will use for their mapping exercise.
Working Method
Phase I: Study the components and interrelations of a given urban system, in this case limited part of Otrabanda along the Rouvilleweg.
Phase II: Define the spots where with minimal effort, the maximum amount of change can be achieved.
Phase III: A real intervention is made with a minimum of resources: chairs, plastic bags, yellow lines, banners, paint, balloons, flyers, cardboard etc. trigger virtuous cycles in the urban realm: the awareness of neighbours, the cleanliness of a street, the animation of a vague terrain, the sense of safety on a dangerous street, the construction of a landmark, etc.
See also http://www.6thfcaabiennial.com/en/program.html
Since the 1st of August, the group Initiatives Féminines are in residency at the Centre Universitaire des Arts in Rwanda. This residency will result in a creation.
Depuis le 1er août 2007, le groupe Initiatives Féminines est en résidence de formation qui aboutirait à une création au mois de novembre. Cette résidence est l’aboutissement d’un travail de formation permanente et régulière que le Centre Universitaire des Arts a mis en place depuis Juillet 2004 dans le domaine du tambour en direction des femmes.
Initiatives Féminines visent à encourager une plus large participation des femmes dans les différentes activités du pays et en particulier dans le paysage culturel. Actuellement, le groupe compte 13 femmes membres dont 12 tambourinaires.
Ce groupe répète tous les jours de la semaine (sauf le week-end) de 8h à 12h et de 14h à 17h avec des tambourinaires rwandais. En Octobre, une femme viendra du Sénégal pour un autre stage de formation pour apprendre d’autres rythmes.
Puis, ce sera au tour de deux tambourinaires burundais qui viendront séjourner au Rwanda au mois de novembre pour transmettre leur savoir-faire à ces femmes étonnantes et désireuses jouer un rôle significatif dans l’histoire de l’art au rwanda. Au départ il était prévu que le groupe aille séjourner au Burundi pour approfondir ses connaissances du tambour burundais. Mais faute de moyens, le voyage a dû être annulé.
La résidence atteindra sont point culminant au mois de décembre avec la venue de Doudou Ndiaye Rose qui viendra pour peaufiner leurs acquis et créer un spectacle qui est dores et déjà inscrit à la première édition du Festival Arts Azimuts en janvier 2008. Une tournée dans le pays et dans la sous - région suivra…
The documentary Liyarn Ngarn is directed by Murdoch Senior Lecturer Martin Mhando. It features British film superstar Pete Postlethwaite's self reflexive view of Australian- Aboriginal relations after a visit he undertook last year. He is led in this journey by Aboriginal politician Pat Dodson, and Archie Roach, possibly Australia's number one balladier.
The film was shot by an all student crew from Murdoch's media studies program and will be premiered in Perth on 10th November during the National Conference on Racism in a Global Context to be held from 9th Nov - 11th Nov 2007.
Liyarn Ngarn, in the language of the Yawuru people of the West Kimberley region around Broome, means "Coming Together of the Spirit" or spiritual bonding.
This compelling documentary aims to change people's perceptions and attitudes to indigenous people and to assist with the process of reconciliation. It also offers some kind of meaningful epitaph to the indigenous lives lost through sheer inhumanity.
Held in Jakarta and Magelang, the literary biennale will take place at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) and Teater Utan Kayu (TUK) while in the nation’s capital, prior to moving on to Central Java to host events in Magelang at Galeri Langgeng and the grounds of Candi Borobudur.
This year’s festival elects the theme Force Majeure as a reflection upon the many natural disasters that have continued to wreak havoc in various regions of Indonesia, as well as a show of solidarity with the victims. Words perhaps have no power before gigantic forces of nature; however a ritual to remember and honour the tenacity of the human heart and mind in rebuilding a culture is surely - and hopefully - not wholly futile. That is why the theme Force Majeure is selected and this festival is being held.
Readings and performances of literature, be it poetry or prose, remain the main attraction at this festival, hand-in-hand with thought provoking dialog between visiting international writers with Indonesian writers, as well as among the festival speakers with students on campus and the people in a number of communities. An introduction and immersion into the richness of Indonesian heritage for the festival speakers will also take the form of visits to historical sites.
List of the authors at the Biennale Utan Kayu
The Prologue World, Word, Work by Sitok Srengenge
Nijmegen, Holland, August 13
The U16 boys and U14 girls teams from the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) both won gold medals at cup competitions in Delft and Woudenberg respectively to complete their successful 2007 tour in Norway and Holland.
The MYSA U13 boys played a series of friendly matches but did not take part in any competitive tournament in Holland.
As their younger brothers and sisters had already won gold medals at the Norway Cup, the MYSA U16 boys were determined to match them by being the first MYSA team to win the international Delft Invitational Cup including the junior teams of top Dutch clubs plus teams from Germany and Japan.
The MYSA boys started off well in their group with a 1-0 victory over AFC Amsterdam through a 7th minute goal by Simon Mbugua. Although they then tied their next two matches with the host club from Delft (1-1) and with Sendai-Ni from Japan (0-0), they still earned enough points to win in the toughest regarded group at the tournament.
In the cup semifinal they then raised their game with a deserved 2-0 victory over the junior side from Dutch Premier League club NEC Nijmegen, again with two beautiful goals by Simon Mbugua in each half.
The final championship match with AFC Amsterdam was hotly contested and played at a high pace through out with all goals scored during a 4-minute flurry early in the match. Mathare’s Reuben Mulei opened the scoring in the 6th minute but AFC Amsterdam equalized just two minutes later. Disappointed but not discouraged, Mathare's immediate counter-attack produced the championship winning goal by Anthony Akumu in the 10th minute. Lifting their new trophy on the podium. after the match the dazzling smiles of relief and joy of the Mathare players was evident for they brought the newest trophy in the cabinet.
On Saturday at the Woudenberg Cup the MYSA U14 girls were also stunning on the field with a wonderful display of one-touch attacking football and teamwork which delighted the fans and especially the large contingent of staff and families from the Kenyan Embassy in The Hague led by Acting Ambassador Ambeyi Ligabo.
The MYSA U14 girls decisively won their first four matches with rapidly escalating scores against AWC Wijchen (1-0), Lady Fit (4-0), Woudenberg (5-0) and Vriendenschaar (6-0). In the final championship match they defeated a regional all-star team, Sedeco FC, by 2-0 with goals by Janet Nyaboke in the 14th minute and Nancy Kanini in the 20th minute, With an impressive 10 goals in only five cup matches, Mathare's Janet Nyaboke received the Top Scorer trophy while Mathare's Lydia Akoth won the tournament's Best Player award.
In the Norway Cup plus the Woudenberg U14 Girls and Delft U16 Boys Cups, the three MYSA teams played a total of 32 matches, won 27, tied 4 and lost only one match while outscoring their opponents by a remarkable 101 to 8 goals.
The top MYSA scorers were Danson Kago with 9 goals (U13 boys), Janet Nyaboke with 22 goals (U14 girls) and Simon Mbugua with 7 goals (U16 boys).
The three MYSA teams returned together to Nairobi with four large trophies and mass gold medals on Tuesday evening (August 14) at 7:10 p.m. aboard KLM flight 565.
However, two of the MYSA leaders Phillip Osyanju and Philomena Wangare remained in Holland for special courses at the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) Academy at Zeist attending the high-level KNVB international coaching course.
Article on MYSA in Allafrica.com, July 23, 2007
Kenya: Inspiring young people in slums
Kenya's general elections in December hold special promise for Willis "Booster" Mbatia, a resident of the sprawling Mathare slums, one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi. Mbatia, 27, hopes to be one of the local councillors: "It is about time the youth, especially those in the slums, had one of their own in a position of leadership. "I have successfully been a head boy and a youth leader. I do not see why I cannot represent the rights of the youth as a councillor" Mbatia, a primary-school graduate. “I would address the issues of insecurity, access to healthcare and a clean environment, ethnic division, and the lack of education opportunities because most of the crime is due to this,” he said. “I would also ensure that the beneficiaries of bursaries are the genuinely needy, not those related to the leaders" he said. "My lack of higher education does not discourage me from vying for political office" he said. "There are many professors in Kenya but the country is still not developing as it should."
With most youth in the slums often lacking the opportunities for a good education and training, programmes run by or targeting young people are filling an important gap - providing skills and hope. Mbatia, a freelance estate agent, has been a leader of various youth groups in the slums. "When the people have a problem, they send me to talk to the local councillor," he said. "I owe my leadership skills to having joined the Mathare Youth Sports Association [MYSA] instead of being idle at home."
MYSA, created in 1987, has 17,000 members from 16 slum areas in Nairobi who are involved in its various programmes, including vocational training, environment clean-up campaigns and awareness-raising of children's rights, HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. "I joined MYSA after completing primary school," said Mbatia. "I was the coach of the under-12 and under-18 football teams. We were also trained in socialisation and leadership skills. As an individual youth in the slums, it is hard to get recognition for your efforts but being in a group provides more opportunities to improve one's life," he said. He said most youngsters who joined the association with him now had jobs or were playing professional football. According to John Ndichu Ng'ethe, a former MYSA chairman, direct involvement of the youth in the programmes either as peer counsellors or participants gave them a sense of ownership over the projects. "Engaging the youth in such activities gives them hope," Ng'ethe said. "The youth are empowered with decision-making skills."
Sarah Odeke, one of the beneficiaries of such a youth initiative, said the youth in the slums would have an even greater chance of success if they faced less discrimination. "If you are a youth from the slums you are either viewed as a prostitute if you are female, or a thief if you are male," Odeke said. "It is about time people put an end to this stereotyping. Discrimination against people from the slums should stop. We are like everyone else only that we do not have similar opportunities" she added. Odeke, who is a member of a women’s football team, has also benefited from training on HIV/AIDS behaviour change. Her friends, however, have not been as lucky: "Most of my friends in the ghetto are dying of HIV/AIDS or are on their way towards being infected by engaging in prostitution," she said, "Others have gone abroad with tourists for the same thing." A community-based organisation sponsored Odeke's secondary education. "I am viewed as a role model by the other children in the slums," she said, "I feel honoured. My mother, who is jobless, is also very proud of me and I am glad I am able to help my family with the money I make," she said.
In addition to a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working with the youth, the Mathare valley slum has four youth groups involved in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns, environmental hygiene, education, children's rights and drug-abuse awareness that use video, theatre, music and photography to convey the message. Mbatia said young people from the slums who had succeeded in various fields served as an inspiration to others. "There is a wealth of talent in the slums but leaders have failed us. Funds allocated to benefit the youth do not easily trickle down to the slum youth who need them most," he said.
La première édition du Festival Arts Azimuts, organisé par le Centre Universitaire des Arts (CUA), aura lieu du 25 janvier au 3 février 2008 à l’Université Nationale du Rwanda (UNR). Ce festival est une autre étape, plus décisive et plus significative, dans la mise en place d’une dynamique culturelle plus forte au Rwanda (plus particulièrement dans la province du sud).
L’objectif premier du Festival Arts Azimuts est de célébrer le dixième anniversaire de la résidence d’écriture organisée en 1998 par Fest’Africa. En effet, le projet Ecrire par devoir de mémoire fut le début de tout : la création du Centre Universitaire des Arts, la mise en place de ateliers de formation, création et diffusion (les fameux ateliers Arts Azimuts). Par la suite, Fest’Africa 2000 eut lieu au Rwanda avec à l’affiche le spectacle Coprs et Voix, Paroles Rhizomes (spectacle rassemblant une vingtaine d’artistes venus du Burkina Faso, Togo, Tchad, Bénin, Côte d’Ivoire, France…).
Dix ans après le projet Ecrire par devoir de mémoire naît le Festival Arts Azimuts, témoignage vibrant des conséquences heureuses que cette action a eu au Rwanda.
L’autre objectif du Festival Arts Azimuts est de faire de Huye (Butare) la capitale culturelle du Rwanda. En effet, la ville universitaire se meurt au grand désespoir de ses habitants et de ceux qui voient ses chances ne servir à rien. La province du Sud est devenue la plus pauvre du pays. Et pourtant elle a beaucoup de potentialités. Elle héberge de grandes institutions du pays : l’Université Nationale du Rwanda, l’Institut National des Musées du Rwanda, l’Institut de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique… Les deux dalles de spectacles du Rwanda se trouvent dans la province du sud (à l’UNR). Le sud jouit aussi d’un emplacement stratégique : la ville de Huye (Butare) est au carrefour de trois grandes villes : Kigali (125km), Bujumbura/Burundi (148km) et Bukavu/Congo (155km). Avec s son climat agréable et ses constructions historiques, on peut se permettre d’être optimiste par rapport à son avenir.
Spectacles Invités
Sont invités à ce premier FAAZ des compagnies rencontrées au fil des créations et festivals auxquels le CUA a participé depuis ces 10 ans… Des rencontres auxquelles on veut donner du sens, des pays avec lesquelq on veut resserrer les liens... C’est le cas de Souffles et Le Sacre du Tempo / Danse (Burkina Faso), Ti chelbè / Danse (Mali), Mon cancer aux Tropiques / Théâtre (Togo), Allô l’Afrique ! / Théâtre (Côte d’Ivoire), Doudou Ndiaye Rose / Percussions (Sénégal), Alif Naaba / Musique (Burkina Faso), le Tambour Burundais / Percussions (Burundi), Kidumu / Musique (Burundi).
D’autres spectacles invités sont une reconnaissance du travail que des rwandais font dans leurs pays ou dans la diaspora rwandaise : Des Espoirs / Danse (Rwanda), Jaz / Théâtre (Belgique), L’Instruction / Théâtre (Rwanda), Bloody Niggers / Théâtre (Belgique), Du pain pour les écureuils / Théâtre (Belgique), Initiatives Féminines / Percussions (Rwanda)
Ateliers prévus
Des ateliers de formation sont aussi au programme pour que les rencontres soient suffisamment profondes pour laisser des traces. En danse, le Ballet National est privilégié parce que regroupant les meilleurs danseurs du pays, en Théâtre, ce sera la troupe de l’UNR Les Stars du Théâtre qui fait un travail remarquable depuis que le Centre Universitaire les implique dans les activités qu’il organise. Et en musique, la rencontre entre Kidumu et Alif Naaba sera significative car elle inaugurera une collaboration future lors de la quinzième commémoration du génocide au Rwanda en 2009. Une comédie musicale inspirée des témoignages des rescapés du génocide se prépare.
Le spectacle Make a wish veut traiter des rêves des habitants des pays pauvres, souvent en guerre, à l’avenir hypothétique et particulièrement du Rwanda, pays sortant à peine d’un génocide : Si rêves il y a, quels sont-ils ? Comment nous projetons-nous dans l’avenir ? Avec timidité ou avec fougue ? En choisissant le thème des rêves, le spectacle se rêve aussi comme un rêve, c’est-à-dire magique, léger et beau. D’où le choix d’une comédie musicale dont Kidumu et Alif Naaba seront les artisans.
Débats programmés
Des débats aussi sont au programme autour de deux thèmes:
Le relais
Le Rwanda, comme beaucoup de pays africains, connaît le dicton « Après moi, le déluge…». Peu de gens préparent la relève. Nous croyons encore que la société ne reconnaîtra notre importance que lorsqu’elle verra qu’après nous rien ne marche. Plusieurs raisons expliquent cette manière d’agir : la précarité du travail, l’incertitude par rapport à l’avenir… Et pourtant, tout le monde veut construire un monde meilleur à léguer à la postérité.
En partant de ce beau projet Ecrire par devoir de mémoire, qui n’a de sens aujourd’hui que parce qu’il a donné naissance à d’autres projets, que parce qu’il a fait rhizome, les débats et discussions souligneront ‘importance d’investir l’avenir et de donner ce qu’on a reçu sans crainte et sans se sentir en danger. Tout simplement, parce que c’est la seule manière de bâtir.
Sont invités le Dr Koulsy Lamko qui est l’architecte de ces dix ans des activités tout azimut et Nocky Djedanoum, le Directeur de Fest’Africa.
La culture et les conflits
Le Rwanda est toujours aux prises avec les démons du passé. Même si le temps fait son travail et que certaines plaies cicatrisent, d’autres sont encore fraîches et pourrissent la vie. Beaucoup d’initiatives se font à travers la Commission de l’Unité et la Réconciliation pour dégager le ciel encore nuageux et pour préparer un avenir meilleur et serein pour les générations à venir. Quelle peut-être, sans grande prétention, la contribution de la culture à la résolution saine et définitive des conflits ? Quelle est la place des arts dans la construction d’une paix durable?
Les victimes et les bourreaux du génocide au Rwanda ne se rencontrent quasiment pas en dehors des tribunaux et des séances de Gacaca. Ces rencontres sont pour la plupart du temps orageuses parce qu’accusatrices d’une part et défensives d’autre part.
Le Festival Arts Azimuts propose d’autres rencontres autour de certains spectacles comme L’Instruction (génocide), Souffles (esclavage), Des Espoirs (génocide), Initiatives Féminines (groupe féminin de percussions)… Les spectacles seront suivis par des prisonniers ensemble avec certaines associations des rescapés du génocide, et/ou avec des élèves et des artistes invités pour qu’ensuite des séances de discussions aient lieu après les spectacles. Ce travail sera fait en étroite collaboration avec le Ministère de l’Intérieur et le Centre de Gestion des Conflits de l’UNR.
Three MYSA youth, namely Jacqueline Wanyonyi, George Nange (both based in Botswana, working on a Fredkorpset south to East exchange programme) and Phoebe Akinyi (A member of the younger shootback group) have been in Windhoek, Namibia from the 15th of September, attending a “Next Step” conference. They are currently attending a pilot BBC training and participatory video training programme, courtesy of London based United Kingdom Sports Organization (UK Sports), the BBC and NIKE. This is intended to help build capacity add value and complement research work undertaken by MYSA as an organization. They are then expected to participate in youth summit that precedes the main conference, later in the week before the conference ends on the 22nd of September.
The next step conference is a biannual gathering for practitioners and planners to focus on the development of investing in Sports. The 1st next step conference was held in the year 2003 in Amsterdam, Netherlands when the UN task force report on sports for Development and Peace was published. The “next step” conference was initiated to discuss “way forward” in which sports can be developed and used as a tool for Development and social change; also, for developing the idea into a more systematic application through the development of toolkit.
Apart from the benefits the Organization will incur from the participation of three of its youth, MYSA is also proud that three are going to benefit individually by sharpening their skills, getting exposure, meeting people with different ideas and enhancing their own capacities in the different skills they are going to acquire. Since MYSA intends to become a centre of excellence in some years to come, what more can they offer their youth other than intellectual capital?
