Regional Arts Programme
Countries in the SADC region
Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Seychelles, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Alongside our primary focus on exchange and collaboration between Switzerland and Southern Africa, Pro Helvetia Johannesburg has, for the past two decades, been investing in transnational collaborations, exchanges and joint projects between organisations and creative practitioners spread across the SADC region. This “intra-regional” programming was financed through a series of cooperation agreements with the regional office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) located in Harare, Zimbabwe. Since 2012, the regional arts programme has involved investment of approximately USD 3 million through nearly 400 grants to individuals and organisations across the SADC region.
Between 2015 and 2017 the impact of the programme increased substantially, both in geographical reach and impact, with our office supporting approximately 1 200 arts professionals involved in 135 projects and residencies. These activities traversed all fifteen countries in the SADC region, with an especially significant footprint in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar. This was realised through awarding micro-grants from an annual ANT Mobility Fund open call.
The programme for the 2018 – 2020 period continued in this vein, assisting in the growth of a more connected cultural field in the Southern African region, supporting transnational collaboration, circulation of relevant new work and skills/knowledge exchange. During this period we also supported 10 key Regional Mobility Partners located in major cities across the region. Our investment amplified the ability of these organisations to engage in activities with a transnational dimension, from residencies and the development of new work, through to workshops, master classes and organisational development. This had the important impact of aiding the establishment of a web of connections and relationships between individuals, projects and initiatives in Southern Africa.
From 2021, the focus of the SDC regional office moves towards bilateral engagement with Zimbabwe and Zambia, and from 2022 onwards the cooperation agreement between Pro Helvetia and the SDC regional office in Harare will come to an end, with the regional office managing investments in the cultural field in these two countries directly. 2021 therefore represents a transition year in which we exit from our role in supporting regional mobility, and work with the SDC regional office in conceptualising future investments in Zimbabwe and Zambia, in dialogue with partners in those two countries on needs and priorities. In line with this, the ANT Adaptation Fund aims at supporting sustainability strategies and novel approaches to working for individual artists and arts organisations in Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Regional Mobility Partners 2018-2020
Maputo (Mozambique) www.culturarte.online | Facebook Antananarivo (Madagascar) www.teinturerie-isart.com | Facebook Since it was founded in 2008, Nafasi has built from the ground-up a thriving artistic ecosystem of studios, exhibition and performance spaces. Nafasi provides opportunities for learning and collaboration between emerging and professional artists in Tanzania and gives audiences a place to experience and appreciate arts and culture. The Nafasi artist collective, which drives the activities of the space, is home to 60+ member artists working in 37 studios. Our support enables residencies and exhibitions of artists from the rest of the region, workshops featuring SADC artists and curators, as well as the development of the IT and studio infrastructure and financial management capacity of the organisation. www.nafasiartspace.org | Facebook Lusaka (Zambia) www.modziarts.com | Facebook | Instagram www.centredartwaza.org | Facebook Founded in 2001 in Kinshasa by choreographer Faustin Linyekula, the Studios Kabako are “a place where one works, where one is always searching for oneself and where, sometimes, one finds what is looked for”. For more than 15 years, Studios Kabako has been fostering the germination of young Congolese artists, dancers, actors, musicians, performers, film-makers. Studios Kabako provides training, production and touring, artistic mentorship, technical and administrative support, as well as building tailor-made long-term support measures for the cultural field. Our support goes toward the development of new work through collaborations with choreographers and dancers from other SADC countries, and the exchange of trainee administrators and technicians with other organisations in the region. www.vitshois.com/projects.html | Facebook Harare (Zimbabwe) www.njelele.com | Facebook | Instagram www.savannatrust.com | FacebookCulturArte
Performing Arts
Established in 1998 by choreographer Panaibra Canda, CulturArte functions as a centre for the development of contemporary performing arts and particularly dance in Maputo. Working with a regional, continental and global network, CultureArte has supported the development of a new generation of choreographers, dancers and independent dance companies in Mozambique. Our support enables the initiative Kanda Yetu, a regional programme of collaboration including a symposium, workshops, and the development and showcasing of new choreographic work through residencies.Nzango Artist Residency
Maputo (Mozambique)
Music
The brainchild of Matchume Zango, Nzango Artist Residency was built between 2008 and 2014. It includes a rehearsing space and, since 2015, a professional recording studio in a semi-rural location on the outskirts of Maputo. Our support enables research and documentation of an older generation of traditional musicians and their musics, music creation and audio-technical workshops for musicians from the region, and the circulation of new music coming out of these encounters.La Teinturerie
Cross-disciplinary
La Teinturerie is a contemporary art center based in Antananarivo. It aims to promote wider access to art through exhibitions and events, art workshops and educational programmes, artists’ residencies, an annual art festival (Festival D’Art Urbain) and continuous outreach projects. It is primarily a space for artistic exploration and presentation, promoting multidisciplinary approaches, collaboration and public access. Our support enables a series of residency exchanges in various formats (including ‘virtual residencies’) supporting artistic production, knowledge sharing, capacity building and the exchange of specific technical skills through master classes between Madagascar and the rest of the region. Nafasi Arts Space
Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
Cross disciplinary
Modzi Arts
Cross-disciplinary
Modzi Arts aims to strengthen the art scene in Zambia by providing a platform for creative people – amateur or professional – to develop and present their work. The organisation provides space for exhibitions, performances, workshops and events, as well as training in western and traditional musical instruments and the visual arts. Modzi Arts looks to especially empower disadvantaged groups, specifically women and youth. Our support assists the organisation to reach a next stage of development in the context of finding a new space, and to draw on the experiences and artistic networks of peer organisations in the region in developing a coherent and relevant artistic programme.Waza Art Centre
Lubumbashi (DRC)
Cross-disciplinary
Since 2015 the Waza Art Centre has developed as an artistic resource and project initiator, speaking strongly to the specific history and contemporary reality of Lubumbashi. Waza works with artists, researchers, cultural and social actors of Lubumbashi and the region in the development of experimental artistic practices, alternating between cycles of discussion and concept development, production and presentation. Our support enables the expansion of this working method with actors in the wider region, and two particular themes are explored in the coming three years: the idea of the City (from 2018), and the idea of the Popular (from 2020).Studios Kabako
Kisangani (DRC)
Performing Arts
Kin Art Studio
Kinshasa (DRC)
Visual Arts
Kin Art Studio functions as a multidisciplinary international artists residency programme and exhibition space in Kinshasa, and as a platform for the professionalisation of contemporary visual arts in the city and the region. Established in 2011 by Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo, the organisation has recently occupied a new space, located on one of the main central arteries of the city. Our support enables the organisation to launch an artist development programme, providing mentoring, residency, exhibition and market access opportunities for young artists from the country and the region.Njelele Art Station
Visual Arts
Njelele Art Station is an independent project space located in downtown Harare, established in 2013 by artist Dana Whabira. Named after a sacred shrine and located on the oldest street of the city, Njelele acts as an urban laboratory that focuses on contemporary, experimental and public art practice. We support the development of a residency programme and professional exchanges for artists, curators and writers, concerned particularly with questions around publication/s, libraries and archives. Our finance also extends to assisting with organisational development, the conversion of the residency space and documentation and marketing of the project programme.Savanna Trust
Harare (Zimbabwe)
Theatre and Performing Arts
Founded in 2006, Savanna Trust engages citizens through theatre and other art forms to advocate for their rights and transform communities. Over the past ten years, Savanna Trust has trained more than 200 artists from Zimbabwe and the SADC region in various aspects of theatre and arts management. They have also produced award winning plays that have been performed locally and in SADC region. We support their SADC Theatre Camp, the Novel Script Writing Project, a Directors Residency and a strategic review process for the organisation.
Awarded annually through an open call, the ANT Mobility Fund aimed at supporting transnational collaborations, exchanges and joint projects among organisations and creative practitioners operating across the SADC region. The investment focused on projects, networks and platforms that shared an interest in building a stronger, more connect regional creative fabric. ANT Mobility micro-grants supported the circulation of new and existing works of Southern African artists to relevant audiences in the region, enable transnational collaboration towards the development of new work, and the sharing of knowledge and expertise across borders.
Following the shift in focus of the SDC regional office in 2021 towards bilateral engagement with Zimbabwe and Zambia, the ANT Adaptation Fund aims to support sustainability strategies and novel approaches to working for individual artists and arts organisations in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Via an open call, the following projects were selected which propose various adapted working practices, novel approaches to individual and organisational sustainability, and the growth of new networks and markets with the rest of the continent. These projects will be realised during the second part of 2021 and close the Regional Arts Programme.
