Our Offices & Partners Abroad

For detailed information please click on the offices and cultural centres below. For further information on the headquarters in Zurich please go to: www.prohelvetia.ch

Regional Mobility Partners

During the 2018 – 2020 period we worked with ten key partners across Southern Africa in strengthening artistic networks, the mobility and development of artists, promoting new collaborations and systematic exchanges among cultural operators within the region. Our support to these organisations was enabled through an agreement with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

In addition to intra-regional exchange, this partner network has laid a framework for engagement for Swiss collaborations outside of South Africa.

CulturArte

Maputo (Mozambique)
Performing Arts

panaibra_gabriel_canda_time_and_spaces_06Established 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.

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Nzango Artist Residency


Maputo (Mozambique)
Music

Orquestra De percussao Unidade 7The 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.

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La Teinturerie

Antananarivo (Madagascar)
Cross-disciplinary

La TeinturerieLa 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.

www.teinturerie-isart.com | Facebook

 Nafasi Arts Space


Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
Cross disciplinary

Nafasi Art Space

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

Modzi Arts

Lusaka (Zambia)
Cross-disciplinary

©ModziArtsModzi 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.

www.modziarts.com | FacebookInstagram

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).

www.centredartwaza.org | Facebook 

Studios Kabako


Kisangani (DRC)
Performing Arts

Dinozord, Faustin Linyekula (danseurs) Patient Mafutala Useni interprètent 'more more more... future', direction artistique Faustin Linyekula, texte Antoine Vumilia Muhindo, direction musicale Flamme Kapaya, costumes Xuly Bët - Maison des Arts Créteil - Festival d’Automne à Paris

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.

kabako.org | Facebook

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.

www.vitshois.com/projects.html | Facebook

Njelele Art Station

Harare (Zimbabwe)
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.

www.njelele.com | Facebook | Instagram 

Savanna Trust


Harare (Zimbabwe)
Theatre and Performing Arts

Savanna TrustFounded 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.

www.savannatrust.com | Facebook

 

Upcoming maintenance work

The application portal myprohelvetia will be updated from 1.1.-7.1.2024. Due to these changes, open applications must be finalized and submitted via the current online portal (myprohelvetia.ch) by the latest 23:59 on 31 December 2023. Until this date, the deadlines and criteria outlined in the current guidelines and calls for applications apply. New applications can be created and submitted in the application portal as of 8 January 2024.