Annual “Azulato Children’s Festival” to launch in Kampala
Most Ugandans are children, and how to educate them well enough to prepare them for the world is a major concern for parents in Uganda. This year, a new festival will offer a chance for children to have fun through participative learning in the arts and sciences.
The Azulato Children’s Festival takes place for the first time this year on May 6th, 2018 at the Seven Trees Gardens in Kololo. With hands-on activities, interactive workshops and live performances, this festival promotes the arts and sciences through fun learning experiences for children.
The festival’s name ‘Azulato’ comes from a combination of two Luganda words: ‘Okuzula,’ which means to discover, and ‘Abato,’ meaning young children. The Azulato Children’s Festival is designed to support children’s curiosity and creativity and guide them to enjoy discovering their interests and talents.
The festival is being put on by Goethe Zentrum Kampala, the German Cultural Society, and entry is free for all!
Follow the Azulato Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/AzulatoChildrensFestival
The event page is here: https://web.facebook.com/events/218665172236568/
See below more information on:
- Festival program
- Activities
- Workshops
- Performances
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
Midday Doors Open
2pm – 7pm Arts and Sciences Activities (Garden 1 &2)
1pm – 2pm Kid’s Drum Workshop – Ngoma Jam Session (Garden 1)
3pm – 4pm Teen’s Drumming Workshop (Garden 1)
3pm – 4.30pm Breakdance & Beatboxing Workshop – BPU (Garden 2)
5pm Rap Workshop – Lady Slyke (Garden 2)
5pm – 6pm Hip Hop Drum Circle – Ngoma Jam Sessions (Garden 1)
3pm – 7pm Performances (Garden 3)
All day Children’s products on sale (Garden 3)
All day Food & Drinks on sale (Garden 2)
7pm Festival ends
ACTIVITIES
The Azulato Children’s Festival is bringing together many artists, scientists and organizations focused on giving children a chance to learn while having fun.
Fundi Bots
Fundi Bots is a Kampala-based organization that provides hands-on, practical science education to school children and communities. Their mission is to use robotics training in African schools to create and inspire a new generation of problem solvers, innovators and change makers. At the festival, children will have the chance to get hands-on experience in learning about robotics.
Tribe Uganda
Tribe Uganda is a collective of Ugandan illustrators and animators aiming to grow the market for comics and animation in Uganda. By building on their cultural identity, they are promoting contemporary African art and design. During the festival, children will get the chance to learn about digital animation and illustration as members of Tribe Uganda hold interactive sessions on how to develop a quick story, draw out the story and animate it. Another group will go through the marvels of designing for 3D printing.
https://www.facebook.com/tribetoonz
Crossroads Digital Multimedia Ltd
Crossroads is an award-winning creative agency and production house geared towards top-notch animation and Computer Generated Images (CGI) and training of the next generation of animators in Uganda. At the Azulato Children’s Festival, Crossroads will offer an animation workshop. It is intended to involve children practically in animation and voicing cartoons. This will be an inspiring, educative and entertaining opportunity for children to animate shorts as part of a Children’s TV series by Crossroads.
http://www.crossroadsmedia.digital
SINA (Social Innovation Academy)
The Social Innovation Academy (SINA) educates former orphans, street children, refugees and other disadvantaged youth in Uganda to become job creators and social entrepreneurs with the ability to turn challenges into solutions. During the festival, they will do “physical enigma” activities with the children to stimulate their creative thinking.
http://www.socialinnovationacademy.org/
Davis Bamwine
Davis Bamwine is a Ugandan illustrator, graphic artist and animator who created the mascot for the Azulato Children’s Festival. At the festival, he will be facilitating a drawing workshop on how to draw our mascot with the children.
Wildsmile Studios/Die Siebdrucker
A group of visual artists from Germany will do silk screen prints with the children at Azulato children’s festival. Silk screen printing is an old, but still common and celebrated printing technique that can be done on paper or textiles. Materials to print on will be available at the festival, but children are also invited to bring their own textiles like t-shirts to print on.
Ghetto Wardrobe Campaign by Njolah Impressions
Allen Nabukenya, the founder of Njola Impressions the Ghetto Wardrobe Campaign, uses ‘waste’ materials like plastic bags and old tires to create new clothes and accessories. With her work in Kamwokya, she tries to show the youth how to recycle waste and protect the environment. During the festival, she will exhibit some of her pieces, as well as create small accessories with the kids.
https://www.facebook.com/njolaimpressions
Sooo Many Stories/ 40 Days over 40 Smiles Foundation
Sooo Many Stories is a Ugandan publishing house that publishes fiction and creative non-fiction. Their aim is to inspire Uganda’s reading culture and support local writers. They will take their children’s book club to Azulato Children’s Festival and will team up with “40 Days 40 Smiles Foundation,” a Kampala-based independent, youth-led charity organization that has published Ugandan books for children.
Collective Mural Painting
Together with the children at the festival, a group of artists with Collective Mural Painting will create a 1,20 x 5 meter large mural painting. The activity of collectively creating an artwork that lives on after the festival will be a great opportunity for children to see the outcome of teamwork becoming alive.
Creative Minds
Creative Minds are a collective of three young Ugandan artists based in Kampala. Their mission is to inspire through creative and playful group activities. At the festival, they will engage everyone into interactive activities, such as traditional games like Omwenso, Yoga and other activities.
Goethe Zentrum Kampala (GZK)
The German Language Department of Goethe-Zentrum Kampala will offer some activities to playfully get to know first words in the German Language. This will also be a station that will provide parents with information about the Language School.
Gloria Kiconco
Gloria Kiconco is a poet, writer and zine-publisher. The word zine comes from ‘magazine,’ so a zine is a small self-published magazine with images and words. These zines can be taken home and kept, given as a present or exchanged with other children. Each child will be instructed in making, reproducing and sharing their zines so that the learning continues outside of the workshop.
The Sustainable Living Academy of East Africa
The Sustainable Living Academy of East Africa provides practical permaculture and sustainable agriculture skills to a wide range of students in Entebbe. During the festival, they will hold a workshop on making a vegetable garden and how to have a healthy diet. They will also provide a workshop on the famous moringa tree, giving students their own seeds to take home and grow in their own gardens. Their second workshop will be about pottery and the kids will be able to get creative with clay and learn how to use a potter’s wheel.
https://www.facebook.com/The-Sustainable-Living-Academy-of-East-Africa-376871179390226/
Hellen Nabukenya
Hellen Nabukenya is a visual artist based in Kampala at the Art Punch Studio. She has an interactive approach to creating art and encourages her audience to participate in the creative process of the work, so that it becomes a collective creation in the end. Together with the children, she will create a collective installation out of strips of cloth off cuts she collects from local tailors. It will be all about storytelling through art. The group will come up with one story at the end of the day and each child will go back home with a rope or two done by him or her to remember the festival.
https://www.facebook.com/ArtPunchStudio/
Face Painting with Magezi Philip
Magezi Philip is a young multifaceted artist who engages in graphic design, graffiti, face painting and photography. During the Azulato Children’s Festival, he will offer face painting to the children.
The Mad Scientist (Source of the Nile Science Centre)
Martin Kafeero aka The Mad Scientist holds a degree in Biotechnology from the Australian National University and is known as the funny and engaging science wizard on NBS television with his show Science Time. He works with the Source of Nile Science Centre. His passion is to find the most creative ways of making science fun. At the festival, Martin will offer exciting hands-on sciences activities and will turn ordinary science concepts into unforgettable learning experiences.
https://www.facebook.com/kafeero.martin
WORKSHOPS
Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU)
Breakdance Project Uganda is a grassroots, youth-centred organization using dance, visual art, beatboxing and other elements of hiphop and alternative ways of learning as tools to engage and unite young people. They provide them with skills and support so they can become socially responsible leaders in their communities. The organisation is open to everyone, offering free classes every week across Uganda. At the Azulato Children’s Festival, BPU members will be sharing their alternative ways of learning with the children of BPU in attendance to help spark their interest in empowering themselves and each other.
https://www.facebook.com/breakdanceprojectuganda
Ngoma Jam Sessions
Through building a Drum Circle Community in East Africa, Ngoma Jam Sessions hopes to reintroduce the ancient and healing art of drumming into the lives of ordinary people. At Azulato Children’s Festival, Ngoma Jam Sessions will offer drum circle sessions for kids below the age of ten and teens, as well as some drumming and rapping activities.
https://www.facebook.com/NgomaJamSessions/
Rap Workshop with Lady Slyke
Lady Slyke is a well-known Ugandan rapper and producer of NewzBeat, a weekly news series on NTV rapped in English and Luganda. At Azulato Children’s Festival, she will be rapping together with the children and teaching them how to flow on a beat and freestyle.
MC Yallah
MC Yallah is a Ugandan female rapper and a Music, Dance and Drama teacher. She is going to take part at the Azulato Festival by teaching young children how to play different local instruments like the Adungu, Xylophone and the fiddle.
PERFORMANCES
Tender Talents/Ushindi Children
The Tender Talents/Ushindi Children is a group of children from different backgrounds who are brought together by theatre, music, dance and drama. The group has its roots in Miracle Christian Fellowship Church found in Nangabo. At the festival, they will perform the play “Wakayima Stories,” based on the fables of Mr. Hare who is known in central Uganda as Wakayima. Apart from entertaining, the play seeks to teach children that we need to think before we act and work towards getting through our problems by thinking about solutions.
Sosolya Undungu Dance Academy
Sosolya Undugu Dance Academy, founded in 1993, is an NGO based in Kabalagala, Kampala, and teaches children, teenagers and young adults in music, dance and drama whilst also providing them with a home. At the festival, they will perform the piece ”Kwaffe Kwe Kwaffe” – English translation “our home is our home” – a spoken word, music, dance and drama production, tackles the causes and challenges of climate change that affect the village of Kwaffe.
Street Theatre Uganda
Street Theatre Uganda’s theatre piece features children from several schools putting up a special performance on the topic of child labour.
FAAM Club
FAAM Club was created to discover, nurture, develop and promote young talent among the youth in art, fashion, music, drama, dance, sports, poetry, jewelry and other creative arts to encourage them to express their feelings through these arts forms. At the festival, FAAM Club will present a fashion show.
Yutta Convict/Unseen Dreams
Unseen Dreams is an inclusive dance and arts festival. This festival brings together people with different abilities and those facing numerous closed doors to share through the element of dance and art. The festival works with different organizations and schools to host people with different abilities and children with special needs. Unseen Dreams works closely with ‘Salvation Army Home of Joy Center for Children with Disabilities’. For Azulato children’s festival Unseen Dreams presents ‘The Salvation Army Home of Joy Center for Children with Disabilities’ in a production entitled ‘The Other’ inspired by Nelson Mandela’s fight for equal opportunities. The production is a combination of dance and drama.
Spirit Africa Children’s Voice Uganda
Spirit Africa children’s Voice Uganda is a community-based organization that supports orphans and disadvantaged children through education, music, dance and drama. This project is under Destiny Junior School. They will be coming to the festival with an amazing poem on the theme of “Art and Science”. They will present a traditional cultural dance from western region of Uganda called Runyege-Ntogoro.
Performing School Groups:
Clever Origin School
Clever’s Origin Junior School is located in Kitintale. They will have a presentation of two performances; a traditional dance called Kiganda, from Buganda, central region of Uganda. The second performance will be original recorded songs, sung by the children.
St. Agnes Junior School
St Agnes’s Junior School is based in Salaama, Kabuuma in Masajja Zone. This is a primary school that will present two performances; an instrumental composition on African local instruments, playing authentic Ugandan tunes using Uganda cultural instruments. The second performance is a traditional dance performance of the Kiganda dance from Buganda.
