French-German-Month ‘Moving Identities Festival’

Together with our partners and neighbors, the Alliance Francaise Kampala we applied for the Franco-German Fund and got it!

Therefore, May 2022 was a month full of fun and educative events about different topics. 

Each week had a different topic; we kicked off the first week with the topic Digitalism. In this week we had a workshop in cooperation with our local partner Telalia. The idea is to create a website where musicians can upload their work, people buy and pay for it in real time whereby the artist is not losing his/ her rights. This is still an ongoing-process. Aside from that we had a panel discussion trying to answer the question if we can all become artists through digitalism? We invited graphic designer, MTN Uganda and designer for animation movies. The second event was a game night- from board games to virtual reality games. Local partners were bringing in board games, the VR corner and on a large screen people were able to play FIFA. The highlight for this event was definitely the 360° photo booth. 

The second week was all about Gender Equality. In cooperation with An African Bookshelf an EA Scene we created a book with the topic ‘Women At Work’. It highlights women who are heroic in what they are doing in mainly men dominated fields. This book can still be looked at, at the GZK library and cultural office. Also, for this week we had a panel discussion talking about ‘Feminism, living a life of purpose and everything in between’. Our panelist were all brilliant women in their own field; we had a lawyer, a visual artist, a carpenter, an entrepreneur and more. The second event was again another fun event. We had a live performance of Lily Kadima. She amazed all of us with her powerful voice as well as her performance. She is also involved in helping victims of domestic violence. 

The last week was about Displacement. It was a special week for GZK and AFK because we partnered with Wakati Foundation, an NGO that are located at the Nakivale Refugee Settlement. That means we also made a road trip to the settlement to conduct a painting workshop with a group of young talented artists who are based in the settlement. The workshop leaders were one artist who also came to Uganda as a refugee and is based in the settlement. The other one is a Ugandan artist who is based in Mbarara. They started with teaching the young artist how to make their own canvas, then the basics in painting up to creating your own painting. We then brough the paintings back to Kampala. We showcased them for a couple of weeks in our staircase. Afterwards, we collaborated with Xenson Art Space and we had the paintings there for about a week. The goal was to sell the art pieces and give some hope back to the refugees. Luckily, we were able to sell half of the art pieces. While we were at the settlement, we had an online conversation about the current situation of the refugees. We invited UNHCR, Wakati Foundation, local refugees and researchers. You will find the conversation on our YouTube Channel. For the fun event, we did not only bring back the art pieces, we also came with some artists. We had a group of young dancers and two singers who were performing at our premises to round up the week of Displacement. 

For the very last event, we had a concert with Bero Sings and Kohen Jaycee. It was all about coming together and celebrate this month, celebrating our diversity and enjoying each others company! 

Check out our YouTube Channel where you will find highlight videos, street interviews and more! 

We will have a follow-up event this year in May again- stay tuned and follow us and the AFK for more information!