SEBAMALA ARTS
REDEFINING ARTISTRY
To improve quality of productions from Uganda and the rest of Africa by providing film production training. Challenge negative stereotypes and single-story narratives about Africa, by creating and producing positive and empowering images from the continent. Develop effective advocacy tools for women and youth for self reliance, creative entrepreneurship and empowerment of marginalized communities. To develop creative solutions to social justice issues, gender inequalities, poverty and economic disparity through the creative arts and arts advocacy communication. Create jobs for youth employment and increase industry payments for artists/filmmakers; to combat effects of the COVID 19 Crisis and high unemployment levels in Uganda. Employ over 60% women and girls on all Sebamala Arts programs and projects to increase women's representation in industries predominantly run by men.
MISSION
Develop and institutionalize Sebamala School of the Arts for skills training in digital and performance arts, to support systems and creative arts infrastructure and innovative creative employment for youth and women. Redefine the African story and support Pan-Africanism with an empowered spirit of pride among the black race globally, using film, television and theatre to create positive images from Africa, change the narrative and challenge stereotypes about Africans. Become a leading African digital and performance arts company celebrated for non discriminatory social justice and empowerment works across Uganda, Africa and the United States.
VISION
BACKGROUND
The emergency of the Covid 19 crisis (2020) was key in the foundation and implementation of programs at Sebamala Arts. Developed as a space to support artists with creative and mental health tools and create employment for women and youth under the age of 35 who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, Sebamala Arts offered COVID relief, built community through online workshops and readings, thus providing creative expression across digital spaces and professional skills training that led to programs like Women+Youth Film Apprenticeship, Digital Artist Workshops, Young African Writers' Fellowship and African Play Readers Series. Our goal is to employ over 150 women and youth annually, and up to 700 filmmakers between 2022 to 2025 on film projects.
PROGRAMS
DIGITAL ARTIST WORKSHOPS (DAW)
For artist growth, mental health support and skills development, we organize and manage film and theater workshops, for skills training and mentorships, led by teaching artists and industry professionals from across Uganda and the United States. Our work encourages cultural exchanges to break the boundaries of African culture. We thus promote positive reception for African storytelling to improve the Black Experience around the world.
WOMEN+YOUTH FILM
APPRENTICESHIP (WYFA)
WYFA advocates for gender equality and empowerment, offering skills training and mentorship opportunities for women and girls who face abuse and youth from marginalized communities. Training aspiring filmmakers (under 35) across East and Central Africa prepares them for employment in the creative industry, equips them with skills for high quality film productions and counters rising youth unemployment. We create networking opportunities between budding artists and key industry players to broaden cross regional collaborations and offer practical and professional job experience.
AFRICAN PLAY READERS SERIES (APRS)
As part of our lead initiative; It's All Black and Brown, Sebamala Arts creates and produces multimedia content about and for African immigrants in the diaspora to mirror racial equality, the Black Lives Matter Movement, break stereotypes about Africans, BIPOC artists and other People of color in the USA. We share empowerment storytelling for global audiences to experience the undiluted lens of Immigrant populations in the USA and or Europe.
ALL BLaCK AND BROWN (ABB)
IABB develops multidisciplinary media arts productions about, for and by Immigrants of color and underrepresented BIPOC artists. The work targets underrep-resented African, Asian and LatinX immigrants, while exploring intersectional challenges of race, gender, mental health and economic disparities. The program successfully created collaborations with immigrant artists in New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Missouri and Kampala in 2020 and early 2021 for the production of DALLIANCES and first season of the African Play Readers Series.
the pOmpad™ experience
The PoMDap™ Experience is an innovative and experimental multi-disciplinary performance arts program that produces and develops new forms of art using a merger of spoken word Poetry, Music, Dance therapy and art Photography. Its experimental theatrical nature and multimedia creativity engages audiences in immersive experiences, allowing artists engage directly with audiences in their creation process. This aligns with our thematic slogan, Redefining Artistry.
YOUNG WRITERS AFRICAN FELLOWSHIP (YWF)
This YWF identifies young, aspiring and promising Playwrights and Screenwriters for a rigorous 12 weeks program offering training, mentorship and creative writing classes to develop new plays for the screen and the stage. The best 5 writers from each annual cohort receive a financial grant from Sebamala Arts Ltd and technical support from our network of industry professionals in East Africa and the United States, to develop and produce their very first film around themes of equality, advocacy and inclusion.
PROJECTS
CRITICAL THEATER
We write, develop, produce and direct equality film, critical theater, social change documentaries, and advocacy Art Photography. Our Anthologies of Advocacy films and theater productions run along side our annual Women+Youth Film Apprenticeship program, to support filmmaking among marginalized communities in Uganda and East Africa. These productions benefit from international collaboration to raise the quality works coming from Africa, to compete on global stages.
ADVOCACY FILM
We write, develop, produce and direct equality film, critical theater, social change documentaries, and advocacy Art Photography. Our Anthologies of Advocacy films and theater productions run along side our annual Women+Youth Film Apprenticeship program, to support filmmaking among marginalized communities in Uganda and East Africa. These productions benefit from international collaboration to raise the quality works coming from Africa, to compete on global stages.
SHORT film ANTHOLOGIES
The most promising artists from three programs (DDW, WYFA and YWF) are curated into 10 teams in groups of both aspiring and established industry professionals to create an anthology of social justice short films and documentaries, exploring central themes at the heart of Sebamala Arts' works in equality, advocacy and development communication. The work is produced under the custody and creative guidance of Sebamala Arts and our global network of teaching artists and art professionals.
