Creatives from across Southern Africa whose organisation have received grants from the Sound Connects Fund (SCF) gathered in Lilongwe last week where they networked and built their capacities in implementing cultural projects.
From 24 to 29 September, the creatives took part in the workshop which involved team building, networking and peer-to-peer learning.
In Malawi, Sound Connects Fund was being hosted by Kweza Konnects. On Thursday, the two organisations held Creative Industries Engagement, a networking event where creatives from across Southern Africa networked and were informed about opportunities.
Speaking during the event, Music in Africa Foundation projects manager Violet Maila, whose organisation manages the Sound Connects Fund, said over the past few days the grantees have learned a lot about fundraising and leadership.
“I think the grantees have got a lot of knowledge that they can take back with them to grow for themselves and grow their communities as well as the organisations where they work,” she said.
Maila added that job creation and youth development are key areas for the fund. She noted that some of the projects which have been funded are focusing on animation and digitization which attract young people hence it becomes easier for the organisations to engage and train young people.
One of the creatives, Yara Costa, who runs a company that creates films and is now expanding into virtual reality and expanded reality, said during the workshop the creatives forged meaningful partnerships.
“It has been an amazing workshop there are people from all over the region with different projects but we are all trying to do the same thing, we want to change our realities, we want to change the realities of our communities,” said Costa whose organization received fund for a project that is merging new technologies with traditional culture in a bid to show the importance of indigenous knowledge and bring change to communities in Mozambique.
The Sound Connects Fund is a multifaceted initiative that aims to accelerate development and increase the capacity of the cultural and creative sectors in Southern Africa by offering financial support in the form of different sized grants and comprehensive capacity-building programmes.
It targets creative and cultural industry organisations based in Angola, Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and operating in the performing arts, animation, film, gaming, photography, videography and visual arts sectors.
In the first cohort of the SCF, University of Malawi, Music Crossroads and Tumaini Festival were some of the organisations which benefited and implemented projects. In the current cohort, Copyright Association of Malawi has received about 100,000 Euros to digi
The final SCF call for applications will open in December 2022.
Follow us on Twitter:
