Going Public
Welcome back to the kARTwe Kronicles. This blog is designed to give you bite-size and timely updates on the development and evolution of the kARTwe Project. If you are new to this blog, please check out my introduction to and explanation of the objectives and context of the kARTwe Project HERE
In this edition, I will describe how we gained visibility for the kARTwe Project. The project objective is to turn the biggest slum in Kampala, Uganda, into the biggest open-air art gallery in the country. The social enterprise, Feed a Million Mouths International (FAMMI) is the project sponsor. How the project was born is explained in a Photo Report HERE.
At the time of writing, we have 200m of street art completed in the Katwe slum. We are gaining recognition in the community and from the general public. More importantly, we are being noticed by the media. The momentum that we have gathered allows us to believe that by the end of 2026 we can aim at having 500m of street murals completed. But how did we get to this point? What are the next steps for the kARTwe Project? So far there have been 4 key stages in getting the project to this point.
Stage 1 – The Project Launch
Our three art teachers worked with expert patience to teach our students to draw and to paint. The biggest challenge was not to teach the kids to draw circles, how to do shading etc. The predominant challenge was to breath confidence into the learners. Not a single one of the artists in waiting had ever held a paint brush in their hands. For all their lives they had been made to believe that “You are poor! Therefore, you are stupid!” They had heard this mantra so often that they believed it to be true. Our team had to unteach this. We continuously instilled in them a determination to “Believe in yourself! Love yourself!”
After about 2 years of hard work, by all concerned, we began to see results. Our kids started producing artwork of appreciable quality. We were ready to tell the public. We held a launch event, in the community. The event was not well attended. Yes, we had people from the community join us. However, because of the slum’s reputation for violence and filth, very few “outsiders” joined us.
Stage 2 – You Can Take A Horse To The Water…
We were disappointed that our launch was underattended. But I have never met a negative that I could not turn into a positive. One of the biggest positives was that for the first time we gained media attention. Our launch was given a 2 page spread in one of the national newspapers!
Deep into the dark night of the soul, I stared into my glass of whisky. “Why did they not come to our launch?” My single malt responded “They didn’t come to you where YOU are. So go get them where THEY are!” This led our team to meet with the management of a prestigious shopping mall. Ultimately, they agreed to let us stage a weekend long exhibition in the centre of the complex, where they had the highest traffic! Our event was picked up by national TV. We were featured in a prime spot on the evening news.
Stage 3 – Your Place or Mine?
Over the months since the exhibition our team of teachers and students have gained in confidence and in expertise. We now have 200m of murals in the community. The cumulative effect of having so many murals concentrated in a strategic space cannot be ignored. Where once we had resistance, slum dwellers are coming to us saying “Paint my house!” More than ever, the kARTwe Project is community centric. FAMMI is still the project owner and sponsor. However, we see a sustained movement towards shared ownership of the project with the community.
The project has also gained credibility with the community for another reason. We have not imported talent from outside of the community or from outside of Uganda. Our project leader, Joan, is doing an excellent job of managing the team and also building community relations. Joan is born and bred in the Katwe slum. They saw her grow up in their streets. They know her family. She is not a “foreigner.”
Additionally, two of our students, Hajara and Nashiba, started in our training program three years ago. They knew nothing about art. Through the kARTwe Project training program that have discovered creative brilliance that lay dormant until now. They have progressed so well that two things have happened.
First, the have each started a little business making jewellery. This is generating some cash for them to support their families. Secondly, for the past 6 months, they have been mentored to become teaching assistants and they now work in close collaboration with our professional teachers.
All this came together when we launched our first Katwe Street Art Festival. This will become an annual event. We will have two major events every year. One will be where we go to the public, as we did with the exhibition in the shopping mall. The second will be the Street Art Festival where we bring the public to us.
Stage 4 – Me too! Me too!
The street art festival had an unexpected result. Various community groups that are involved in creative disciplines have approached us with a request – “We have a community traditional dance group. Could we do something together when next you have the festival?” or “we have a community choir. Could we do something together when next you have the festival?” and so on and so forth.
High level discussions have been started to see if we can incorporate other creative disciplines into our festival. It would then become the Katwe Arts Festival. It would feature much more than street art. It would involve much more organisation. Would this move us a step further forward to turning the slum into a tourist destination? On the other hand, would the project lose its street art identity? Share your thoughts with me on info@fammi.org
One person cannot change the world
but YOU can change the world for one person.