Children's Community Art Studio and Library
Tax deductible
After spending the last year visiting Uganda and working with our programs, we have noticed that the hardest hit demographic are children. Schools in Uganda have been closed longer than any other country in the world. The high price of internet access puts online school out of reach for 80% of children. Over 10 million primary and secondary students have been home from school, and it is estimated that 30% of these students will never return when schools finally do reopen due to the economic hardships their families have faced. (There is no free public education in Uganda - families must pay tuition.)
What have these kids been doing over the past year??
Many children are now working on the streets selling fruit, face masks (ugh!) and even mining for gold. Young girls are losing hope about returning to school and are opting to get married and starting families.
What can we do about it??
We wish there was a way to get all these children back in school, but that is out of our hands We plan to partner with Afrika Arts Kollective and create a La Lona Children’s Art Studio and Library in Kyebando, one of the poorest communities of Kampala. Our program will offer structure, accountability, and new creative outlets for the children who live there. AAK is an established member of this community and has a successful record of bringing arts and training programs to its adults.
We have secured a location next door to AAK’s existing community art space, Ekilawuli Arts Studio, where we will offer free children’s art classes. We intend to build 6-week programs for a group of children of all ages, with an intentional focus on recruiting girls to join our classes. Girls are often given domestic chores when not at school and are conspicuously absent from the groups of kids playing in the streets. This program will offer a structured, supervised environment where girls and their families can be confident in their safety and feel at ease learning and socializing. We will conclude each session with a community exhibition to showcase the students work and to share our love of art with the community.
Our instructors will be both local and international artists along with university students who intern at AAK giving a range of mediums for the students to learn.
What we need??
We are looking to raise $12,000 to set up a creative space that will host our children’s program, an Artist in Residence Studio and provide salaried instructors and supplies for a year for roughly 100 children.
What have these kids been doing over the past year??
Many children are now working on the streets selling fruit, face masks (ugh!) and even mining for gold. Young girls are losing hope about returning to school and are opting to get married and starting families.
What can we do about it??
We wish there was a way to get all these children back in school, but that is out of our hands We plan to partner with Afrika Arts Kollective and create a La Lona Children’s Art Studio and Library in Kyebando, one of the poorest communities of Kampala. Our program will offer structure, accountability, and new creative outlets for the children who live there. AAK is an established member of this community and has a successful record of bringing arts and training programs to its adults.
We have secured a location next door to AAK’s existing community art space, Ekilawuli Arts Studio, where we will offer free children’s art classes. We intend to build 6-week programs for a group of children of all ages, with an intentional focus on recruiting girls to join our classes. Girls are often given domestic chores when not at school and are conspicuously absent from the groups of kids playing in the streets. This program will offer a structured, supervised environment where girls and their families can be confident in their safety and feel at ease learning and socializing. We will conclude each session with a community exhibition to showcase the students work and to share our love of art with the community.
Our instructors will be both local and international artists along with university students who intern at AAK giving a range of mediums for the students to learn.
What we need??
We are looking to raise $12,000 to set up a creative space that will host our children’s program, an Artist in Residence Studio and provide salaried instructors and supplies for a year for roughly 100 children.
Organizer
La Lona (La Lona.Org)
Beneficiary