CHAMWINO ARTS CENTER
An organization based in Chamwino Ikulu, a village in Central Tanzania, the Chamwino Arts Center (CAC) began with a vision to strengthen and sustain the cultural heritage of the Wagogo people. CAC was initially formed to produce the Tamasha la Muziki wa Cigogo (Wagogo Music Festival), celebrating and sustaining the creative forms of music, dance, and storytelling as reflection of the history, values, and identities of the villagers in Chamwino and surrounding areas. While the festival continues annually, the organization gives its attention throughout the year to the education of children and youth in their cultural heritage, and to the empowerment of Tanzanian musical artists. CAC provides educational opportunities, including academic and arts enrichment in school and out in the community, and intercultural exchange with partners abroad.
EVOLUTIONS: CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY IN A TANZANIAN VILLAGE
In 2005, Kedmon Mapana organized the first of 14 annual Wagogo/Cigogo music festivals in the Chamwino Ikulu (the village of Chamwino, Tanzania) as a means of encouraging Tanzanian cultural sustainability. He recognized the absence of Tanzanian music in Tanzanian schools, where instead there existed a colonial emphasis on Western European music, and sought to impact the cultural sustainability of Tanzania through curricular transformation. Nearly 20 years later, and through the establishment of the Chamwino Arts Center (CAC), multiple programs and projects in the village are focused on education and empowerment, with close attention to the traditional arts—music, dance, drama, and the telling of cultural stories—as central to the sustainability of the cultural heritage of Tanzania.
The completed construction in in 2007 of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in the Chamwino Ikulu (located in the Dodoma region of central Tanzania) enabled the establishment of a location for an early childhood education program for at-risk children. Wagogo culture-bearers taught basic reading and math skills, including Cigogo children’s songs, games, and dances in the curriculum for young children. Over the years, 50 children attended the Children’s Center, coming to morning and afternoon sessions with a shared lunch.
This early childhood program was encouraged by St.Peter’s Pastors and Elders as well as Godfrey Mdimi Mhogolo (1951-2014), Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika. Financial support and encouragement came from Chamwino Connect, a 501c3 NGO, co-founded by Dr. Barbara Reeder Lundquist and Kedmon Mapana. Interbay Covenant Church Missions with Pastor Ray Bartel and Quest Church’s Global Missions with Pastor Eugene Cho in Seattle, WA initially assisted in the establishment of Chamwino Connect.
Educational opportunities have been supported by Chamwino Connect (CC), including scholarships for students needing funds for transition from elementary to secondary education. Financial support for advanced studies beyond secondary school and support for degrees in higher education have been part of Chamwino Connect’s contribution to the encouragement of the Cigogo motto: Elimu ni Ufunguo wa Maisha/Education is the Key to Life.
With the success of Chamwino Connect’s early childhood program and Tanzania’s expansion of educational focus to encompass early childhood education meant, the government of Tanzania required that government regulations be met: playground equipment, additional buildings, and boundary-establishing fences. These regulations were beyond the financial resources of Chamwino Connect and the Seattle churches. The requirement of government-certificated teachers in place of Wagogo culture-bearers meant that the early childhood program’s vision of sustaining Wagogo music culture would not be served, and so the Children’s Center was then suspended.
At that point, the founding by Dr. Kedmon Mapana of the Chamwino Arts Center, with its assistance in organizing the annual Cigogo Music Festival, began to receive financial support from Chamwino Connect. Later, this resulted in a Memo of Understanding between Chamwino Connect and Chamwino Arts Center. This MOU placed Chamwino Connect in a fund-raising relationship with Chamwino Arts Center.
CAC has expanded its cultural boundaries to include a partnership with several countries focusing on youth empowerment which is supported by a grant from the European Union. A program in Capacity-Building Training for local artists in the Dodoma region was supported by funds from Music in Africa Live. CAC staff has created a project and written for support from the US Embassy’s US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. CAC has participated in an ACCES Conference which is organized by the Music in Africa Organization to bring artists, arts and cultural stakeholders together to collaborate, exchange, exhibit, perform and establish networks for communication. CAC staff is also involved in recording traditional stories and writing them in the Cigogo language. This is intended to form the foundation for holiday story-telling sessions for children. Recording and creating an archive of Wagogo music culture is underway. Improving CAC acreage by planting trees, establishing boundaries and working toward the design and development of an outdoor theater is also on the agenda.
The appointment of Dr. Kedmon Mapana as Executive Secretary of the National Arts Council of Tanzania by President Samia Suluhu Hassan reveals the congruence of her cultural policy with that of the vision of Mapana, Chamwino Arts Center and Chamwino Connect. She is committed to sustaining Tanzanian cultural arts. Her leadership in support of African creative arts has been acknowledged with an award in 2022 from AFIMM, a diasporan organization in the West. Steps toward the establishment of collaborative relations between Tanzanian cultural officials and leaders of arts organizations in the U.S. also began in 2022.