Africa in Glasgow African Summer Workshops Summer 2008 - World Refugee Day Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (G3 8AG)

Afr-I-can was a partnership between Glasgow based artists of African origin and Kelvingrove Art Gallery as a positive celebration of African culture and achievement.  The artists involved were Tawona and Ernest Sithole (Seeds of Thought), Jerry Boweh (Bassa Beat), Erick Mauricia and Bruno Lowit (Ayawara), Tarsisio Nyatsanza and Lynn Hardbattle (One Bright Star) working with Kelvingrove Curatorial and Learning and Access staff.

For many reasons Museums have traditionally not been places that people of African origin have felt at ease, even though Kelvingrove is a Museum for all of Glasgow’s diverse communities and absolutely everyone is welcome. A central focus of the whole partnership was therefore to find ways to encourage participation by Glasgow's African and Caribbean community. 

Aims

• To increase attendance figures of Glasgow’s African Community to Kelvingrove.

• To engage and educate the general visiting public in African culture and history.

• To encourage positive cultural interactions between all visitors to the Museum.

• To provide a welcoming, child-friendly and safe environment, to support vulnerable members of the community who wish to participate.

• To encourage artist and community groups from Glasgow’s African Community to initiate collaborations with Glasgow Museums.

Theme

'Afr I can'   was about empowerment through education. Using entertainment Afr-I-can demonstrated that Africa is not a country but a continent made up of 54 countries comprising many languages, cultures and histories. The straight lines of the African borders of today were not drawn by Africans and conflict resulting from nationalism is really a modern problem.   It was agreed that the workshops should be led by artists of African origin and that they should bring their own friends, families and people they meet in the community. It was thought that successful events in themselves should generate momentum for greater participation and future events.

Each member of the group presented a workshop around his or her own African culture and geography to illustrate their diversity and uniqueness of the African nations but also the essential similarities that link all people of the African continent: 

• Francophone West Africa, Ivory Coast and Guinea - dance and music are cultural signatures.

• Zimbabwe. The strong oral tradition was represented through song, dance, poetry, folklore, health.

• Pre-colonial Africa.  Bassa music with its roots in Mozambique has had an influence over much of Africa as far north and west as Nigeria.

• Nharo Bushmen of Botswana are hunter gatherers with their own tradition of storytelling and music.

Many of the workshops also explored the common threads that link us all as Glaswegians and Africans through our shared histories, beliefs and needs.

Programme

Starting with a celebration of Africa Day on May 25th, Kelvingrove hosted an exciting series of free family events through the summer of 2008. The eight workshops were designed to appeal to the whole of the African community in Glasgow as well as the wider public who may wish to learn more about African culture in Glasgow. These events subsequently fed into ‘My Africa, My Glasgow’, a temporary exhibition at Kelvingrove that ran as part of Black History Month from 11th October until 16th November 2008.

The events were held in the Education Suite at Kelvingrove. Visitors were encouraged to drop in at any time during the day and there was always something interesting, enjoyable and thought-provoking to do from arts, crafts, poetry and music to the chance to relax and chat over a cup of tea. The atmosphere was intentionally relaxed and informal and often people who had dropped in for one activity ended up staying for the whole day.