After a period of preparation and adjustment to the constraints related to the health crisis, the administration training program effectively starts in October 2020 and will end in May 2021. This training brings together 23 Rwandan cultural actors for a series of online sessions, face-to-face workshops, thematic meetings and an ambitious program to support professional mobility. This ambitious professional program aims to meet the specific skills required by cultural administration by combining a detailed knowledge of artistic and cultural issues with strategic management and organizational imperatives.

The training program will address different aspects ranging from cultural policies, cultural economics and cultural project management while integrating a digital dimension that is essential today.

This program intends to significantly improve the structuring and professional level of Rwandan cultural organizations. The specific objectives are to help participants to :

• Increase their knowledge on cultural policies and industries, their issues and mechanisms in Rwanda and Africa ;
• Identify the general issues of aesthetic, political and economic trends, the specificities of the different artistic fields and integrate the changes underway ;
• Learn how to organize teamwork, networking, and to promote the implementation of partnerships ;
• Strengthen and broaden their management skills and acquire tools for managing cultural projects by finding a balance between artistic, political and economic parameters ;
• Make the most of digital tools to promote access to cultural resources and open the way to new forms of artistic practice and cultural mediation ;
• Designing analyses and opportunity assessment prior to the technical development of a cultural project and responding with coherence and relevance to calls for projects.

The 23 participants selected to benefit from this professional program are :

• Isaie KARINDA, Production Manager, Theater
• Natacha SONGORE, Cultural Promoter - Writing Residency Project
• Aurore Marie Immaculée IRADUKUNA, Finance Officer at Ishyo Art Center
• Arnaud KANYANKORE MUCYO, Ibihame By’imana (Art Project)
• Rodriguez IRAGENA, Storyteller and Multimedia Content Producer at Media Marshals Ltd.
• Moise IZABIRIZA, Visual Artist.
• Clement MAHORO, Director of Igisubizo Arts Group (Theatre Company)
• Emmanuel MUHIRE, Artistic Director (Drama)
• Geraldine MUHAWENIMANA, Crafts and Cultural Heritage (Ingaara Creative Arts.)
• Sylvestre NSENGIMANA, Founder and Director Of Umut Arts Ltd.
• Jimmy MUGUNGA, Manager Jimmy House Of Fashion- Fashion Contest Online Project
• Neza SHEMSA, Visual Artist / Paint & Sip Franchise Project.
• Jean Paul KAYUMBA, Centre For Multimedia Heritage - Iriba.
• Sonia UWIMBABAZI, Artist- Cultural Entrepreneur- Founder of S&S Kigali Des Arts Creatifs (Art Center For Children Project),
• Ferdinand MUHEZERO, Cultural Promoter - Traditional Dance Coach
• Jacqueline MUREKEYISONI, Chair Of Cinefemmes Rwanda
• Floriane KANEZA, Director of URUSARO International Women Film Festival
• Marie Epiphanie UWAYEZU, Producer and Director of Ejo Cine Production House
• Paul SEMIVUMBI, Artist / Umugani Project (2d, 3d Animated Films)
• Clinton BAYINGANA, Event Organizer at Positive Production
• Michael Patrick MIVUMBI, Program Manager at Rwanda Art Initiative (RAI)
• Frank MUGISHA, Dance Festival Manager.
• Alain Pierre SABINEZA, Dancer, Writer, Performer and Finance Manager.

To lead and facilitate the various training modules, international experts are involved and supported by local experts. Two main trainers, both recognized as Unesco experts, are selected for the first phase of the virtual training which covers the period from 15 October to 26 November 2020.

Avril Joffe (South Africa) is Director of the company Creativity, Avril Joffe based in Johannesburg. Her areas of expertise are research, education and training on cultural policy, human resource strategies, creative industries, entrepreneurship and management. She is currently Head of Cultural Policy and Management at the School of the Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Lidia Varbanova (Bulgaria-Canada) has professional experience as a consultant, educator and researcher in more than 60 countries. Her expertise focuses on strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, organizational development and technology in the arts, culture and creative industries. She is also a professor in master’s programs in Casablanca, Helsinki and Belgrade. She is an external evaluator for several European Commission programmes and a member of the UNESCO Expert Centre Pool for the Implementation of the 2005 Convention on Cultural Diversity.

First e-learning phase of the Training in Cultural Management in Rwanda launched by Africalia

Local professionals will be called upon to share local experiences and expertise.