SPLA : Portal to cultural diversity
RDC-Cultures

Yolé!Africa

Genre : Cultural centre
Status : Not-for-profit company
Principal country concerned : Column : Music, Cinema/tv
Omulen Close, Gogonya RoadNsambya Gogonya East IIPO Box 23164
Kampala
Uganda
Tel. : +256 782 480055
Contact by email

Yole!Africa is a center for art creativity and cultural exchange based in Goma, East of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Kampala, Uganda. Its mission is to promote peace through art and culture. It is also a platform where young people from different social backgrounds and origins can meet to express themselves through their skills and talents. Yolé!Africa achieves its mission through two types of programs Contemporary art Community activities Alkebu Film Production has been founded besides Yolé !Africa to promote mainly the film productions of the organization's members. Alkebu Film Production Yolé!Africa is a non-political and non-denominational organization. Through its programs, Yole!Africa promotes and encourages the respect for all human beings (regardless of race, origin, religion, ethnic group or sex), and fights all forms of exploitation or violation of human rights. Y!A aims at 'giving a voice to the voiceless': to promote the reality and views of people that do not automatically have access to certain resources, such as information, telecommunication… Yole!Africa do believe in the importance (and fun) of sharing information with peers world wide. Thus it does also operate as a physical data bank of the online magazine BaobabConnections. Yolé!Africa (Y!A) was founded in 2000 in Kampala, Uganda, by a group of Congolese artists and a Dutch anthropologist to bring support through culture and art to young refugees from Central Africa and from the Horn of Africa who had fled to Uganda. Actually its primary purpose is to engage the community in general and youth in particular in cultural and artistic constructive actions in order to build their capacity and give them the opportunity to express and share their often traumatic experiences, since the African Great Lakes Area has been subjected to years of bloody conflict. In this post-conflict context, Y!A promotes peace, openness to the other and dialogue through culture and art. The organization aims at promoting and encouraging art. It supports artists and offers them a place conducive to the creativity and expression of their art. It also wants to link the community to its artists and in this way strengthen the common culture and identity. Through training, workshops and community events, it promotes dialogue and respect for the others. Through debate and reflection on essential social and political issues, the organization raises awareness that everyone is an actor of his life and of the society and has the right and duty to transform it for a better world. In addition, Yolé!Africa in its activities gives a specific welcome to young people coming from poor and underprivileged backgrounds. Yolé!Africa support them to restore their hope and to develop their talents. The organization aims to give them a sense of responsibility and to develop a common vision in order to transform their environment and thereby build a better life. It is a major challenge, given the period of conflict and general instability experienced by the Great Lakes Area which has affected the lives of many young people (orphans, child soldiers, child refugees, victims of violence, street children, etc.). Yolé!Africa aims at being a broad family in which the only language is the language of art. In its activities any human being is welcome, regardless of his/her origin, age, sex or social status. We believe that freedom is a right not a privilege that all human beings, including children, must be eligible for.

Partners

  • Arterial network
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS

With the support of