NAGENDA INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF ART AND DESIGN
MISSION STATEMENT

MISSION

To establish a continuous and self-sustaining centre where mediums of artistic expression will be learned and appreciated. The Nagenda International Academy of Art and Design (NIAAD) will be located between Entebbe and Kampala, Uganda. Its satellite locations will include a retreat center with studios for committed artists from Uganda and abroad (to be built near the rural village of Masaka) and a gallery space in downtown Kampala which will showcase student work.
 

OBJECTIVES

1. To establish a local and international arts center for the people of Uganda and beyond.

2. To preserve, promote and utilize indigenous art and craft skills through training and research, fostering a sense of community pride and shared history.

3. To create employment in the arts by training school dropouts, orphans and other disadvantaged people.

4. To provide art training in a high-caliber academy setting to students whose primary and secondary schools cannot employ art teachers.

5. To provide and equip ordinary people with art entrepreneurship skills which they can use to market their art and craft products.

WHY UGANDA?
A Background on NIAAD’s Location

The proposed art training institution will be located in Namulanda, Uganda, 12 miles south of Kampala and 7 miles from Entebbe International Airport. It will serve the urban populations of Entebbe Municipality and Kampala City as well as surrounding villages.

Kampala, the capital city, has a population of over 2 million people, with over 300 primary schools and 250 senior secondary schools, whose student populations total over 300,000. Entebbe Municipality has a population of 100,000. There are more than 15 primary schools and 19 senior secondary schools in Entebbe with a total population of over 23,000 students.
 
While the population of this area is growing rapidly, few steps have been taken on the ground to train local people in skills they can use to survive and improve their living conditions using locally available materials. The unemployment rate is extremely high. As a result, many parents cannot afford the cost of pens and paper, let alone gather the funds to cover their children’s school and uniform fees. There is a high rate of primary and senior secondary school dropouts, which in turn has contributed to early pregnancies for girls and an increased HIV infection rate in the area.
 
In addition, the ongoing 20-year civil war in Northern Uganda continues to impact these southern municipalities. In 2005, former United Nations representative for children in war Olara Otunnu deemed Northern Uganda “the worst place in the world to be a child today.” (www.UgandaCAN.org) Despite the geographical distance and the dangers and expenses of travel, a number of children – some former child soldiers and sex slaves – have made their way to Kampala, where they live on the streets.

It is against this backdrop that Nagenda International Academy of Art and Design is being created. The Academy will address local problems by economically empowering community members through the arts. School children and dropouts will have the opportunity to develop their creative skills, so that they may be prepared to participate in the general development of Uganda. A strong support system and alumni network will be maintained so that incoming students can see the long-term value of their classes. The Academy will also eventually open an artists’ retreat center in the rural village of Masaka, and a gallery/exhibition space in Kampala where student works will be displayed and sold.