Popular Participation

ECA as part of its popular participation outreach, has organized a series of public talks on issues of governance that will start the week after ADF. Picking up on the discussions of the meeting, the talks will explore issues of governance and how they intersect with information and communications technology, media, HIV/AIDS, and gender issues.

Culture is an important, and overlooked, aspect of a society—in both the sense of traditions that link peoples of a certain country or region, as well as the artistic forms that both express traditions, question them, and seek to push the boundaries of political systems. Culture can play an important role in opening discussion, and in uniting people. The cultural performances and events taking place during and after ADF are a small expression of these endeavors.

Theater:

Biro: As the world seeks political, medical and economic solutions to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, artistic voices have been at the heart of the struggle. In hope of finding the widest possible audience, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine wrote Biro as a catalyst for reflection on HIV/AIDS prevention and the struggle for democracy in Africa. The play is based on the true accounts of an HIV positive African's journey through Uganda, Cuba and America. The play, a multi-media solo performance piece, held its World Premiere at Uganda's National Theater in January 2003, which President Museveni attended.

The Artist: Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine

Ntare received his M.F.A in Acting from New York University and completed studies at The Moscow Arts Theater, The Royal National Theater and The University of Virginia. Ntare's acting credits include leading roles at The Steppenwolf Theater, The Kennedy Center, The Lincoln Center, and the National Tour of Six Degrees of Separation, for which he received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Actor. An accomplished photographer and filmmaker Ntare's work has exhibited at the UCLA Fowler Museum ofCultural History, The Latino Art Museum, The United Nations, Rush ArtsGallery and the Pan African Film Festival. Ntare began working with rural based theater artists in South Africa in 1996 on a grant from the William & Eva Fox Foundation. For more information about the artist and his work visit: www.bewareoftime.com

The workshops: See the Tree in the Seed

In conjunction with the play, Ntare developed an HIV/AIDS advocacy program, which he launched in Uganda in 2003 and hopes to expand to other African nations. The program, called See the tree in the seed: theater training for HIV/AIDS advocacy, was funded by USAID and the CDC's AIDS Integrated Model District Program (AIM).

See the tree in the seed is an effort to engage local artists in HIV/AIDS advocacy work using theatre as the mode of discourse. Following ADF, Ntare will build the capacity of local artists with the aim of helping them accomplish the following:

• Conduct a situational analysis and needs assessment of targeted audiences;

• Develop audience interactive performance pieces for HIV/AIDS prevention and care;

• Contribute to a process of restoring hope to individuals infected or affected by HIV/AIDS; and

• Design materials and messages for behavioral change communication Act as a core base of trainers to ensure continuity of theater-based HIV/AIDS advocacy.
  

Music:
Mariem Hassan Con Leyoad

In spite of the continuous trying circumstances of the Sahrawis people, their musicians are at the forefront of political and cultural developments. They are modernizing the music – the haul – without losing touch with their cultural traditions. This music is often used both to educate and to motivate for political and social action.

Since their time in exile, the women have become the mainstays of society in the refugee camps. They settle all camp business, organize the children’s education and all other social aspects of the camp. The women have in fact humanized the wasteland to allow the dignified survival of the Sahrawis people for over 27 years in exile.

All of these circumstances are expressed in the songs of Leyoad. The group listens to many old Medej songs – traditional religious songs in classical Arabic – that talk about God, the Prophets and the restless spiritual search for humanity.

Films:

A series of films that focus on the themes under discussion at ADF will commence with the documentary “Beware Of Time” a first effort as filmmaker by Ntae Guma Mbaho Mwine, the playwright and performer of Biro. Beware Of Time shows the lives of HIV positive Ugandans, and depicts the crimes of a brutal war ravaging northern Uganda. The film received its first broadcast in Uganda and subsequently screened at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Black International Cinema in Berlin.

Prose:

To be published for the 5th ADF addressing youth issues. A collection of provocative thoughts on issues of governance will be solicited from young writers and youth from around the continent.

Visual Art and Performances:

Working with the African Youth Association, African Network Young Peacebuilders (ANYP) and the West African Youth Network (WAYN), an art exhibit has been organized in the UNCC of young artists from Ethiopia. The groups have also developed a series of short performances addressing issues of gender, the plight of street children, the abuses that can befall children during war and the issue of “brain-drain”. These skits will be presented during coffee breaks at ADF.