Busara through the year 2009
A Year in the Life of Busara…
Yet another year has flown by with ongoing activities such as organising the festival, networking, artists promotion, training, travelling and marketing. A milestone event in the development of Busara Promotions was the devising of a five-year strategic plan.
The NGO has many challenges, not least in sourcing multi-annual funding and helping to move the organisation towards a more sustainable future. If you are interested in receiving the Strategic Plan in digital form, please send us an email to ask for a copy. Busara has been active in each of our development areas as outlined below. Here are a few examples of what has been taking place since the last festival in 2009:
Audience Development
As part of audience development, we aim to introduce top musicians from East Africa to the world stage through international festivals. In September 2009, Yusuf Mahmoud took Culture Musical Club to the Pan African Space Station Festival in Cape Town. They did two concerts to capacity audiences; one at St George’s Cathedral (Desmond Tutu’s stomping ground) and the other as “curtain raiser” support act for kora maestro Toumani Diabate.
Music Festival
A milestone in the development of the festival was achieved this year. With the generous help of donor funding and active support of Pete Tidemann and Michael Murnane from Linear Velocity in the USA, Busara has for the first time purchased its own sound and light equipment. The picture shows under which extreme conditions the container was packed – snow blizzards on one end and sweltering heat on the other. At the time in which this programme goes to print, we do not know yet whether the container will arrive in time for the festival … we keep all fingers crossed for the long journey across the oceans.
Skills Development
Maximising the impact of this equipment and the professionals visiting Zanzibar, Busara is organising another advanced training workshop in sound and light engineering. In collaboration with Linear Velocity Inc., Footcandles Lighting LLC, and the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Busara is holding a week-long workshop hosted by Pete Tidemann and Michael Murnane who continue their work with Sauti za Busara. This programme is for advanced technicians from around East Africa.
Building networks
Busara continues to strengthen collaboration with other festivals and sister organisations throughout Africa and beyond. In 2009 alone, Busara has presented and participated in the EU-ACP Colloquium on Culture and Creativity as Vectors for Development (Brussels), the East African Arts Summit (Mombasa), Selam Music Conference (Addis Ababa), Indian Ocean Music Network Meeting (Johannesburg), Festival Timitar (Morocco), Festival Gabao (Gabon), Moshito (Johannesburg), Waga Hiphop Festival (Ouagadougou), Womex09 (Copenhagen) and Kenya Music Week (Nairobi).
Strengthening the Arts Infrastructure / Organisational Development.
Busara has many more plans in the pipeline, including developing music awards, hosting a regional music market, establishing an agency for East African performing artists, skills-building for musicians, technicians and industry professionals, developing the use of media, a Busara radio station and much more. More Fire! To stay tuned for further updates throughout the year, sign up for our free newsletter at: