By Our Reporter
The LaBa! Arts Festival is back.
Now in its 11th edition, the oldest street art festival in Uganda that focuses on sharing art in hybrid places will be held on Saturday, 27th May on Bukoto Street, Kamwokya under the theme “Ubuntu”, a word in Shona which means humanity or community spirit.
The visual arts will be at the core of the festival, representing eleven collective installations out of which the audience will vote for their favourite. The LaBa Audience Award will allow a member of the winning collective to travel to Chale Wote Street Art Festival in Accra in August 2017 with the Moving Africa programme by Goethe-Institut.
With many interactive and participatory projects, the festival as a daytime event addresses a large audience, including families with children. They will be able to explore art installations such as: a multimedia video and photo installation by Darleyne Komukama & Nikissi Serumaga-Jamo, a Collaborative Mural by Neema Iyer, an interactive photo studio, and a Farming Installation among others.
Other art forms including musical performance and dance will be secondary focuses of the day, hence performances of Spotlight Crew and poetry projects such as Tantoma and Kitara Nation Poets, as well as an acoustic showcase with Afrie, Wake and bands like Bantu Clan and Isiaha’s Destiny.
Kampala Music School, Mame N’Diack and the HeartBeatZone Drum Circle will involve the audience in interactive musical encounters; whereas Batalo East will hold their monthly Equation Dance Workshop on the LaBa! festival ground and open it for the public.
LaBa! is organized by Goethe-Zentrum Kampala/ Ugandan German Cultural Society in collaboration with a diverse artist-led committee that selects the pieces to showcase every year.
