The Ladima Foundation is excited has announced a partnership with Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA) and the Kwetu International Animation Film Festival (KIAFF). The partnership is designed to bring training, development, and professional opportunities to women in animation across East Africa.
The Foundation was recently registered as a not-profit organization in Tanzania. This initial training is the start of a number of other East Africa initiatives that will roll out in 2022 with CDEA, KIAFF and other partners.
The training program will begin with animation training for women in Dar es Salaam in early 2022. It will be conducted by renown animator Comfort Arthur, who previously facilitated a similar animation training for the Ladima Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria in January 2020 in cooperation with the African Animation Network. The on-site training will be followed by an Incubator and Accelerate Mentorship program that will ensure that the participants are able to put their skills to work in the animation sector.
The recently launched KIAFF will provide a big opportunity for the successful trainees to showcase their work. KIAFF is an East African-based festival that provides a platform to showcase and promote regional and international animation. The festival brings together animators, animation writers, innovators and distributors.
Commenting on the training, KIAFF Founder and Director, Daniel Nyalusi said, “This partnership sets a very important base for East African Animation filmmakers, particularly women in that it will provide an opportunity for women in animation to learn animation skills and apply those skills in a professional environment through the incubate and accelerate process. As a festival we will be excited to showcase the work of more women animators and we hope this training will be part of igniting the animation sector in East Africa.”
Also speaking on the training, Ayeta Anne Wangusa, Executive Director of CDEA said, “We are excited about this partnership because it reinforces our commitment to train filmmakers in East Africa. In 2017, we launched CDEA’s Creative Economy Incubator and Accelerator initiative focusing on the audio-visual and design sectors. This partnership provides as an opportunity to improve the capacities of women filmmakers in a male dominated industry.”