Sound Connects Fund satisfied with Malawi’s creative network workshop

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Sound Connects Fund (SCF) left Malawi satisfied with creative industries network workshop it organised in the capital Lilongwe.

The workshop attracted participants from across Southern Africa whose organisation have received grants from the SCF.

The meeting that ran from September 24 to 29, 2022 aimed networking and building capacities in implementing cultural projects.

Kweza Konnects hosted SCF in Malawi’s long week conference.

Maila; We are satisfied

Speaking during the closing ceremony on Thursday, Music in Africa Foundation projects manager Violet Maila, whose organisation manages SCF expressed satisfactory on the creative artists engagement.

Maila observes also that job creation and youth development are key areas for the fund.

“I think the grantees have got a lot of knowledge that they can take back with them to grow for themselves and grow their communities as well as the organisations where they work,” she said.

“Some of the projects which have been funded are focusing on animation and digitization which attract young people hence it becomes easier for the organisations to engage and train young people,” she added.

Yara Costa

One of the creatives, Yara Costa from Mozambique, who runs a company that creates films said is expected expanding into virtual reality and expanded reality, said during the workshop the creatives forged meaningful partnerships.

“It has been an amazing workshop there are people from all over the region with different projects but we are all trying to do the same thing, we want to change our realities, we want to change the realities of our communities,” said Costa.

In the first cohort of the SCF, University of Malawi, Music Crossroads and Tumaini Festival were some of the organisations which benefited and implemented projects.

In the current cohort, Copyright Association of Malawi (COSOMA) received about MK100 million for digitalization of data

The final SCF call for applications will open in December 2022.

The Sound Connects Fund is a multifaceted initiative that aims to accelerate development and increase the capacity of the cultural and creative sectors in Southern Africa by offering financial support in the form of different sized grants and comprehensive capacity-building programmes.

The funds targets creative and cultural industry organisations based in Angola, Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and operating in the performing arts, animation, film, gaming, photography, videography and visual arts sectors.

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