AAC embarks on art empowerment
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Sunday July 9, 2023 06:00
AAC is a local institution of high learning which offers degree courses in Art for Storytelling such as BA (Hons) Fine Art, BA (Hons) Animation and BA (Hons) General.
The founder and director of Africa Art College, Goabaone Mogwe explained that the idea is to “catch them young in order to help them shape their overall decorum”.
In an interview with Arts & Culture, Mogwe said the project commenced last month at Therisanyo and Tshwaragano Primary Schools in Old Naledi. Mogwe said this followed Africa Art College (AAC) and their community exhibition at Mo’s Table in The Fairscape Precinct (Fairgrounds) which was held in May.
The exhibition featured some of the country’s renowned artists such as Wilson Ngoni, Martin Sefako, Tshepo Molapong, Lesedi Segobye, Loretta Mekgwe, Ditshupo Mogapi, Rachael Hutton and Rexx Mautle, to name but a few. He said they used some of the proceeds from the event to start the project.
“This is an empowerment art project to teach art for storytelling to kids in the underprivileged communities.
Some of these kids go home to extremely intoxicated environments and we are only trying to fill in the gaps to make their childhoods one with exposure to possible opportunities,” Mogwe said. Mogwe stated that they give students lessons on drawing for animation, comic books, manga, cartoons, concept art for video games and overall storytelling. “This project was started using some of the proceeds from our recent exhibition where we got the support of the Botswana Tourism Organisation, Old Mutual, Botswana Accountancy College, BotswanaPost, Hilton Hotel, individual ticket buyers, friends and family,” he added.
Mogwe said with more support, they intend to expand the project to other communities across the country. He said they have currently partnered with Kalahari Arts Suppliers who have subsidised the art supplies and donated the basics such as pencils, erasers and sharpeners. He said they target students who are about to sit for their Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). He explained that they picked the Standard 7 students because some of them would be doing art as a subject at Junior School. Moreover, he explained that they run the courses for a period of six months to expose the students to professional art.