KCCA’s struggle to transform Kampala into an international city has not been without its squabbles. The December altercations involving the business community in Centenary Park and KCCA went almost viral. Against such a background came the Ernst May Exhibition on 9th April this year at the Uganda Museum. It was organized by the Germany Embassy and designed as a tribute to the rapidly expanding and modernizing city of Kampala.

(As a society), we are responsible for documenting, studying and understanding the musical heritage that is available. Many contemporary musicians are looking for avenues to make their work more authentic. … The Klaus Wachsmann Music Archive would be the perfect place to establish more accurate study by those same musicians who are searching for ‘authenticity’ to research on various instrument, and to hear recordings of the canons of master players in Uganda’s cultural legacy.

Do you want to learn about the development of the Ugandan Visual Arts scene? In this article, Margaret Nagawa starts with the impact of Margaret Trowell and Cecil Todd, and gives a brief overview of some of the developments in the art scene all the way up to the recent KLA ART 012.

“It had never occurred to me that setting up twelve shipping containers across the city could account for a festival, but it certainly did when the shipping containers were translated into art exhibition points. This was the Kampala Contemporary Art Festival dubbed ‘12 artists, 12 locations’ and it ran from 7th-14th October with a theme ‘12 Boxes Moving’.” Elizabeth Namakula reviews.

“With a host of art spaces and projects springing up, all designed to foster creativity, innovation and experimentation of the arts, and extending art to the local people, art in Uganda is evolving in a new direction.” Dominic Muwanguzi has visited Weaver Bird Arts Community, Fasfas Art Café, 32° East and more new art venues.

“As Ugandan artists, we must ask ourselves whether we should strive to make our work more relevant to our communities and if so, how. Some would argue that it is enough that the work is relevant to the artist, and if it is coupled with genuine creativity, will automatically become relevant to the rest of society. My hope is that we can all engage in this discussion of what art can and cannot do for us as individuals and as a society. The public debate on the value of the arts and humanities must become a deeper and more intelligent one.” Ugandan author Doreen Baingana reviews last year’s Dance Transmission.

“The time has finally arrived that Africa begin to look to Africa for answers. We are starting to think about making East Africa our market place. But we can not go far without drastically improving the quality of our products. For too long we have made inefficient production schedules and products. On the other hand, a myriad of questions are raised to which answers cannot be immediately found. Still, these questions must be asked and answered if our art is to grow into the cultural void in which we find ourselves.” Ugandan visual artist SANE reflects on the East African Art Summit.

In this article Angelo Kakande shows and argues that as representations of life in Kampala, Kyeyune’s paintings are not portraits of individuals or groups. They are in the first place art. In the second, they are sanitised versions of reality intended to suit middle class and tourist aesthetic tastes. In the third place, they carry the risks of pandering to state propaganda.

David Oduki, the co-founder of Royal African Foundation, attended the opening of the exhibition “Let Us Share Beauty” in Utrecht, the Netherlands. “Local galleries in Uganda should be aware of global trends and adapt exhibitions to those trends. They also should promote the likes of Collin Sekajugo and explain their recycling message to the local public,” David Oduki tells Startjournal.

The recent Totems of Uganda painting project by Taga Nuwagaba was nothing short of a new testament of creative thinking and artistry put together. During the opening at the Uganda Museum, most patrons agreed that Taga had raised the bar of visual arts presentation: The more than 1,500 guests, the fanfare, and much more, was a far cry from what had come to typify art Ugandan exhibitions in a very long time.