Planning and having a clear strategy is key to success and this was the main focus of the recent UCD Network Steering Committee meeting held in Lesotho. The meeting attended by all four selected Committee Members – Nanko Van Buuren of IBISS, Brazil; Marion Van Dijck of Sarakasi Trust, Kenya, Jan Drissen, Mundial Productions, Netherlands and Maria Kint, CDT South Africa – and the Coordinator, Mutheu Mbondo, ran for 2 days – from the 24th to the 26th January – and was intense and productive.
On arrival from South Africa by road on the 23rd, the participants that same evening met with the UCD Partner – Morija Arts and Cultural Festival, led by Thabo Leanya for an introductory meeting which also included Steve Gill who runs the Morija Museum of which the Festival is a part of. Also present was Patrick Rourke – a well known visual artist based in Morija who is in the process of beginning an artist studio in close collaboration with the community, which is how projects in Morija are mostly designed and work.
The first day of the meeting (24th ) begun with a presentation which was a comprehensive overview of 2011 which included reports on partner to partner exchanges; Secretariat to partner visits; combined projects such as Harvest Time; identity and new publicity channels. The same day also involved detailed discussion about management and administration systems followed by a great visit with the partner organisationfor a tour of the Morija Museum and festival locations.
The second day focused even more on the planning for this year and next (2013) including already ongoing activities such as Harvest Time, new ones in the pipeline and those to be initiated. The year is going to see an increase in partner to partner exchanges with additional focus on those that can generate income for participating artists and the Network; a focus on developing saleable creative arts productions and activities that will continue to develop the UCD Network into a greater and stronger creative entrepreneur including building the artistic and organisational capacity of partner organisations.
On the second day, an Entertainment and Arts journalist, Lerato Matheka, visited the meeting and interviewed the Network Coordinator for an article in the local Lesotho paper. As soon as that article is available online, it will be shared here too. Lesotho is a beautiful country, very correctly referred to as the ‘Kingdom in the Sky’ because of the hills and mountains everywhere and it was a great location for an intense and productive meeting. Here’s to a great, creative, result-oriented 2012!
Special thanks to the Morija Arts and Culture Festival for the great welcome and hosting and to the Morija Guest House for a wonderful meeting location.
