School of Education

Strengthening Young Leadership Capacity for Zimbabwe’s Creative and Cultural Tourism Economy

Summary

This interdisciplinary project aimed to diversify GCRF partnerships by working with a new set of stakeholders, in Zimbabwe. Working with innovative multilingual methods at the leading urban arts festival in Harare, LitFest, it expanded work from existing grants into tourism, bringing greater impact and new audiences for the work. The project extended the network of young artists from AHRC/GCRF Grant: Idioms of Distress, translating impacts developed in a middle-income ODA country (Ghana) to low income ODA country. It used drama and improvisation with multilingual entrepreneurship for the purposes of knowledge exchange/impact. Tourist sites and festivals are attended by elite groups with decision-making power and income: a crucial constituency for enhancing impacts and generating knowledge. The work expands networks from the rural context of the Dangbe Region of Ghana, to the urban context of Harare.

Activities

A – Involvement in LitFest 2018 programme: including workshops and performances of RM Borders/ Idioms of Distress outputs.

B – Extend and develop network of young artists into Zimbabwe using drama / improvisation for knowledge exchange/ impact

C – Develop multilingual entrepreneurship capacity for the creative and cultural economy.

Form and content of the arts, linguistic and cultural heritage work addressed themes generated through multilingual participatory arts methods, identified as crucial to wellbeing. LitFest provides a platform for dissemination of major outputs from AHRC grants, including newly published creative performances. By working with CHIPAWO, a new partnership will be opened: developing cultural entrepreneurial capacity for the creative and cultural economy, and for the tourist sector. Dissemination through digital recording / livestreaming of LitFest and via UNESCO Creative Cities / World Heritage Sites brings the work to international audiences.

Timeline

LitFest Performances (Nov/Dec 18)

Masterclass with CHIPAWO (Nov/Dec 18)
Devising with CHIPAWO (Dec)
Performance at CHIPAWO (Feb)
Evaluation with LitFest and CHIPAW (Dec-Mar)

Impact & Evaluation

• A log was kept of all new partnerships, and their reach as organisations.
• Films were produced of performers and audience, participant and partner responses to the work staged
• Two Research Producers were managed by LitFest and CHIPAWO. They assisted in evaluating reach: audience numbers; participants; sales or distribution of hard copies or e copies of the outputs from AHRC RM Borders.

They will follow up with attendees and partners to document how the learning and engagements are shaping the leadership capacities of the young people. SDG 4 and SDG 17 will come in to play in this regard.