The African Theatre Magazine invites applicants to the second edition of the Writing about African Arts workshop. Since 2018 The African Theatre Magazine’s goal has been to offer diverse narratives and nuances on African arts and culture through spotlighting, documenting, archiving, and celebrating contemporary and historical theatre, artists, and practices.
Started in 2021, the annual Writing about African Arts Workshop is meant to train up and coming arts writers on the continent – especially those with little to no access to institutional training- in order to produce grounded and nuanced voices documenting African arts and culture.
Program Description
The week long Writing About African Arts workshop will offer participants from across the continent training in arts language/terminology, finding/horning one’s voice, using online tools for research and verifying information, finding and maintaining sources, preparing interviews, creating a story map and pitching, working with editors, framing for/casting and understanding your reader and getting your work published.
The Writing about African Arts Workshop is a week-long workshop facilitated by experienced arts & culture journalists from across the continent. Last year the workshop was facilitated by Ghana’s 2022 AKO Caine prize finalist and artists, Billie McTernan, Kenya’s arts and culture writer and editor, Grace Kerongo, Uganda’s arts and writer journalist and photographer, Kaggwa Andrew Mayiga and South African based Zimbabwean theatre reviewer, Tonderai Chiyindiko.
The workshop received numerous applications across the continent and was attended by 10 final participants from Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Botswana and South Africa.
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It is open to aspiring arts writers with the interest in writing about African Art through an Afrocentric lens for the African reader, and the rest of the world. This year applicants will submit an article in progress that they’ll work on during the course of the workshop with support from the facilitators.
Eligibility
The Writing about African Art workshop is open to all aspiring Arts writers based in Africa who;
- Commit to a full week of intensive work between 21-25th November with 2 hours of synchronous learning and asynchronous unsupervised work.
- Have a good internet connection and a quiet space where they can freely be part of discussions online without any distractions.
- Can comprehend, write, and express themselves in English.
Workshop Timeline and Format
The workshop will run online everyday with zoom sessions from 2 to 4PM South African standard time and more hours of asynchronous work. Sessions will take place between 21- 25th November 2022
Participants are expected to have access to good internet connection and a quiet place for group sessions and one on one check-ins with the facilitators, and time outside the two hours to continue working on their articles and other exercises from the facilitators.
Participants will work on their article throughout the course of the workshop with the goal to produce a ready to publish piece.
See also: If There is No Message, What are We Doing in the Theatre? – Paul Ugbede
How to Apply
Applicants must submit ALL of the following materials directly to: [email protected] with the subject line ‘Writing workshop application’.
- A statement of Interest/Motivation Letter (1 page) explaining why you should be considered, what and how you hope to benefit from the workshop and how you’ll use the acquired knowledge.
- An article in progress of 750-1200 words that you’ll continue to work on during the course of the workshop.
- A biography of no more than 250 words.
Submission deadline
The deadline for submissions has been extended to 7th November 2022 at midnight (East African Time).
The second edition of the Writing about African Arts Workshop is organised by The African Theatre Magazine with media support from Music in Africa, Art Africa Magazine and Ameyaw Debra.
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