CCI Recovery Plan
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, measures to stop the spread of the pandemic required that some of the planned activities within the CCI be halted or postponed. COVID-19 financially affected the artists in the CCI and most of them lost market for their products, as well as short and long term contracts. To some extent, some of the artists closed their offices, canceled their workshops, and ended contracts with their employees.
Seeking to address the short & long term impact of COVID-19, the Ministry of Youth and Culture, the Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture in partnership with Imbuto Foundation has held consultations with players in the Creative and Cultural Industry (CCI) to understand the impact of COVID-19 and establish the most strategic interventions during this period.
The Cultural and Creative Industry recovery plan will focus on supporting 7 CCI federations namely: Rwanda Music Federation, Rwanda Film Federation, Rwanda Plastic Arts Federation, Rwanda Writers Federation, Rwanda Beauty and Fashion Federation, Rwanda Traditional Dance Federation and Rwanda Performing Arts Federation, and will include the following 3 key interventions:
- A 300,000,000 Rwf financial grants to support initiatives that support art enterprises and artists, that will eventually attract financial gains and knowledge sharing.
- Shared resources, facilities and training opportunities in the cultural and creative industry, for artists to use and benefit from at no cost.
- The Made in Rwanda ArtCampaign to engage Rwandans to learn about, love and purchase Made in Rwanda art.
Background information on ArtRwanda – Ubuhanzi
By 2024, the Government of Rwanda intends to create 1,500,000 decent and productive jobs for economic development from various interventions and sub-sectors including creative arts as one of the growing and promising industries, according to NST1. In line with that, in August 2018, The Ministry of Youth and Culture, the Rwanda Academy of Language and Culture in partnership with Imbuto Foundation launched ArtRwanda-Ubuhanzi, a programme which aimed at identifying and supporting young and talented Rwandans within the creative arts industry for job creation.
In its first phase, 587 young artists, from the six categories, were selected at Province Level. From these, the top 68 best artists were identified at the national level to attend the boot-camp and later competed for the final prizes. Six artists were finally selected as winners in each category winning 1,000,000 Rwf each, along with three best projects, winning seed funding of 10,000,000 Rwf, each. As part of the prizes package, the finalists benefit from a one year incubation programme and access to ArtRwanda – Ubuhanzi showroom to exhibit their products.
A 300 Million Rwandan Francs grant window has been opened to promote initiatives that will reach and support the development of the Cultural and Creative Industry. This Grant will be managed by Business Professionals Network, a local business accelerator, which will review applications and provide a 6 month service period to selected projects.
Through this Recovery Framework, the Ministry of Youth and Culture also aims to deliver skills training to 300 artists in skills to boost their ability to digitize commerce of their various products leverage the available technology infrastructure and services that facilitate growth of e-commerce in Rwanda.
Additionally, Artists can now access designated spaces at national museums for open air activities with access to internet and space to sell artwork.
Further information on the CCI recovery plan can be found on ArtRwanda – Ubuhanzi website.