British Council harnesses the power in voices

Power in the Voice is a three-year programme that started with a pilot project in Mozambique in 2005. The campaign’s objectives are two-fold: to create creative relationships between United Kingdom (UK) and African artists, and to bring rap, poetry and storytelling skills to participating schools. To find out more about participating artists, visit the official website: http://powerinthevoice.britishcouncil.org/.

Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the participating African countries.

Artists taking part in this campaign commit to running workshops with selected schools over a period of time. Interested schools were asked to send in applications to take part in the programme to the British Council office in their country, and were selected on a needs basis by our project managers. Artists were selected in a similar manner, with artists most likely to benefit from the programme chosen to participate.

Children who participate in the workshops develop their skills and confidence in storytelling rap, hip hop and poetry. They then get into teams, develop their own performance and present it at a festival held in each country. One team is selected from each country and invited to attend the international Power in the Voice festival to be held in Botswana in August 2008.

Artists submit regular reports to their project managers to update them on the progress of the children.

The artists themselves also benefit by taking part in workshops with visiting UK artists, and presenting their work at festivals. In February 2008, one artist from every country went to the UK to showcase their work and collaborate with UK artists.

Artists were selected to go the UK on the basis of their monthly reports, their work with the schools, and their professional development since the start of the campaign.

The campaign hopes to “empower young people, develop and showcase creative skills, encourage a dynamic exchange of ideas and experience, explore contemporary issues, challenge assumptions and promote intercultural understanding.”

UK project manager Hannah Henderson says: “I am delighted to have been part of Power in the Voice and to have witnessed the difference the project has made to the skills and confidence of the young people taking part. Over the past two years I have seen how the artist mentors in the UK and across Southern Africa have developed their skills and built strong working relationships. Power in the Voice has provided an opportunity to showcase UK excellence in creativity in education and to introduce this to classrooms across Southern Africa.”

The head project manager of Power in the Voice in Africa, Ignatius Mabasa, says the project is a “great opportunity for artists in all the countries involved to work with kids and teachers, and to interact with artists in other genres”. His home office in Zimbabwe found that the collaboration allowed artists to “explore new ways of expressing themselves”.

The participating school children also got the opportunity to explore issues such as HIV/AIDS in their performances. He says their growth in confidence has been remarkable: “They’re able to manage crowds, utilise the space on stage, and perform well … some of them are definitely going to become the big stars in their countries in years to come.”

Working with children, says Mabasa, has forced artists to “challenge themselves, get out of their comfort zone and learn from the children.”

In South Africa, performances by artists were incorporated into the Johannesburg Arts Alive festival, held in September 2007. After five months of workshops with 10 schools, the participating schoolchildren presented their performances at a “Voice Fair” in September. Their performances ran alongside graffiti workshops and break-dancing.

According to South African project manager Nomalanga Nkosi, the artists were “absolutely committed to the project. Some kids lacked confidence at the beginning of the programme … [but] having real-life artists workshopping them on a weekly basis, they were able to learn a special skill. It was amazing, the kids absolutely loved it.”

In Zambia, 12 artists mentored 18 participating schools in two provinces. Project manager Benjamin Chitundu says that it was a challenge in the beginning to co-ordinate the workshops. He also says it was initially difficult to get teachers to take ownership of the project, particularly at schools that had no experience in using poetry as part of the school curriculum.

Now, however, schools are motivated to take the campaign beyond the international festival. “We hope to find sponsors and artists who can support Power in the Voice clubs at schools. These clubs will then compete against each other once a year,” says Chitundu.

“I’ve really enjoyed working on this project. It’s been worth the administrative difficulties. Teachers are concerned about keeping the campaign going after it finishes. We want it to grow.”

Mozambique also had 18 participating schools with 12 artists. Project manager Vivien Esslemont says she has seen “amazing changes in the artists since a year ago”. They have gained skills in event management, promotion and team-work through the campaign. They’ve also learnt training and mentorship skills through their work in the schools.

The children, she says, have shown “enormous growth, professionalism and confidence”. Mozambique used the theme of “Children’s Rights”, and asked schools to create performances around that theme. She says the children clearly did research into human rights and some went from having no knowledge of their rights to gaining a clear understanding of what their rights were.

“I would love to continue this campaign and make it bigger and better [after it officially ends],” says Esslemont. “People are talking about it all the time. We’re talking to sponsors here to keep things going, to keep creating spaces for young children.”

“In Mozambique there’s an enormous population of disaffected, unemployed youth. This is opening up possibilities for them.”

“It’s been a great opportunity for me, an exhilarating eye-opener,” says Botswana Power in the Voice project manager Beka Netshabamang. Mentorship by professional artists has helped children take “an inherent talent … and make it grow.”

Netshabamang is looking forward to hosting the international festival in August. The British Council in Botswana is working with the Botswana Tourism Board and the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture to “make it big, something memorable for everyone.”