October 31, 2011

AGYA Selected as 2011 Grant Recipient by UN-Habitat Youth Fund

Following informal announcements on Facebook & Twitter last month, AGYA is excited to officially announce that we were selected as a recipient of a grant from the UN-Habitat Youth Fund. With the resources from the grant, AGYA will implement "Reel Talk: Confronting Global Gender Disparities Through Digital Media." Under the leadership of AGYA Executive Director Divinity Matovu and AGYA Girls Program Director Happy Namutebi, "Reel Talk" is a 12-month project that will train 48 teen girls to use film, digital media and photography as a platform to provide girls ages 15-20 with the training, artistic license and communication skills to transform attitudes and behaviors about critical gender issues among disadvantaged youth living in urban poverty in Kampala. After completing the training, the girls will film and edit their own short films that will educate 10,000 youth who will see the films in live screenings at select sites in Uganda and online via YouTube, Blogger, Facebook and Twitter.


October 28, 2011

AGYA To Collaborate with Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy (JUiCE) on International Artist Exchange

AGYA is proud to announce that we are partnering with Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy (JUiCE) on an international hip-hop artist exchange project that will bring Los Angeles-based MC and Hellfyre Club recording artist, Open Mike Eagle and Los Angeles-based beatmaker and Brainfeeder artist, Ras G, to work with Ugandan rapper Mon MC, youth artists, and other local musicians in Uganda for three weeks during summer 2012.

J.U.i.C.E. is a Los Angeles-based a non-profit hip-hop organization that encourages the creative expression and self-empowerment of all people through skill-building in the music, visual art, and dance of the hip-hop culture.

The project idea was born in 2010 when AGYA Executive Director, Divinity Matovu connected with JUiCE Co-Executive Director Daniel Rizik-Baer, who provided advice and guidance during the curriculum planning phase of "Recording Our Dreams," an AGYA project that is currently training youth on music production and recording with a focus on hip-hop. Learn more about "Recording Our Dreams" here.