The Tat Sat Community Academy (also known as TaSCA) in Kasasa, Uganda, is scheduled to open later this year. The Institute of Indigenous Cultures and Performing Arts will work alongside the standard curriculum to provide a platform for community elders, leaders, and entrepreneurs to pass on Indigenous knowledge, cultural practices, and skills-based training.
Currently, the national curriculum in Uganda is based on the system imposed through colonial rule, which community members believe lacks cultural relevance and practical application in daily life. This focus on Indigenous and cultural knowledge may look like a young student learning dance and other forms of artistic expression from an elder, to an up-and-coming entrepreneur learning the skill of carpentry or mechanical work.
The project will include a Dance House, where students can learn and perfect their skills involving forms of dance important to their heritage, thus passing on Indigenous knowledge to other community members. Community elders will also pass down knowledge to those younger than them at the Indigenous Cultures and Performing Arts institution, preserving long-standing practices and keeping traditions alive.
The school and cultural institution are a partnership between the community of Kasasa and The InteRoots Initiative, a Denver, United States-based nonprofit organization. More Branches spoke with M. Scott Frank, the co-founder and executive director of The InteRoots Initiative, and Ronald Kibirige, co-founder and board president of The InteRoots Initiative.
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What drove you to see this initiative through to this point?
This initiative is the outcome of many years of dreaming and planning by the Kasasa community. There was a unique opportunity to engage in something meaningful, useful, and with a different feeling and approach that is in the hands of the community itself.
What would you like to achieve with the academy in the nearer and farther future?
To create an innovative community cultural institution in which all Kasasa community members can develop their potential to the fullest; students, parents, elders practically involved in a community school of both indigenous and modern performing arts, with a modern performance space all having an enduring financial resource base.
What are some challenges you still face towards making this a successful reality?
The community and its partners are fully behind this project and systems of accountability are working well. The main challenge is bringing together the remaining resources needed to finish the construction of the facility as well as kickstart programming. After initial funding needs are met, TaSCA will be fully self-sustaining,
Tell us about some of your biggest milestones
The community has finished renovating the offices for the project’s Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) and have collected dues from its first members! The SACCO will be connected to the project to support its activities and the community at large. Construction of the two-level facility for the school is also on track for completion. This building is two levels and will begin by serving 500 students (300 boarded)!
How do you intend to use dance to improve the lives of young people?
Dance has always been within the lives of young people in the community and has been used for generations to teach knowledge that is now in the classrooms. The Dance House will be activating and reactivating this means of knowledge transfer while reaffirming identity and sense of belonging through connections between ancestors, elders and the youth.
Which other performance arts would be available at the academy?
The cultural aspect of this centre will focus on music and dance, but as is always the case when elders and people come together, many other avenues of expression and knowledge will come to the forefront. The centre will be open for the community and region to contribute to the conversation through all forms of expression.
What would you like to say to anyone considering participating in the academy or supporting its growth?
This academy will become a self-sustaining institution that will continue to serve the community and region for generations. Its approach is innovative, community-led, and community-inspired, and has the potential to serve as a model for other similar initiatives across the globe. Any support now at this crucial juncture will compound in value for years to come.
