The contribution of Tebere Arts Foundation to the development of audio drama in Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

My dissertation, titled: The Contribution of Tebere Arts Foundation to the Development of Audio Drama in Kampala, Uganda seeks to understand the nature of audio drama in Uganda today and uses the case study of Tebere Arts Foundation to investigate ways of sustaining the art form of audio drama in Uganda. The dissertation includes anecdotes and quotes from interviews from audio drama practitioners, Tebere Staff, EAI Lab alumni as well as analyses from audio dramas produced by Tebere Arts foundation to reveal the nature, structure and programs of Tebere and most importantly the ways in which they have contributed to the development of audio drama in Uganda. The dissertation aims to provide a qualitative assessment of an under-looked medium of drama that proves to useful tool for sensitization and cultural expression and through the use of the case study reveal how such a medium can be sustained and the importance of doing so. When composing my findings, I discovered a number of things about audio drama in Uganda: It lacks a clear documented history and is reliant on the accounts of a few practitioners, there is a lack of comprehensive education that would equip artists with skills for creation and production for the medium of audio drama and the art form of audio drama is underutilized in the commercial radio space due to the belief that the medium does not yield financial returns. This belief proved to be a great reason for the reliance of the art form on sponsorship from NGOs and explained the reluctance of artists to create audio drama for the sake of cultural and individual expression. Through this research, I have discovered that Tebere fills these gaps by through a program held between (2021-2023 with further extension to 2024) called the Audio Installation program. Through this program, Tebere provided a well-rounded and planned mentorship to the emerging artists, technical support to produce the audio dramas they had developed and the distribution services for their work through creating curated experiences like the listening booths at the Kampala International Theatre Festival and the listening parties held at British Council, Kyambogo University and Goethe Zentrum. My findings led to the conclusion that Tebere‘s audio drama installation program has made a contribution potential to the development audio drama in Kampala Uganda through provision of a well-rounded course and mentorship on audio drama, technical support and creation of distribution channels for the audio dramas they have produced. However the halt of the programme due to, challenges like reliance on donor funding, risk of censorship and the difficulty in creating a sustainable audience for the audio dramas hinder Tebere from having a greatly noticeable contribution to the development of audio drama in Kampala, Uganda.