Uganda: Research into artistic freedom launched

The three-month project – spearheaded by the Uganda Musicians Association (UMA), Ugandan film market Pearlwood and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative ­– seeks to collect data to support the Pan-African Network of Artistic Freedom (PANAF) in its artistic advocacy endeavours.

PANAF works with the assistance of creative sector partners in eight countries on the continent to develop a unified voice for artists and cultural producers advocating for artistic freedom in the music and film industries. Its mandate includes capacity building, lobbying, research and cultural policy development, among others.

PANAF Uganda secretary-general Derrick Namakajo said the research was long overdue.

“The creative sector is a powerful economic and cultural tool that deserves to be protected by guaranteeing artistic rights and freedom,” he said. “This programme will collect and examine data on three sector aspects: artistic rights and freedom, the general legal environment for artistic rights and freedom, and gender issues within the creative economy.”

UMA secretary-general Phina Mugerwa said the initiative would be key in determining the elements that ail the Ugandan creative sector.

“The data from the research will boost UMA’s work across the country,” she said. “With legal brains on board, it shows that we have shifted our wars from just shouting to getting the work done. It will help change the perception that artists are beggars. We have been ignorantly begging for a portion of what we deserve yet we, the artists, are the bosses.”

The research team’s leader, Michael Muhumuza, added that the project would reveal the state of artistic rights and freedom as well as the legal framework regulating and governing the industry.

“We are going to use basically four methods, including questionnaires to mine as much data as possible. We are also going to contact key industry players to seek their thoughts and learn from experiences on how and what needs to be done to streamline things going forward. The team shall also use documentary analysis by taking into account the laws available,” Muhumuza said.