Sitting in her lock-up shop at Uganda Arts and Crafts Village, a culture-rich fortress hidden behind the National Theatre, Esther Mayanja Nalwoga, has nothing to say besides lamenting effects of COVID-19 on their business.
Recalling the better old days before the pandemic Nalwoga says she could receive at least ten customers on a bad day most of whom were tourists ferried in by tourist vans to buy art and crafts. This is all in the past now as the sun can set without her receiving a customer, not even one on window shopping.
Nalwoga says although Art and craft has a wide clientele in Uganda of both locals and foreigners, there have been stumbling blocks for creatives as many people felt these two are majorly for foreigners and tourists.
She adds that few locals visit her stall compared to foreigners. However, with COVID-19, the latter has reduced leaving the items with no market and threatening the existence of the entire industry.
With this experience, arts and craft producers, dealers and euphuists under the National Arts And Cultural Crafts Association of Uganda- NACCAU have started laying strategies to wage a means of recovering from the impact of COVID-19 but also looking at the future survival of the business.
Nuwa Nyanzi, the NACCAU vice chairperson says that first on their list is popularizing art and crafts among the locals who have not been buying these items. He says that exposing their work to the public is seen as the best way thus thinking of exhibitions.
Nyanzi who is a former Buganda culture minister and one of Uganda’s acclaimed visual artists, says that in the past years, Ugandans had started appreciating art and crafts but there is a need to demystify some stereotypes associated with the creatives.
“Some local persons need to be enlightened,” Nyanzi adds. “Many have chosen not to buy these items since they see no importance in them beyond hanging them in their houses as decorations. Okay, decoration itself is a good function of the creatives but they have a lot of traditional and contemporary uses. They are better substitutes to many imported plastics and other materials which we use in their daily life,”
He further notes that in the exhibitions, there will always be master arts and crafts practitioners conducting practical demonstrations, teaching and explaining what the crafts were traditionally used for and how they can be used in a contemporary setting.
One such exhibition is being held at the Uganda arts and crafts Village running up to April 10. Unlike other fairs- like the famed Friday crafts market, that has been made over the years, Nyanzi says that for this particular ones, they have decided to put Ugandan art and crafts on display for sale at reduced prices.
The visual artist adds that with time their Association intends to host such events in spaces of three months in different regions or sub-regions showcasing items ranging from paintings, batiks, prints, sculptures, pottery, jewelry, bark cloth, cow horn and woven, products, utensils, music instruments, and assorted household from around the country.
Immaculate Nakamya, a pioneer member of Uganda arts and crafts village, shares that before the pandemic there was a growing local consumption of creatives. She is however afraid that this new market was interrupted by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Nakamya adds they tried trading online but this mode failed to produce tangible results as many buyers appreciate the creative when they are physically present to enrich their satisfaction and tastes as some items require much more than a sense of sight. She says that since the economy has been fully reopened, there is a need to stimulate the local market.
Creatives have proved to be resolutely resilient in the face of adversity. Craftspeople, for example, have exhibited tenacity for generations by passing on a wide skill set and design history. Crafts have played an important role in the establishment of Ugandan identity as well as the preservation of Ugandan diverse culture.
