New support from the Culture Foundation of the Swedish Postcode Lottery to Inner Vision!

We are pleased to announce that Selam starting from October 2014 has received renewed support from the Culture Foundation of the Swedish Postcode Lottery to support the project Inner Vision – Increased Cultural Exchange between Ethiopia and Sweden.

The project is the preparation of Selam’s strategy for long-term establishment of the Inner Vision project and its ongoing activities directed towards the education and inclusion of visually impaired and blind musicians in Ethiopia, with the aim to counteract marginalization.

The project is a collaboration between Selam, Wusate Birhan Abera Music Training Center for visually impaired (WUSATE) and the Network of the Visually Impaired and the Blind (Novib) and right now includes seventeen students with theoretical and practical training in traditional and contemporary musical genres and is involved in a range of activities aiming to change attitudes towards this group in society.

With the support, the students who are currently pursuing their education get the opportunity to graduate in the spring of 2016 while the training center’s operations will be more long term established.

The base of the project is the training Selam started in 2013 in collaboration with the Centre Wusate Birhan.
In addition to the students who participate in the current instruction  Selam plans to engage further 53 young blind people involved in other activities such as organizing knowledge and training in studio techniques.
Once a month Selam (Ethiopia) hosts a debate and seminar series called Cultural Forum in Addis Ababa where the participants of Inner Vision also will be involved. This is where Ethiopian and international artists, experts and officials can meet to discuss industry issues such as copyright, leadership and diversity.

In January 2015 the Selam Festival will take place for the fourth time in Addis Ababa, and for the first time wthe festival’s program will include blind musicians. Through seminars and public talks topics on how it is to work as a musician with a disability can be raised.
Inner Vision is part of the program Cultural Enablers supported by the Culture Foundation of the Swedish Postcode Lottery  and Sida.

Find out more about Inner Vision