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Project FOCUS: Creative Dialogues 
ProjectFOCUS a grass-roots initiative of artists, writers, activists, young professionals, and students bound by a common purpose: to educate, inspire, and empower local communities in Southwestern Uganda and the United States. Our work in Uganda extends beyond material support and touches upon the human need to share and reflect on personal experiences with others. Through creative collaboration, personal narratives and exhibition, we hope to support community-initiated programs, actively combat social apathy, and reveal the common humanity within two seemingly different worlds. Vulnerable communities are often defined by their needs and weaknesses. But what kinds of internal strengths and abilities are developed in response to obstacles? How have individuals and communities adapted in positive ways to cope with the effects of HIV/AIDS, extreme poverty, physical disability and other difficult situations? Using a wide variety of art media, artists from the United States and Uganda have come together to create quilts and textile art, clothing, photography, and multimedia. Many of these works on display have been communally-made with the community in Lyantonde, Uganda through art therapy projects. Unfortunately, the role of art therapy in Uganda has been drowned out by the overwhelming necessity of material needs. In the community of Lyantonde, Uganda, some children need access to clean water, a healthy diet, stable structures to live in, and an education to break the vicious cycle of poverty. At Project FOCUS we do not ignore these needs, but we also do not underestimate the complexity of the problems that underlie these circumstances. We do not claim to have answers. All we can offer is an open mind, our skills and resources. Unfortunately, we do not have engineers or economists on our team (yet). Our philosophy and work has resonated specifically with artists, social workers, students and activists who were inspired to travel to Uganda and do what they could, offering a voice to individuals living in a community devastated by HIV/AIDS. Perhaps a fresh water well could have saved hundreds of lives, a new school could have educated a village, or a few thousand dollars could have fortified homes or bought bushels of drought-resistant seeds - we don't know. So we act according to what we do know - that the act of creating art and sharing a story can be empowering to individuals. Important ideas are expressed, personal stories are shared, and a community can come together to acknowledge and appreciate their own strengths and weaknesses. |