Playing For Change Foundation has received financial support from the Nina Simone Charitable Trust to build a state-of-the-art cultural campus in northern Ghana at PFCF program the Bizung School of Music and Dance. PFCF Sustainable Design Advisor, award-winning architect, and Associate Professor of architecture Aziza Chaouni has designed music and dance classrooms, a performance space, and a recording studio, among other facilities to bring transformative change to the city of Tamale, Ghana where the Bizung School is located.
Tamale is the hometown of Mohammed Alidu, a descendant of a long line of ‘Talking Drum’ chiefs and director of the Bizung School of Music and Dance. Since its opening in 2010, the Bizung School of Music and Dance offers music and dance classes that are rooted in the traditional style of Northern Ghana. There is a growing need not only for facilities to meet increasing demand within a growing Tamale, but more importantly for facilities to meet this demand by providing youth with unparalleled cultural and educational opportunities.
The designs for the new cultural campus come after more than one year of site visits to Tamale from both PFCF staff and Aziza Chaouni, who discussed with Bizung School leadership, teachers, and students about local needs. Chaouni led participatory workshops with Bizung staff and youth on spatial needs and brainstorming infrastructural solutions collaboratively.
PFCF is currently working to fundraise for future phases, which include an indoor auditorium and performance space, a music studio, a nursery space for young children, among other facilities. All donations to PFCF until December 1st 2024 will be matched up to 1 Million US dollars by our amazing partner Behringer.
