Founded in 2007, PFCF was established to create positive change through music and arts education. Our work engages marginalized youth in diverse communities around the world, primarily located in low and lower-middle income countries. These communities are home to great cultural wealth, which we use to create educational and social opportunities.
PFCF has been working with our African programs to carry out joint initiatives together to achieve higher impact, a stronger sense of solidarity, and a pathway towards sustainability for each program location.
One of these initiatives is called Playing For Change Africa, where our programs in Morocco, Mali, and Ghana have jointly undertaken several projects together, funded both by PFCF and national-level and regional-level bodies. We have implemented residencies featuring multi-national students in both Ghana and Morocco, facilitated studio recording projects, and partnered with American platform Splice (splice.com) to record and distribute traditional musicians from each country. We are working with other African entities to expand this project to engage our other African programs into the future.
JOUDOUR SAHARA MUSIC PROGRAM
Joudour Sahara was established in 2016 to preserve and promote the cultural and natural heritages of the southern Draa Valley in southeastern Morocco. The school serves as the only access point locally for youth to express themselves creatively, focusing on traditional music and dance from several diverse ethnic tribal groups who settled in the oasis of M’hamid centuries ago.
Special project: Joudour Sahara has partnered with renowned Moroccan architect Aziza Chaouni to design the state-of-the-art Joudour Sahara Center for Music & Ecology at the edge of the oasis in M’Hamid El Ghizlane. Construction is currently underway and this project has been fully funded.
ECOLE DE MUSIQUE DE KIRINA
L’Ecole de Musique de Kirina was founded in 2010 to use cultural heritage to change the lives of local youth. Traditional music, dance, language lessons, and educational support lessons are offered at the program on a weekly basis. It is the only cultural and youth organization in Kirina. L’Ecole reaches up to 200 youth per week.
Special project: Ecole students-turned-teachers have formed the band Kirina Lolow, and have participated in residencies and festivals at PFCF programs in both Ghana and Morocco. We produced their first EP Lagare Setou, which is available now across all streaming platforms. We’re planning to create a recording studio in the village in order to continue document and promote malian music as well as generating revenues for musicians and the local community.
BIZUNG SCHOOL OF MUSIC & DANCE
The Bizung School of Music and Dance was established in 2010 to engage underserved youth through traditional Dagomba culture of northern Ghana and music activities, which are otherwise not readily accessible in the urban community of Tamale. The school reaches over 100 youth every week through music, dance and nursery program and employs over 12 qualified staff members.
Special project: PFCF and the Bizung School were awarded significant funding by the Nina Simone Foundation for the Phase 1 construction of a state-of-the-art cultural campus in Tamale. This will be the first center of its kind in the area. We are currently seeking funding for phases 2 and beyond.
SALAM MUSIC PROGRAM
The Salam Arts Program was established in 2020 in the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda to create new opportunities through music for South Sudanese refugee youth. Our main partner on the ground is a refugee led award wining NGO dedicated to strengthening capacities of young people from the refugee and host communities to become self-reliant and develop social enterprises.
Special project: Understanding food security as a major issue in Bidibidi, PFCF and Sina Loketa have partnered to expand the music program beyond music and into an agro-farming branch for refugee farmers, primarily women, to grow their own crops for their families and to bring to market.
UBUNTU MUSIC PROGRAM
The Ubuntu Music Program was established in 2013 in several schools in Kigali, Rwanda to bring music into the lives of underprivileged youth in the region. Traditional drumming, dance and modern blues music, as well as sports are offered to students.
Special project: We are planning on tripling our reach over the next 3 years and engage hundreds of additional students by implementing music classes and workshops across multiple schools across the country. Our long term goal is to help local policies to evolve towards prioritizing active and creative cultural preservation.
IMVULA MUSIC PROGRAM
The Imvula Music Program was established in 2015 in the predominantly Black townships surrounding Cape Town, South Africa to engage historically marginalized youth and help fight against sistemic violence.
Special project: The Imvula Music Program is in the middle of an expansion with support from outside partners so as to establish a more consistent presence in community centers, in addition to local schools, which will greatly increase the quantity of students and quality of impact.
INITIATIVES:
The Zamane Festival is a celebration of the ancient and diverse music styles found throughout the Southern Draa Valley in southeastern Morocco, featuring dozens of traditional musicians representing Gnawan, Arab, Amazigh, and Daraoua cultures.
Watch this teaser video to discover what you can expect at the 2023 edition!
On a smaller scale, we have brought together East African programs The Salam Arts Program in Uganda and the Ubuntu Music Program in Rwanda to collaborate on a jointly recorded song and music video. This exchange was carried out primarily online and within studio spaces in each country. The song and video Mambo Sawa Sawa was released in 2022.
In South Africa, PFCF has worked with local leadership at the Imvula Music Program to engage international partners to expand the impact on local communities across underserved townships across Cape Town. The Nina Simone Foundation has agreed to provide core and expansion support for the next three years, allowing us to solidify our presence in current school locations and importantly expand to now two additional community centers at different ends of Cape Town. This not only allows us to reach more students in these communities, expecting to more than double our student engagement, but operate independently of schools in the case of school closures or other external factors.