Playing For Change Foundation is excited to announce a powerful new coalition in Sierra Leone to establish new possibilities for music and the arts across the country! Local music institution Ballanta Academy of Music and Performing Arts, along with the internationally renowned World Monuments Fund have come together with PFCF for the restoration and repurposing of the iconic Old Fourah Bay College building in Freetown. Once completed, the newly restored facilities are to become a state-of-the-art and free-of-charge cultural center for youth from one of the most economically underserved areas of Freetown, within one of the most poverty-stricken countries in the world.
The Old Fourah Bay College has been a beacon of higher education in Africa since 1827, with many leaders of the post-colonial movement in Africa trained there. The building caught fire and was severely damaged in 1999 during a civil war in the country. The World Monuments Fund, the global leader dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world, received a significant grant from the U.S. Embassy in Freetown to restore the building, working with PFCF partner Aziza Chaouni to complete the new designs of the cultural center.
The Ballanta Academy of Music and Performing Arts was established in 1995 to train Sierra Leoneans in classical music, and has evolved greatly since then. Ballanta now engages youth from all corners of Freetown through music education, dance, and community outreach activities, and has worked with PFCF recently on crucial cultural preservation initiatives among ethnic minority groups who practice at-risk languages and cultures.