A young dynamic creative artist with a passion to change the lives of underprivileged communities in the slums of Kampala takes time to tell us the journey he has been taking in an endeavor to transform lives.

What Sentamu says about himself

“I am Daniel Sentamu , the founder and Director of Street Angels Intiative,the organization behind organizing the activities of Slum Festival.”

What the Slum Festival means to him

“Slum Festival Uganda is an Intiative that aims at creating a platform where communities from Kampala slums or ghettos exhibit,ehance or show case their creative and artistic abilities with the purpose of improving their social economic well-being.”

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“This is achieved through an Annual Finale Event still dubbed Slum Festival which creates  interaction of people from all social economic back grounds to share and celebrate music, artistic expression and a variety of artforms.”

“We involve ourselves in training platforms for the development of  artistic skills and creations for children and youth.”

“We raise awareness for the challenges facing slums.”

How he does it

“We availe avenues for the exhibition, marketing and sale of artistic creations of slum artisans and creatives. Above all creating social cohesion.”

Where it all started

“We started in 2013 in kisenyi and currently we host the finale event in different communities.This year we are in Nsambya Kirombe.”

His Inspiration

“We are inspired by the limited platform  for the slum people/creatives to share thier artistic abilities.”

“The poverty and economic hardships that is faced by youth from the slums,yet with the arts they can uplift themselves.”

“We are also inspired by the level of creativity in these communities. The children of the slums themselves bring inspiration, and hope,one feels compelled to support thier artistic growth.”

 “The need to transform the communities from which we grew up in.”

His view on the Impact it has had

 “Over the last four years we have been able to create social cohesion among Slum communities, this is through the different social cultural and arts events that bring together members of different commuties to share and enjoy the festival, this is indeed a relief that binds these communities and creates a form of identity that is unfying.”

“There is a diversty of the slum culture that has been developed and preserved through the festival.This includes visual , expression and language,music fashion.All this is brought to life at the  Festival.”

“Talents and skills development. Through artistic skills development and training workshops.”

“Participants are enrolled and trained by proffesional instructors.”

“We have the children art training in the slums as well.”

His vision on the future

“Empowering musicians through mentorship programs,recording and performance platforms.”

“We have already supported two groups of youth who have opened up craft centers.”

“We want to give voice to youth from the slums to advocate for their rights through music and theatre. So we have recorded an album called slum echoes which has various artists from the slums giving their voice on issues that concern them.”

“We would like to have a community arts center with the capacity to expose, train and mentor young artists from the ghetto in different disciplines of art. The center will have an annual intake of 100 students.”