Thamgidi Studio foundation

Thamgidi Studio Foundation is a non for profit organisation based in the Netherlands, which was initiated by Sithabile Mlotshwa, an artist and former chairperson of “VAAB”. The visual artist association of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.
It’s purpose is to promote reciprocity of cultures – by supporting the development of artists in the Diaspora, Art education and preserving Contemporary art from Africa.
Reciprocity of cultures, or the lack of it,  is the subject which has great impact on the development of societies, in the past, now and in the long run. In order to promote communication, understanding and to connect cultures, we believe that art plays a major role.
These are the corner stones that gave birth to Thamgidi Studio, an African diasporic, artist-led initiative.
Since reciprocity of cultures starts from the point of view of equality, TSF seeks with this to build a bridge of cultural mutual understanding by ;

• Promoting art education
• Supporting the development of artists living in the diaspora and examining the relationship to  their creative processes, with the emphasis on women artists.  
• Creating more visibility to artists and contemporary art from Africa.
• Providing artists with opportunities to develop their artistic process - through artists exchange, which in turn will foster inter-cultural dialogue, bring about understanding and hopefully promote reciprocity of cultures.

Thamgidi Studio’s aim is to  begin this cultural artists exchange with artists in Africa, Diaspora, Asia and the Netherlands.

History

Thamgidi Studio began in 2003 as a children’s educational programme. The idea from the onset was to create residency exchanges  between artists from Zimbabwe and the Netherlands. However due to the political situation in Zimbabwe, realising this vision is at the moment not possible.
As a former chairperson of the Visual artists association of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, (VAAB) an artist herself, now living in the Diaspora, Sithabile Mlotshwa has experienced first hand difficulties artists living in the Diaspora go through in their daily life and artistic practice. Having undergone the challenges of being torn between cultures, exile, loss of identity and cultural conflict, Sithabile began to search for a way she could heal, and make a positive difference. This for her was through the language she knew how to best communicate in, Art. It became her mission to promote dialogue in order to bring about cultural understanding. This would be achieved by bringing together international artists with the focus on artists in the Diaspora, Africa, Asia and the Netherlands.

Thamgidi Studio became officially registered as a foundation in February 2006. Between 2003 till Dec 2006 TSF went through a learning curve. In the beginning of this artist - led initiative, the idea was to acquire big facilities which would be used for the residency programmes, after learning about the short term rise and fall of artists –led initiatives, and also putting to account that it’s existence has to date been sustained by fundraising and private donations, TSF then decided to use it’s proceeds for giving artists financial assistance.
Instead of offering space for residency programs, the foundation  awards fully funded residency grants, and small travel grants. The residency programme of TSF is made possible by renting spaces from other art centres. TSF finds this an effective way of supporting the needs of artists and promoting artists exchange internationally.