Section1: Technical perhaps 6 months later, another 100,000 bob. Danda: Did you have to pay electricity and any other bills? Rob: We didn’ t. We never saw a bill and I remember we didn’ t know if we were ever going to get a bill from the Museum. But we had to pay our phone bill.
Danda: And pay Patricia and yourself something? Rob: I didn’ t get paid at all for the first two years, I don’ t think. I lived entirely off playing music.
Gor: Did you give your money to fund the workshops? Rob: I was in two bands. I was playing most weekends in a really commercial band that was popular at the time and we did a lot of gigs. I wasn’ t paying any rent at the time. I was living with a friend whose company was paying the rent and he let me stay in his huge house. I had difficulty running a car so I very often didn’ t, and I used to hitch hike to work.
Thanks to Robert, things really scaled up from then on. I think that what Robert thought about me when we met was that here was someone who is interested in the process. He’ s not a dealer, not interested in the selling but interested in the process. This is the guy who can help us to bring Kenya- which had been quite isolated at that time- into the Triangle African network. Meek, Wadu, Theresa Musoke and Ogira and others at that stage all had started to attend workshops in places like Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. By the time we got to’ 96, it was surely time to have our own workshop.
We had a core team who had workshop experience so would be able to set the tone and help with the preparations. We started to look for venues. We got a bit of money from the British Council who said they would give us seed money to get started.
The turning point came when I went on holiday to Europe to see my parents and I flew through Brussels. I was in touch with Robert Loder [ of Triangle Arts Trust ] by fax- those days it was all by fax. He had suggested contacting an organisation called HIVOS. There was also the Gate Foundation which was in Amsterdam not very far away by train from Brussels. I tried to meet the HIVOS contact but she wasn’ t available. I was able to get an appointment with the Gate Foundation which was run by a woman called Els van der Plas. So I went and had a sandwich with her and then got back on the train. Though I didn’ t get a chance to meet the HIVOS people at the time, nonetheless I made an application to them in The Hague for the first Wasanii workshop. I had the backing of Robert Loder to say,“ If you can make this thing happen, I will help you find interesting artists to attend”.
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