Creating Art in the Heart of Havana

At the corner of Mauritius and Zambia Street in Havana in Windhoek, you will find a little art centre. Silver corrugated iron on the outside, but a burst of colour within.

The Frans Namibinga Art Training School is a creative and colourful space for this community to learn about the arts.

A former College of the Arts student, artist Frans Namibinga started the centre in March as a space for the youth and adults to develop their art skills.

With around 29 students enrolled at the moment, he teaches them everything from painting and drawing to craft making in the hopes to encourage their interest in creative arts.

“I see a lot of young people in the community who are able to create different things, and I wanted this centre to keep them busy and protect them from being on the streets, and doing nothing,” he said. “It is very important for them to recognise their skills and learn new ones as well.”

In a country where arts still aren’t taken seriously as a career or lifelong pursuit, Nambinga mentions that art is in everything we do or use as a population.

From the clothes we wear that were designed by designers, homes designed by architects, even a glass that you might be drinking from. All of these are created by creative and artistic individuals. Everyone should be aware of how important art is to develop one’s skills, interests and intelligence.

“It really develops a country, it encourages people to make their own products, and be entrepreneurs.” And in a country with high youth unemployment, developing ones art skills could really tackle a lot of our issues. We could focus more on being producers of arts and crafts instead of consumers of it.

One of his adult students, Petrus Hedimbi, is a carpenter by profession. He comes to the centre to develop his painting skills. His work mainly consists of nature and the landscapes that many of us who live in urban areas don’t get to see every day, or have been lost to modernisation and deforestation.

Speaking to the students, it is clear that they all know and understand the value of art. Even if they don’t all want to be in the arts when they grow up, they all seem very keen to explore their skills and talents.

Over the past few months, they have worked on little projects like making cardboard houses, beading, cards and drawings. Right now they are learning how to knit and crochet scarves and bags.

How You Can Help

The art training school offers lessons from Monday to Friday in the afternoons for N$50 a month, but not all the students are able to afford it so donations are needed to help more students be able to take part. Donations in the form of art and building supplies to help develop the structure would also be greatly appreciated.