25 March 2013
Artwork sought for charity auction
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) is looking for artists to donate work to a charity auction raising money for a school in rural Tanzania.
The auction, on behalf of Ruvuma Development Aid (RUDA), a charity working to develop and support projects which can improve the lives of families in the African country, will take place on Friday, 19th April.
The money raised will support the building of the Ntimbanjayo School of Excellence in rural Tanzania, a Nursery and Primary School in the village of Namanditi. The auction is being organised by DJCAD lecturer Louise Johnstone, who has been raising funds for the charity since 2000.
"Our main source of funding since we began has been art auctions, and these events and the funds raised were only possible thanks to the generosity of artists; painters, printmakers, potters, sculptors, textile and jewellery designers," she said. "With the help of our artist friends, I hope that we can make this auction in 2013 the most successful to date.
"I have always believed in the power of education to improve lives so I feel passionate about this particular project. There are very few good schools in Tanzania and where government schools exist they are poorly equipped, the teachers are often not properly qualified and each class can have as many as 100 children.
"Only 60 per cent of all children in Tanzania get any sort of primary school education and, of that group, only 20 per cent progress to secondary school. It costs parents to send their children to the government schools and as many of the people in this area are subsistence farmers, they have no means of buying school uniforms, books, jotters etc or contributing to the school as they are required to do.
"Our school has small classes taught by excellent teachers. We also intend to equip the school to a high standard and in the future our ambition is to make it a community school. Our aim is to provide the children in the area with what is a basic right, access a decent education and the opportunity to fulfil their potential."
The land for the school was purchased in 2007 and, since then, RUDA have built and equipped classrooms as and when they had funds available. In 2011, the first 20 children started in the Nursery class and there are now 45 children in the school, 30 of whom are orphans and children from deprived backgrounds.
By this summer, the school will have six large classrooms, a toilet block, admin block with a clinic and a small library/computer room as well as offices, a kitchen and stores. The school hopes to build a double dormitory for pupils next, and it is this construction that funds from the Dundee auction will go towards.
The work can be painting, print, photography, sculpture, jewellery, ceramics or textiles. Donations from notable artists including Marj Bond, Phil Braham, June Carey, Doug Cocker, Ronnie Forbes, Oscar Goodall, Claire Harkess, Margaret Hunter, John Johnstone, Louise Johnstone, Alice MacFarlane, Joe MacIntyre, Morag Muir, Luisa Ramazotti, Jonathan Robertson, Lara Scobie, Jan Shelley, Sheana Stephen, Graeme Todd and Arthur Watson have already been made.
Anyone who wishes to donate a piece of work for the auction should contact Louise Johnstone on l.m.l.johnstone@dundee.ac.uk
Further information about RUDA can be found at www.rudatanzania.org.uk
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