Programs
The Community Center
Toonda (from Swahili “to create” ) offers local people the opportunity to meet, to try out, and to exchange art and culture in the rural environment of western Uganda.
The Centre
One hectare in Kyakataama
Grounds
The meadow and campfire site
Toonda, Kyakataama
Stage
The theatre
Built 2021
Library
The library
A thousand books
Toondahouse
Volunteer and artist house
Toonda Cottage
Sport
The volleyball pitch
Opened August 2022
Scenery
Beautiful Landscape
Kyakataama
Outdoors
Space to meet and play
Open to everyone
An open space for everyone
Toonda is an open space, a recreational area, a place for an exchange of ideas, for creative processes and for cooperation between people of different cultures.
Art and theatre can have a positive influence on the self-confidence of everyone, but especially of young people, and promote other approaches to problem-solving. In this sense the Cultural Community Centre is meant to offer a complement to the standard Ugandan school system.
Toonda is a place for all age groups, independent of education – a place where different local groups can meet, or where new groups can emerge.
What is on the site
Toonda consists of just under one hectare of land in Kyakataama, about 45 minutes from Fort Portal at the crater lakes.
It includes a Toondahouse for volunteers and artists, a library, a kitchen, toilets, a theatre stage, a volleyball pitch, a meadow with a campfire site, and plenty of outdoor area to meet and play.
Our programmes
Our Community
The village of Kyakataama, the Mutoro people of the Toro Kingdom, and the land around crater lake Nyambuga.
Toonda Stage
The theatre, artist residencies, workshops and talks, the Cultural Gala and sport on the hillside.
Smart Kyakataama
School sponsorships at €250 a year, the library, and holiday tutoring for the children of the village.
Women Empowerment
Eighty single mothers running sewing, basket-weaving and catering groups as their own registered organisation.
Contemporary Composers @ Bush Lab
Supporting female contemporary composers, mixing traditional and experimental music in a rural village.
Buy Art
Work by our artists-in-residence from Uganda and Congo, and by exhibiting artists in Fort Portal.
Come and see it for yourself
Visit, volunteer, apply for a residency, or support a programme. Email info@toonda.org.