The Uganda Musicians Association (UMA) has today received sixty million shillings (Shs60 million ) from National Cultural Forum (NCF) . The money was recieved by the association’s president Cinderella Sanyu alias Cindy , treasurer Mayanja Ibrahim aka BigEye and Hannington Bujingo, the Director and board member for NCF.
The money is expected to help them build structures for the association and support the artists.
“Good news good news UMA has received 60m shillings from NCF (National cultural forum) this morning for structure building. Its is a good day for UMA God is faithful.” Cindy revealed through her Facebook page.
Last year on 26th May 2020, the National Cultural Forum (NCF) petitioned the Ugandan government to provide a COVID-19 relief fund for the Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI). In a petition letter addressed to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, the NCF proposal was about securing a relief fund that would provide loans ranging between 20-75 million ($5300 and $20000).
The NCF said the loans would assist CCI enterprises to “rebound back, expand market platforms including digital, develop skills of the practitioners and thereby grow the capacity to generate government revenue, create wealth and more jobs, especially for the youths.”
If approved, a minimum of 500 projects will be supported. The proposed projects could include the creation of new products, new distribution platforms or training programmes for creatives, among others.
NCF public relations and communications head Emma Carlos said: “The minister [Frank Tumwebaze] acknowledged receipt of the letter, and we await the next course of action. We hope to discuss the proposal further and other logistics such as a payment plan for loans,”
Carlos added that the meeting would also highlight the failure to enforce the 75% local content quota regulation by the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) and the almost non-existent collection of royalties from broadcasters and education institutions.
“Only about 10% of TVs and radios have a copyright royalty license,” he said before adding that “The meeting will also highlight the lack of a private copy levy charged on gadgets used to copy and share music, films, books, visual art and other products via social media and the Internet without royalty payments.”
The NCF represents artists in the fields of performing arts, film, literature, visual arts, fashion, publishing, audiovisual production and artist management. Its primary mandate includes advocating and lobbying for the CCI sector and contributing to the implementation of Uganda’s cultural policy.
It was then that the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development decided to set aside 6.6 billion shillings as a stimulus pachage for artists whose activities were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
