Artists in three administrative units forming three separate states in the defunct Northern Bahr el Ghazal in South Sudan are seeking to form a unified association.
The objective, if formed, will serve as the platform for local artists to encourage a community of interest between professional and lay people in all forms of art and to widen the scope of potential experience in art by sponsoring art events. The other objective is to offer opportunities for artists in the region to display their work and to offer the public a means of witnessing what they could offer. It will also encourage young artists to learn from professional artists as it becomes a platform for promoting other educational, charitable and civic engagements.
Garang Dut, chairperson of artists Union in the former Northern Bahr el Ghazal state explained: “We in former Northern Bahr el Ghazal, as the artists union as former artists, sat down and planned together to form the artists union in the name of the three new states, which is Aweil state,Aweil East state and Lol state. And the way we are going to complete this formation is to call it the artists union of the three states.”
“We are now working on the process of forming this union by getting all artists to sit and come together to form this artists union and to decide on the leadership. For example if the chairperson comes from Aweil East the two state deputies should come from the other two states and this continues. We are trying to form the union and work on the law which will govern us during this time. This is what is supposed to happen.”