A two-day Zimbabwe “ideation” and events bringing developers and artists together will be hosted by a collaboration between UK development company Culture Shift and the British Council later this month.
“The objective isn’t necessarily (as much) about hack than getting that prototype developed and being successful in the marketplace,” Joeli Brearly told HumanIPO.
“What we really are based on is developing sustainable relationships between cultural professionals, artists and developers and to show them the value of working together and collaborating because that will impact the future work of both of those groups of people so the prototypes will be the bonus to this whole process.”
Brearly, Director at CultureCode, has been asked to join the initiative by the British Council, as she is known for doing similar work in the UK.
Apart from this bridge-building goal, Brearly added the organisation also hopes for success in the marketplace, funding startups with new ideas or contacts gained through the hack.
The ideation event will be held at the Alliance Theatre in Harare on February 21 and 22, while the hack will take place between March 15 and 17.
The sessions aim to educate and network attendees regarding the possibilities of hack collaboration and to establish sustainable relationships between cultural professionals, developers, creative technologists and artists.
Apart from networking, the programme includes presentations by British ministers, film screenings and games.
Mentors will be available to assist with plans during the hack, as teams prepare to collaborate for prototype development that they will present back on.
The first day will be spent on resolving problems, doing presentations and the ultimate selection of eight groups. The second day will then be about “perfecting ideas,” explained Brearly.
The three winners, announced on the second day, will be mentored for six to twelve months, in addition to receiving prizes such as free Wi-Fi, as they continue to develop their ideas.
A first for Zimbabwe, according to Brearly, the British Council has run similar programs in other African countries before which has given them experience on running this type of event as best in collaboration with processes on either side.
Technological online publication TechZim, and community tech initiative Jumpstart have partnered to collaborate with those in the UK.
“We are excited about the opportunity this presents to both arts and tech people. It’s a rare opportunity for developers to work on relevant solutions that will hopefully results in a sustainable business for the teams,” Limbikani Makani, Co-founder at Jumpstart told HumanIPO.
Currently open for registration until February 18, the event can host 100 entries. Experience is not a requirement.
More information is available on the official Facebook page.
