Dots Village Profile

Inspiring healthier communities by spreading the power of art, media and culture. #ThinkArtTakePart www.dotsvillage.com

Who We Are The Dots Village is a Kenyan non-profit in the visual and performing arts sector based in Nairobi. Our goal is to inspire healthier communities by spreading the power of art, media and culture.

Dots Village has five distinct sections: 1. Festival of Dots 2. Dots Academy 3. Dots Media & Design 4. Dots Distribution, Marketing and Exhibition 5. Dots Foundation

The Dots Agenda Inspiring healthier communities by spreading the power of art, media and culture. #ThinkArtTakePart

The Dots Agenda To inspire healthier communities by spreading the power of art, media and culture.

Dots Village focuses on innovating through the creative arts, media, knowledge-based and cultural activities to achieve these sustainable development goals. We also intend to impact Kenya’s creative eceonomy through development and investment in professional skills, practical mentoring, artistic exchange and collaboration, new ways or showcasing works of art, research and audience development.

Decent work and economic growth

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable eceonomic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Reduced Inequalities

Reduce inequality within Kenya.

Sustainable Cities and Communities

Poverty eradication

Strive to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Quality education

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Clean water and sanitation

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Vision To inspire healthier communities by spreading the power of art, media and culture.

Mission A team of creative leaders and collaborators placing art, media and culture at the forefront of community development.

Motto Think Art. Take Part

A Brief History of this Village...

The Dots Village was founded by Peter Bwire in 2016, following his long quest to make a lasting contribution to the world of art and in his community.

The earliest agenda was to hold an annual mega-festival which would incorporate Christian visual and performing arts, seminars, workshops and sports. His focus at the beginning was the Christian art community.

Christians make about 80% of the Kenyan population.

The first festival took place on December 16th and 17th 2016 at the Pan Africa Christian University and CITAM Thika Road in Roysambu, Nairobi. This event was planned and managed by Mr. Bwire, Leonel Wambia, HappyDon Mbagaya and Eric Mwangi, supported by a dedicated team of volunteers, performers, exhibitors and speakers. The team was made up of passionate and experienced artistes led by Mr. Bwire whose rich background in theatre arts and film technology came in handy.

Close to 500 people took part in the space of two days. The Dots Christian Film Festival, managed by Eric Mwangi, received 1, 352 submissions from all over the world while the workshops featured discussions in art, politics and Christian living.

The impacts were diverse, a major one being the number of collaborations by people who met at the festival Afterwards, Bwire decided to enlarge the project into a fully functional non-profit that could sustain its programs and activities, and reach far beyond the Christian community. It was then that the whole plan for the Dots Village was hatched, with a view to inspire healthier communities by spreading the power of art, media and culture, and to be a catalyst for growth in the arts sector through development and investment in professional skills, practical mentoring, artistic exchange and collaboration, new ways or showcasing works of art, research and audience development.

Organization Structure

Peter Bwire Founder/Director

Wanjiru Njihia Operations Manager

David Ewagata PAC University Board of Advisors

Fareen Mwende Director Dots Academy

Dawson Mudenyo Dawson Company Ltd Board of Advisors

Marysa Kosen Director Festival of Dots

CR Capers Hip Hop Film Festival Board of Advisors

Hezekiel Chege Director Dots Foundation

Wangechi Kuria Director Shared Services

Dr John Mugubi Kenyatta University Board of Advisors

Johnmark Wachira Director Exhibition & Distribution

Tabitha Sindani African Union Board of Advisors

Clinton Kihima Director Dots Media & Design

Festival of Dots The FoD is an annual Christian visual and performing arts festival which brings together players from the fields of music, filmmaking, theatre and dance, fine art and photography.

The objective is to build unity in diversity, development and investment in artists’ professional skills, practical mentoring, artistic exchange and collaboration, new ways or showcasing works of art, research and audience development.

Festival of Dots 2016 Number of attendees - 463 Number of films and titles - 1, 352 Number of art exhibitors - 6 Number of Speakers - 8 Number of Artistes and Dance Groups - 15 Revenue and expenses - Ksh. 935, 000

What we intend to do

over the next 5 years to ensure that the Festival of Dots plays a major role in building a cohesive Christian community, promotes the production, craft & business of visual and performing arts to positively affect Kenya’s youth population.

Goal 2 Goal 1

Leadership Bolster leadership through training, development and succession planning: • Create a succession plan for core staff positions • Encourage goal setting and growth for both staff and volunteers • Promote professional development opportunities for staff and volunteers • Strengthen key partnerships and develop new mutually beneficial relationships • Continuously improve leadership and administration

Goal 3

Sustainability

Visibility

Strengthen and secure dedicated financial support: • Establish a comprehensive 3 year fundraising plan • Create clear messaging and a compelling case for support • Enhance the donor benefits to include more opportunities for engagement

Enhance awareness amongst target audiences: • Increase festival exposure to grow our network • Boost community visibility through partnerships and collaboration • Increase marketing budget and marketing spend

Goal 5

Diversity Become a more diverse and inclusive festival • Establish a progressive strategy at all levels of the festival organization • Expand our circles to reflect the diversity within our community • Incorporate our diversity strategy • Reach out to community partners who can offer advice and assist in expanding our network

Goal 4

Innovation Foster innovation and growth • Encourage an environment of ingenuity and creativity in all our operations • Invest resources in exploring cutting edge ideas and become active thought leaders • Become a hub for exploration and development in our community • Deepen audience and community engagement

The Dots Academy is devoted to spreading and sharing ideas through forums, workshops, digital technology, media literacy, writing, training and intense collaborative learning.

Dots academy hopes to inspire especially creative professionals to bring their ideas to life and shape the future of the creative economy as well as providing them with endless opportunities to network and get exposed to new ideas.

Dots Village believes that success in the future is all about knowing the ideas that allow one to manage and master this universe of information. Therefore, we aim to help the young population of Kenya to move above and beyond random information, toward real knowledge, offering big ideas from extensive fields that they can apply toward the questions and challenges in their own lives.

Dots Academy Initiatives Some of the ideas that we think will help to achieve most of our goals.

At a glance Mission

Business in a Box An initiative to build in underserved communities portable business resource centres out of shipping containers.

••••••••

Foundations of Apologetics A Christian apologetics course developed

by Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA). Happens twice a year.

Build a community of leaders and innovators who have a passion for sharing knowledge and ideas, working together to expand the edge of change.

The Dots Academy brings together a wide community of leaders and innovators from many fields to share insights and work together to create lasting change.

Our programs identify and train some of Kenya’s most promising talent.

Our Labs bring together curated and diverse experts to work together on areas of critical significance.

Our Initiatives incubate high-impact, collaborative and new approaches to some of Kenya’s toughest problems.

Intercounty Fellowship A fellowship with a view of gathering exceptional Kenyan leaders and training them to influence change in their localities. This will be done in partnership with universities, nonprofits and other organizations.

Maji na Maji An interdisciplinary week-long art series and conversations around water and sanitation focusing on innovation in water-related issues.

Creative Traning Centre A partnership with Step30 international and Covenant ministries to enhance education quality by training teachers on new methods of teaching.

Media Literacy Campaign An initiative to train students how to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms.

YALI Learns A Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Networks initiative to spread information and train young people, we take action by using the provided training materials to transform our communities.

Workshops Sessions, long or short, that focus on providing soft and technical skills to build the expertise of Kenya’s young population in our areas of focus.

Group Mentality An incentivized project that encourages groups of three young people each to research and come up with desirable solutions in our areas of focus.

Italian theatre director Valerio Strati working with Kenyan actors.

Art Works

Dots Foundation Established by the Dots Village and greatly inspired by the USA National Endowment for the Arts, the Dots Foundation is an arts agency whose funding and support gives young Kenyans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Our desire is to play a leading role in the strengthening of Kenya’s creative economy by connecting agendas in art, creativity and education.

Through partnerships with government organizations, local leaders, other art organizations and the philanthropic sector, the Dots Foundation supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates Kenya’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across Kenya.

We also seek to exercise leadership through targeted support of key initiatives, research and evaluation, and domestic and international partnerships. Grantees will include individual artists, art students, nonprofit groups, etc.

The Dots Foundation will award grants to support creative education in visual, performing and applied arts, and exemplary projects in arts education, dance, design, folk and traditional arts, literature, media arts, museums, music, opera, presenting and multidisciplinary works, research, theater, musical theater and visual arts.

“Art works” “Art works” refers to works of art themselves—the performances, objects, and texts that are the creations of artists.

“Art works” represents the ways that art works on individuals and communities to change, confront, challenge, and inspire us; to allow us to imagine and to aspire to something more.

“Art works” declares that arts jobs are real jobs that are part of the real economy. Art workers pay taxes, and art contributes to economic growth, neighborhood revitalization, and the livability of Kenyan towns and cities.

Mission

To strengthen the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Kenyans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.

Vision

A nation in which every Kenyan benefits from arts engagement, and every community recognizes and celebrates its aspirations and achievements through the arts.

Strategic Goals

1. Support the Creation of Art that Meets the Highest Standards of Excellence 2. Foster Public Engagement with Diverse and Excellent Art 3. Promote Public Knowledge and Understanding about the Contributions of the Arts.

Dots Media & Design is Dots Village’s dynamic storytelling, design and film production department.

It was set up in Nairobi by Peter Bwire to work with the best writers on modern and innovative media content, and to tell great stories with style.

We are artists, designers, directors, producers, technologists, dreamers, inventors, etc. storytelling at the pace of culture and innovation.

Our capabilities include but are not limited to content creation, graphic design, copy writing, video production and digital photography. Our work starts with uncovering the idea that will stop people and make them listen.

We focus on the production of short films, web series, feature films, documentaries, audio podcasts, bookmarks, etc.

Our mission is to immerse artists and audiences in adventurous media experiences that foster connections and alter perceptions.

Black & White

Film Production

A product of the YALI pay-it-forward program, Black & White is an African storytelling project that focuses on retelling the story of the Kenya young population.

This highly collaborative project will include production of documentaries, docudramas and photography between December 2017 to February 2018.

We are currently working on our first feature film, “Road Trap” based on a true story of events that happened during the 2008 post election violence in Kenya.

‘Road Trap’ is a story of a 56 year old driver who saves a bus full of passengers from a group of blood-thirsty youth during the turmoil. It’s anticipated release is in April 2018.

Other film projects include ‘Tipsy’(short film) and ‘The Lady in the Coffee Shop’ (Short film).

Audio Podcasts After producing two radio dramas i.e. ‘Doa La Pombe’, tackling the threat of illicit liquour and ‘Njozi’, scripted

by Clinton Kihima and tackling the matter of talents and dreams, in past collaborations, the next step is production of discussions and podcasts around our topics of interest. A major driving force is the commitment of students from Kenyatta University, USIU, PAC University and Multimedia University, some of whom are passionate about radio production and community development.

Graphic Design We have worked on a diverse range of graphic design tasks with artistes, events, universities, churches, etc.

Some of our work has been used on Tv, social media, street advertisements, newspapers, print posters and events.

We intend to keep this going and train young people to be able to design for themselves too.

Web Series A number of YouTube-based projects have been in the works in the past few months. “The Quest”, an apologetics discussion forum led by Thomas Kinyanjui and Byron Erude is scheduled to come out in November. Other projects, which are independent from each other but coordinated by the Dots media department are in progress.

Photography Currently, no photography projects are in progress, but we have been able to collaborate with other individuals and organizations to capture moments in their events and projects. These include Love Binti in Kitale, Slum Film Festival and Tuwatch Sinema in Kenyatta University.

Dots Distribution and Exhibition department is dedicated to worldwide sales, marketing, distribution and exhibition of independent motion pictures. We aim at providing independent producers with: 1. Theatrical Distribution 2. Executive Producer services to develop, package and produce motion pictures 3. Worldwide film licensing to Theatrical, Video, Digital and Television media 4. Marketing expertise including the creation of key art, trailers, website design and social media campaigns 5. Key Film Festival and Film Market attendance.

Our Film Distribution Plan Step 1: Film Festivals - Festival of Dots - Hip Hop Film Festival - Slum Film Festival - Tuwatch Sinema Festival Step 2: Theatrical Release - Cinemas in Nairobi - County Community Spaces - Schools and Universities Step 3: Video on Demand [V.O.D] - Showmax - Whats Good Studios - Amazon - Netflix - Hulu Step 4: D.V.D Step 5: T.V - Mnet

Growth Strategies Penetration in Nairobi

Dots Village will first conduct its activities within Nairobi and its environs so as to maximize on the already available networks and exploit logistical advantages.

Marketing Plan & Growth Strategy • Develop Key Messages • Prioritize Key Audiences • Identify Ways to Reach Audiences • Conduct Ongoing Blogger Outreach • Develop Best Practices for Social Media • Define & convey brand & brand value to target audience • Expand marketing reach to engage more people in each target audience

Communications

Expansion to Kenya

This will entail taking our activities to new areas and new communities. This will happen after a while, when the first strategy has been effective.

Product Expansion

Awareness

Comprehension

Conviction

Commitment

Mass

40%

10%

5%

5%

Direct

40%

50%

20%

10%

Small Group

10%

20%

35%

15%

Person to Person

10%

20%

40%

70%

• Awareness brings our organization to the attention of our audience • Comprehension develops an understanding of the organization • Conviction matches individual interests to institutional offerings • Commitment assists in the decision process – Adapted from Barton-Gillet Company

Adding new features and dimensions to our activities will increase our reach gradually.

This strategy will involve improving current products and services that are important going forward, introducing good practices that we do not have, and resting the outdated methods.

Diversification

Dots Village has five diverse sections, which will be introduced gradually as opposed to all at once. These may begin in different places as determined by market research.

Strategic Alliances

To improve efficiency of the services we are offering to the community around us, it will be important to join hands with other organizations as necessary. This will have the organizations support each other in particular projects.

Partnerships & Collaborations All our activities and programs are geared towards inspiring healthier communities by spreading the power of art, media and culture.

We intend to use these tools to attain development goals through innovative methods and perspectives.

Our priorities include: Art & culture events/festivals, film distribution and exhibition opportunities and platforms, research and information exchange, creative use of media and technology, networking between the youth and influence of policies.

We are committed to the building of strategic alliances and leveraging on collective genius as much as possible.

Some of the institutions we have collaborated with include: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Pan Africa Christian University B. L. A. S. T Kenya Christ is the Answer Ministries Increatives Ltd Bantu Ltd Siloma Says Laurel Ministry Kenya Slum Film Festival

9. Tuwatch Sinema 10. Hip Hop Film Festival 11. Ripple Productions 12. Badae Arts 13. YALI Networks 14. Mediafuss Ltd 15. Kidsworld 16. Film Freeway

Core Values Leadership: The courage to shape a better future.

Collaboration: Leverage collective genius.

Integrity: Be real.

Accountability: If it is to be, it’s up to me.

Passion: Committed in heart and mind.

Diversity: As inclusive as we possibly can be.

Quality: What we do, we do well.

Peter Bwire Founder & CEO Dots Village

Peter ‘Pages’ Bwire has over six years’ experience working with non-profit organizations in Kenya, specifically focusing on development through art and media.

He has volunteered with Christian artists, movements and his local church in Nairobi, playing roles in mentorship, discipleship, event organizing, community building activities and missions. He has also worked as a brand and marketing executive at Seven Seas Technologies Group and as a youth development program coordinator at Pan Africa Christian University. His other passions include graphic design, filmmaking, theology, soccer and philosophy. Peter is an international associate of Wagner College, New York City, in the field of civic leadership with special interest in the arts and culture.

Peter holds a first-class bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts and Film Technology from Kenyatta University. He has taken part in several film, theatre and photography projects, most notably his role as production designer in ‘Angles of My Face’ the best East African short film in the 2015 Zanzibar International Film Festival.

His motivation is consistently drawn first from biblical principles, and secondly from a lifetime desire to see a diverse but completely united, constantly thriving society characterized by cultured peace, love and unity through the creative industries.

Dots Village Roysambu, Nairobi, Kenya Email: info@dotsvillage.com/dotsvillage.ke@gmail.com Phone: +254 733386395/+254723091527 www.dotsvillage.com