Call for grant applications: CollaboNation

12.12.2022 Press and information team of the Delegation to LESOTHO

Are you an established artist in Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana? Want to collaborate with another artist from the Southern African region?

House on Fire in Eswatini presents CollaboNation, a new project offering singers and musicians the opportunity to join musical forces and create unique pieces of original cross-genre songs, culminating in a performance at the MTN BUSHFIRE festival and a professional music video.

Artist Applications for CollaboNation 2023 open 8th December 2022 and close on 23rd January, 2023.

Brought to you by House On Fire, the team behind the MTN Bushfire festival, CollaboNation connects and unites the region through a series of unique music collaborations, supporting the weaving together of Africa’s rich and diverse musical genres and building linkages between cultural industries and networks.

The project offers artists from Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe the opportunity to collaborate with each other to record original and inspirational songs, in line with the social values of MTN Bushfire.

Collabonation will be a content and artist-driven journey, showcasing the creative and collaborative process of the artists before and during the song’s studio recording. The journey culminates in a live performance by the artists on the internationally celebrated stages at MTN Bushfire 2023, resulting in a complete, professional, music video. Distribution will be handled in partnership with the world-wide distributor Paradise Africa.

The aim is to extend the reach of Southern African artists, exposing them to new audiences, media, promoters and other industry professionals, in order to access new markets and communities while developing artist brands.

CollaboNation will facilitate a range of up-skilling and training opportunities for Eswatini music industry professionals involved in the project, such as record producers, sound engineers, photographers, videographers, fashion designers, graphic designers and other creative professionals, with a focus on youth-led and women-led creative services businesses, as part of House On Fire’s local arts development goals.

Call outs for relevant service providers will be issued in due course.

CollaboNation is funded by the Sound Connects Fund, an initiative by the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) and Goethe-Institut. The Sound Connects Fund is made possible with funding from the ACP-EU Culture Programme, a project implemented by the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and funded by the European Union (EU). The Fund is also co-funded by Goethe-Institut and Siemens Stiftung.

How to Apply

Artist Applications for CollaboNation 2023 open 8th December 2022 and close on 23rd January, 2023.

Established artists 21 years and older who are citizens of the following countries: Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Botswana are invited to apply for the opportunity to collaborate with each other to record original and inspirational songs, in line with the social and environmental values of House On Fire and the MTN Bushfire festival. The CollaboNation project will be extended in future years to include more countries.