Art Centre Ramps Up Conservation Efforts in Rwanda

Since its inception in 2011 in Nyakinama village, seven kilometers west of Musanze town, Red Rocks Rwanda has been the centre where different programmes geared towards ramping up conservation efforts in Rwanda are hatched.

On January 5, 2018, Red Rocks Rwanda will unveil another programme in Kinigi, the heart of Rwanda’s tourism industry, with the main purpose of sustaining the organisation’s conservation efforts around the Volcanoes National Park through art.

According to Greg Bakunzi, the founder of Red Rocks Rwanda, the new Conservation Art Centre, an art gallery that will be operating out of Butorwa 1, is targeting educational institutions teaching art as a component of conservation to harness tourism, conservation and advocacy programmes as part of his organisation’s mission to achieve sustainable development around the Volcanoes National Park, home to the critically endangered mountain gorillas.

Aside from engaging the local community in conservation,
tourism and sustainable development, Bakunzi hopes that his organisation’s latest initiative will ramp up Rwanda’s conservation efforts through art.

“Art has a big role to play in the preservation of Rwanda’s heritage. By bringing together a pool of talented Rwandan artists, we are able to show our commitment to raise the consciousness of the imperative challenges Rwanda faces as one of the top tourist destinations, and also offer solutions for conserving the environment.

Red Rocks Rwanda art and craft programme is among the many ways trough which we are going to win this fight,” says Bakunzi, who is also the managing director of Amahoro Tours, one of the top 10 travel firms in Rwanda, according to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the government agency in charge of promoting investment, export and tourism in the country.

In order for his new initiative to be successful, however, Bakunzi says that the new Conservation Art Centre will have to work hand-in-hand with industry players, well-wishers, volunteers and government agencies.

Bakunzi reveals that the artists at the centre will donate proceeds from their work to conservation efforts of their choice.

And Rwandan artists have welcomed Red Rocks Rwanda’s initiative. Augustin Hakizimana from Agasozi Art Centre says that Red Rocks Rwanda’s programme is going to help them market Rwanda’s remarkable attractions through art while at the same time contributing to conservation efforts.

“This is absolutely a great idea, and we are ready to join Red Rocks Rwanda to promote conservation. I have already given them my art pieces about conservation, which are now displayed at the new art gallery in Kinigi,” says Willy Karekezi, a visual artist based in the capital Kigali.