Afropolitan Theatre Company
Sibongile T. Phiri - Founder/Creative Director
Sibongile Tasila Phiri is an award winning performer, having over 10 years experience in performance arts such as: drama; live musical entertainment; performance poetry; and dance & movement. To add, she has over 5 years experience in theatre making, such as: workshop facilitation focusing on drama and movement & dance; creative directing & management; artist facilitation & direction, Playwrighting and directing & producing. She has written, directed and produced 6 plays and has worked with both professional and amateur artists of diverse genres, nationalities, ages, races, genders and sexual orientations. Sibongile obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Botswana.
Sibongile went on and registered Afropolitan Theatre Company (ATC), in February 2016, in Lusaka, Zambia – “a performing arts company focused on providing professional training in theatre making and theatrical productions, with Afrika in mind; Programmes for us, by us.” Her passion for both the purity of the process and the finesse of the finished product is what brings a sense of truth and authenticity to her performances and her performers. She is the key facilitator and creative director of ATC. Although Zambian, Sibongile grew up in Botswana and has lived in four different countries. She relocated back to Zambia in November 2015.
Her goal is to make performing arts in Zambia an internationally recognized sector of the country through the collection and showcasing of uniquely made Afrikan stories. Sibongile believes that the act of physical and vocal expression, capturing that expression, interrogating it and playing it back to ourselves, seeing ourselves in the others’ eyes and presenting ourselves before a watcher is extremely vital to our growth not only on an individual level, but on a societal and cultural level . As a result, she believes that every school, every organisation, every business, every home and every space of prayer and worship should make conscious and deliberate efforts to have theatre programmes.
Thandi Phiri-Chanda - Investor/Advisor
Thandi Phiri-Chanda is the founder of the African Market ECPE and hence birthed the Afro Cultural Expression event, from which Afropolitan Theatre Company is derived. Thandi is the biggest investor in Our projects, from providing capacity support, financial support and business advice to name a few.
Thandi has a BA in Business Administration & a BCom (Honours) Degree in Small Business Development of which she obtained from The University of Kwazulu Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. She went on to obtain a Masters in Management, with a focus on International Development, from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China where she was on a full scholarship.
She has worked in both the NGO and Corporate sector with institutions such as GIZ, EU & SADC (Gaborone, Botswana) where she gained over 6 years administrative, budgeting, procurement compliance, logistics and event management experience. In Zambia, while working at Habitat for Humanity, (Lusaka Zambia) for 2 and a half years as the Resource Development Manager Thandi mobilised resources that impacted over 17200 households with access to clean water, improved sanitation, decent housing, land security and capacity to generate income. She is now working at Mopane Copper Mines, (Kitwe, Zambia) as the Business Development Manager.
Thandi is an artist at a soul-level and has a heart for Women in Business, SME's and Youth in business. While in Botswana, under the African Market ECPE, She created access to markets for over 500 small enterprises in the creative and cultural industries, doubling their income base over 5 years of it's running in Botswana. She seeks to see Afrikan businesses and organisations thriving on both local and international levels.
Katlego Kai Kol-Kes - Creative Eye/Advisor
Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile AKA Kat Kai Kol-Kes has been an adviser and creative-eye on various ATC projects, in addition to being the designer behind Our company logo. True to Our company card location, "Not bound by location", while We reside in different countries, Our work with Kolanyane-Kesupile continues and We are in regular contact with Her on a project to project basis.
She has been groomed in multiple roles grounded in creative industries for almost a decade. A global speaker, writer, stylist, cultural commentator, human rights activist, educator, facilitator, designer, creative director, researcher and performer, Kolanyane-Kesupile has a penchant for outcome-driven work.
Kolanyane-Kesupile is the founder and Creative Director of the Queer Shorts Showcase festival - Botswana's first, and only, LGBT-themed theatre festival. She is a playwright and a published poet, a vocal trainer, and has also taught performance from nursery to tertiary levels. She has served as a speaker and facilitator in festivals and conferences around the world - including in Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, USA, UK and Switzerland.
She holds a Sociology Masters degree in Human Rights, Culture, and Social Justice from Goldsmiths University in London, UK. She is a highly decorated ARTivist and humanitarian, and is driven by the intention to nurture compassion in young people and promote intergenerational dialogue in sub-Saharan Africa and across the world. She uses her theatrical training and writing as mediums to effect societal change.
"Change comes with diverse knowledge growth. I am a passionate educator as I believe that ignorance is a choice... one I wish to deter my fellow human beings from taking." - Kolanyane-Kesupile [on being an ARTivist.]