Netsa Arts Village was established in 2008 by eleven graduates of Addis Ababa University’s School of Fine Arts and Design with the aim of promoting contemporary art in Ethiopia and giving emerging artists a platform for exchange and discussion.
The city of Addis Ababa supports the project by allowing artists to use part of Ferensay Park, a large urban green space. With the support of the Addis Ababa Goethe-Institut, a dome-shaped structure was built there to serve as a location for different events. Netsa Arts Village provides Ethiopian artists with a forum for networking, communication, and dynamic exchange. Concerts, readings, video presentations, discussions, and exhibitions allow artists to come into contact with the local community and create a living museum of contemporary art. Several projects, many of them interdisciplinary, involve youths from socially disadvantaged neighborhoods, such as the photo-based exploration of urban space organized by Leyikun Nahusenay. Netsa Arts Village is almost entirely financed by the artists themselves, but also cooperates with different networks for contemporary art, such as the Triangle Network, and is supported by, among others, the Kuona Trust, the ASNI Gallery, the Townhouse Gallery, and the Arts Collaboratory.
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