The Turkey trip did not happen. After raising just P700 of a planned P70,000 mobility fund, Learn Animation founder Theo Silitshena has redirected his energy into Botswana’s classrooms and found an even bigger creative-education problem waiting there.
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
Sometimes the Plan B is where the real story begins.
In August, Silitshena was invited to attend the Cartoon Mill residency in Kaş, Turkey, with Learn Animation pledging to take animation lessons to seven government schools if it could raise P70,000 for the trip.
The target missed by a mile.
“Unfortunately, that target fell short; P700 was raised in total,” Silitshena told Time Out. Rather than abandon the pledge, the money was used for transportation around Gaborone as Learn Animation pressed ahead at home.
THE DETOUR
Working with The Common Code Foundation and US Government-sponsored Asobo Education, and linking up with a fellow MWF alumnus, Silitshena took the initiative into two classrooms.
Naledi Senior Secondary School and Ledumang Senior Secondary School became the first stops, with introductory animation sessions reaching 86 art students.
And that is where the Turkey disappointment began revealing something more important.
“During that time we realised that there were core theoretical concepts and materials that were lacking,” Silitshena says.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
For Silitshena, who attended art classes at Moselewapula and St Joseph’s, the experience highlighted what he sees as a wider problem: underfunded art classes and gaps in the fundamentals required to produce animation.
So the curriculum needs to evolve.
Learn Animation still wants to reach seven government schools, but the mission has expanded beyond simply teaching animation. Silitshena wants art fundamentals built into the programme so students can develop the skills needed for complete animation production.
Two schools down. Five to go.
The new target is P30,000 — enough, he says, to cover the bare necessities and take the programme to more government-school art students nationwide.