At the back of Ivuka Arts Center in Kacyiru, where the painting workshop is situated is a small room that used to act as a store for the artistes’ tools of trade. 

Well, until about a month ago, when a Canadian tattoo artiste, Ivy Gowen took the room out to start Kigali’s first professional tattoo studio. 

Known as the Living Canvass Kigali, the studio instantly breathed new life and energy into Ivuka to compliment the paintings from the studio’s artists. 

After traversing the African continent plying her trade in countries like Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Botswana and Uganda, Gowen eventually wound up in Kigali, which she visited frequently with friends. 

The idea for the tattoo studio was only possible because whenever she visited Kigali, she stayed at Ivuka. The studio offers limited backpacker style accommodation for people like Gowen, who shun conventional hotel stay for the allure of warm urban delights and social camaraderie that staying among artistes offers. 

When I visited the tattoo studio mid last month, Gowen revealed that her mission is to provide a safe and professional tattoo service for Rwandans, tourists, and expats alike, and "to educate the public on the responsibility of the client making the right choices.”

This is just one among the various initiatives at Rwanda’s first contemporary art space –Ivuka that deviates from the core domain of selling paintings.

Ivuka Arts also serves as a showroom, shared artisan workspace, and small event venue for community events, such as traditional dance classes for children.

Visitors to Ivuka, usually tourists and those with an eye for visual art are in the habit of taking out long hours with the artistes, most of who stay in the community to learn more about their works and the trials and tribulations they face. 

That’s not all, as the artistes at Ivuka also run different projects with the end goal of giving back to the local community around the studio. One such initiative is artist Bruce Niyonkuru’s Imizi Girls Art, which offers free painting lessons for girls in a bid to boost female representation on Kigali’s contemporary art scene. Already, he has about ten girls enrolled, and expects even more intake in coming months. 

The situation is not any different at the Inema Arts Center just a stone’s throw away, and where several community-oriented projects run parallel to the visual artists’ works. 

Those that have been to Inema are familiar with the sight of women tailoring beautiful African fabrics in what used to be the garage. 

The over dozen women are members of the Nziza Women’s Program, initiated by Emmanuel Nkuranga, the founder of Inema Arts Center in 2010. 

The cooperative supports neighborhood women and helps them with materials like sewing machines, cloth, and paper for bead making, plus of course a free working space. 

"The aim is to support them by teaching them different skills like making bags, necklaces, clothes, sandals, beads, and jewels,” explained Silas Anditi, their trainer and manager. A fashion designer in his own right, Anditi trains and manages the women and their productions, and decides on what to be produced. 

This is then sold from the Nziza Women’s Workshop inside the Inema Arts Studio, and proceeds go to the women.

Inema also runs another program, the Inema Dance Troupe which offers free dance classes to children from the vicinity. The classes run every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday evenings, and a few lucky good dancers have won scholarships from Inema. The youngsters dance for guests and visitors at Inema, and occasionally at private events like weddings, for a fee. 

According to Emmanuel Nkuranga, the project that has been running since 2010 aims to educate and engage children and youths aged between 6-17 years with various forms of art to help them develop skills and to potentially enable them become the future generation of contemporary Rwandan artists. 

At the back of the art gallery is a room with the inscription, Art with Mission, where Nkuranga and his team offer free painting lessons to children. Occasionally they visit the nearby SOS children’s village to offer free art sessions. 

Recently Inema opened a sister studio in Gikondo specifically for this mission. Here, young people are introduced to the paint brush and aided with materials like canvass, frames, and paint. 

Inema also offers Yoga classes from Monday to Wednesday, and that attracts a largely expatriate and touristy crowd. 

Other events at Inema include the art jam that happens every last Saturday of the month. Basically they invite guests for an evening of fun. They are provided with materials to try out a spot of painting, against the backdrop of music and dance provided by the Inema Dance Troupe. Guests only have to part with money for drinks and the food, usually provided by one of the prominent restaurants in town.

Then every third Saturday of the month, the Inema team moves to the Kiyovu-based Heaven Restaurant for the monthly Art Bar. Here, people pay an entrance fee of RW F 15,000, which entitles them to drinks and food, and to meet up close and personal with their favorite artistes. Usually people choose their favorite artiste to do for them a piece, or help them paint something of their own. 

Occasionally, embassies and NGOs hire out the Inema Art Center to host special events like concerts. For instance in April the Canadian embassy hosted a musician from Canada here. 

Across town in Kimihurura is the Uburanga Arts Studio, where different activities like painting workshops are organized on a frequent basis for pre-school, primary and secondary students. 

Three weekends ago when I visited, the studio was abuzz with activity as guests descended upon it for an event dubbed "Rwanda Traditional Evening”. It was all traditional wear, traditional music, food and drink as guests mixed and mingled. Guests had the opportunity to sample local beer, enjoy story-telling and poem recitals, and roast maize over a large bonfire. 

"Historically in Rwanda evenings were great moments when the kings met their subjects and they shared happiness, poems, food and drinks. So we did this igitaramo to reintroduce the culture of bringing people together to share traditional beer and great stories over an evening bon fire,” explained Celestin Ntawirema, one of the artists at Uburanga. 

"There is also the element of Intercultural exchange: we want tourists and visitors to Rwanda to meet with Rwandans, and share their views and ideas. We want the young generation to reconnect with their past because there are few places that do this today,” he further explained. 

Uburanga also frequently organizes football games for children who reside in the neighborhood and beyond.