Giving Arts and Crafts a Voice through Red Rocks Arts Gallery

Red Rocks Arts Gallery was a project established at Kinigi to act as a cultural heritage place to promote arts and crafts related activities as a way of conserving environment around the Volcanoes National Park.

It houses conservation-themed artworks, cultural objects (material culture) and numerous handicrafts items made by local women groups and youths in Virunga massif region and even beyond. The project is aimed at promoting local community arts and crafts by supporting, tapping, training and nurturing artistic talents and proper mastery of craft skills to make quality items that can compete with the international standards.

Handicraft is part of cultural tourism around the Virunga massif in general that helps reduce poverty, improve livelihoods and promote environmental conservation. Making and selling handicraft items to tourists as an alternative source of income among the local community reduces illegal activities like poaching and over dependency of forest products as the only source for livelihoods.

Since Art exhibitions have become a very important part of cultural relations, exchange, export and a dimension of cultural tourism globally, the project intends to expand the premise to the international standards in order to attract an international inflow of art exhibitors, artists, and art lovers.

This will encourage sharing of knowledge, artistic skills, interactions and experiences among tourists and the local communities- hence promotion of sustainable tourism within the Virunga massif region. It encourages sustainable exploitation of environment for design materials, inspirations and appreciation of natural tourist attractions-Virunga massif.

The project intends to expand the gallery’s physical facilities like display rooms, studios, and equipment, emporium; organize capacity building training and demonstrations to impart skills and knowledge necessary for value addition to the handicraft items made by the local women groups and the youths within Virunga massif region.

Red Rocks programme for long-term sustainability of tourism is also through supporting a relevant local community-based investment of women groups and youth groups with impact investment capital.