Gaborone Academy of Music

About

A conservatoire built in Gaborone, on Botswana's own terms.

A line drawing of a violin.

The vision

Botswana has musicians, teachers, instrument makers and repertoire. What it has not had is a degree-granting music college of its own, recognised abroad, where a student can study to the standard of any conservatoire without leaving the country, and where the music of this place is on the syllabus rather than in the footnotes.

Traditional Botswana music is taught by the faculty, in the building, toward the degree. Not as outreach.

The keys of a grand piano in raking golden light.
Gaborone, Botswana

Rooted in Botswana

The five national principles, and what each asks of a music college.

  1. BothoRespect and human dignity How students are taught, examined and corrected.
  2. PopaganoUnity and nation building A national institution, not a capital-city one.
  3. BoipelegoSelf-reliance Botswana trains its own musicians and its own music teachers. Partnership is the means, not the destination.
  4. Puso ya BathoDemocracy Admission on ability and promise, not on who already owns an instrument.
  5. DitlhabololoDevelopment Music as work. Recording, live sound and production are trades a graduate can live on, here.

Institutional background

Gaborone Institute of Science and Technology
The Academy is established under GIST.
Eden University Botswana
The Academy is established under Eden University Botswana.
Meroo Land (Pty) Ltd
Sponsor of the Academy.
Lviv National Music Academy
Memorandum of understanding signed. Ukraine.

Founder and Liaison Officer

Ayman Sanaee

Founder of the Gaborone Academy of Music and its Liaison Officer. He is the point of contact for partner institutions, ministries and funders, and leads the development of the curriculum with the Academy's international partners.

Faculty and advisory appointments are in progress. Nobody is listed here until the appointment is agreed and the person has approved what is written.

Write to Ayman