Bakani
[bah-KAH-nee] Verb
Bakani means to build. It is a word from the Kalanga language of Zimbabwe in Southern Africa.
Our Mission
Bakani is a non profit organization dedicated to the creative and cultural heritage of Africa and the Diaspora. We build social and cultural infrastructure for preservation, connection, transmission, and reimagining across generations and geographies.
Our Core Pillars
Preservation
Stewarding Africa’s creative and cultural heritage to ensure that the stories, artistic expressions, living practices, and ways of knowing of Africa and its diaspora are documented, cared for, and protected for present and future generations.
Connection
Creating meaningful encounters between people, generations, communities, institutions, and recognizing the custodians who carry culture.
Transmission
Sharing creative and cultural heritage across generations and geographies so that traditions, languages, artistic practices, craft traditions, and ways of knowing continue to evolve rather than disappear.
[Re]Imagination
Expanding the stories told about Africa and the diaspora, and supporting new contemporary work that is rooted in heritage.
“Bakani Foundation began as a connected question. How do we hold our stories, and how do we carry those stories forward? The work of the Foundation is one response. It creates spaces where African and Diasporic stories can live fully across time, place and form. It creates spaces for memory, dialogue, and [re]imagining what comes next.
— Lynette Sifiso | Founder and Creative Director, Bakani Foundation & The African Museum of Collective Wisdom