LIBERATING
CREATIVITY
LIBERATION THROUGH CREATIVITY
Who We Are
We Are Artists Building Liberation
For 21 years, we've been doing something rare: building a methodology for community liberation through creativity, academic theory, and artist practice.
The Uhuru Arts Foundation was born in 2004 as Living Art, NFP, founded by Oni Ojukwu Mantenso I, a performing artist with 43 years on stage. In 2018, Dr. Shani Ojukwu Mantenso, a 20-year professional dancer and performance scholar, joined as co-leader.
Together, we developed what we now call Creative Liberation Practice™: a proven approach to liberating communities through culture-making, not culture consumption.
Uhuru means freedom in Swahili.
That's what we do. That's who we are.
What We DO
Creative Liberation Practice™ in Action
THE PRACTICE OF LIVING ART
A ritual of living art that trains people to apply performance principles to everyday life
THE UHURU INSTITUTE
Radical "un-schools" where arts education cultivates whole human beings
PERFORMANCE LITERATURE WORKSHOPS
Youth enrichment & Professional development through embodied learning and creative practice
CULTURAL DISRUPTION
Original works that challenge narratives and dismantle barriers
The Impact
"When the work is done, the people say:
'Amazing! We did it, all by ourselves!'"
~ Tao Te Ching, Chapter 17
This is how we work. We come in like the tides—we serve, and we recede. The work belongs to the people who created it.
21 YEARS | 100+ Original Works | Thousands of Lives Transformed
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