Today we’d like to introduce you to Wontanara. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Wontanara Inc. is a Georgia-based 501(c)(3) with an emphasis on strengthening the knowledge, wisdom and practical understanding of traditional African culture through the arts. Founded by Safiyatou Camara and her husband Awotunde (Frank) Malloy, this organization has become a strong pillar in the Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding metroplex communities!
During the past few years, when the world was going through a global pandemic, Wontanara Inc. kept a steady flow of programming and offered quarterly workshops that provided an opportunity for families to be able to relax, relate, learn and release on the dance floor. We have also provided classes and workshops that provide our community with culture and knowledge of their heritage, which has helped during these past few years of turbulent social political times. Our goal is to be one of the pillars in our community that can help strengthen the cross-cultural understanding and connections between different populations and to be that beacon of light that people can always count on in a sustainable way! The softening of the social-political blows and the strengthening of social-emotional connection has been our pathway of helping others through interactive and performing arts.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There has been challenges, but nothing major that has stopped us from growing! Our previous challenge was Covid and seeing how we can get our community to come together in such a sensitive time. Our culture is a lot of face-to-face interactions with the dancing and drumming. It’s better that way, the more you can feel the energy in the rooms or stage the more your spirit gets lifted- so not being able to do that was a challenge in respect to what the world was going through and concerns people had. But we pushed through and did our first conference after c-19 dwindled away and it was successful. So that’s when we we’re like, “Yea, our community needs this.” What we do there’s no one else around that has our knowledge of West African culture and tradition, our extensive programs, and real community value, so there’s really no challenge in that. We have proudly carved out our own lane and have grown immensely with those that support us. Our only challenge currently is always trying to decide “what’s next” because there’s so much more we can offer and have plans for the community and those that support us beyond the states. So much exciting things we have in store we hold back on what we should add next to our programs.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Wontanara INC’s mission is to preserve and share the world of our traditions, heritage, knowledge, and experience through arts via workshops, conferences, educational classes, and more. We are working to increase a broader understanding of cultural differences and the value of West African culture in drumming & dancing. We curate learning experiences that bringing together the expertise of individuals from West Africa and America who are knowledgeable of traditional culture to captivate our community with instructional intensives, diversity and inclusion programs, youth mentorship and education in the arts, corporate sponsorship performances, private & public school outreach for all grades (k-12), community fundraising, health and wellness workshops, and culminating performances (just to name a few).
We are most proud of our growth and being such young folks in a space, we didn’t know how people would react, but we trusted our purpose in life and dug deep in our values and who we are, and what we can bring to our community. We come from this way of life, it’s not new to us- it’s embedded in us. And I think people see that and they see us and they see all that we are doing and they tell us “You both are the living embodiment of what you’re talking about and what you do within the community.” So it makes us happy that people see the work we do and our actions match our goals, our values, our purpose, our mission, etc… So that’s what makes us proud; it’s that people see us for who we truly are, we don’t just talk community, we have shown in time and time again. We have opened our door to those within the state of GA, and other states in the US, and those in other countries and on the motherland continent. We have pushed our youths and opened doors for our youths in many ways than anyone could ever think of. We have opened doors for people to know more about their cultural history, their teachers (our artists) and gain information that hasn’t been shown in any other way.
Our age or drive, our reason, and our hard work set us apart from others. We have a mission and we never steer from our mission. We are always continuing to move in alignment with our purpose for ourselves and business so we think people see that, so we have developed a sense of integrity and safety around those who come into our space. “This feels like a safe space,” “This is what is needed, we need younger people,” is what we often hear at our conferences and classes and that’s what draws people in and makes them stay.
As the co-founder of Wontanara Inc, Awotunde (Frank) hopes to continue to build the bridge between culture and fusion of music in the African diaspora and have Wontanara Inc. be a safe space for many artists.-with the ability to produce music with unimaginable creativity in a free zone of personal and collective expression! Safiyatou hopes that by bringing her prior business experience to Wontanara Inc., along with her husband, the two will be quite the duo in undertaking this organization to the next level- where business and creativity can create viable spaces in the artistic world. Together, we hope to continue to bridge the gaps in communities by pushing artistry through continued research and development, and to acquire deeper knowledge about the business side of the artistry and by creating paths for many others who will follow in our footsteps.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
We believe having integrity in what we do and pure good intentions in what we do is the most essential part of our success. A lot of people get into this community or are in this community for the reason to tear apart and divide and gate-keep valuable information to keep our community strong. And we often look at those individuals in confusion because if you truly knew the culture and our way of life, none of this is acceptable. True community and coming together and having the good intentions of coming together and creating spaces for everyone will get you more of the recognition and “togetherness”, which then will lead to success. We don’t look at anyone around us, we focus on each other. Pulling things from his (Awotunde) knowledge of the artistry and music and pulling things from her (Safiyatou) knowledge of business and culture/history beyond the dance floor, and how we can be the best we can be and put both of our values and knowledge together to make this successful- it’s our way of life, so we are giving it our all!
Pricing:
- Our Semiannual Conferences (range $20-200)
- Our Weekly Classes ($15 per person) & Private lessons (range $50-75)
- Our Ebooks – how to guides & how to be successful as an artist (range $11-20)
- Our Merchandise (range $10-55)
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.wontanarainc.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/wontanara.inc?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/wontanarainc
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Wontanarainc
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@wontanarainc?_t=8a2PDSVbfEQ&_r=10
Image Credits
Image credit to Wontanara INC.
