The Thambo Project Justice. Art. Community.

Welcome to The Thambo Project! For a half-decade the Project has been working across the globe to find answers to the question, “How can we change the world through art?” In that time, we’ve worked with teenagers in Iowa, school children in India, peace workers in Morocco and artists in Minneapolis. Now, we’re excited to launch our newest endeavor. Thambo.org is a new home for artists of all mediums who want to grapple with the social, moral, and political issues of our time. We believe that anyone who wants to change – their community, their home, their school, their world – can do so through the arts. Thambo.org will gather ideas and techniques, people and groups, and work to connect our artists and our art in a community of strength, imagination, and hope.

Some History on The Thambo Project

The Thambo Project was begun at Gustavus Adolphus College, a small, liberal-arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota, and in a social justice performance group called “I Am, We Are.”

Begun in 1995 by Vanita Vactor and based on the works of Augusto Boal, “I Am, We Are” and its many incarnations have reached out to the campus community to open a dialogue on issues of social justice. Vividly connecting the audience with victims of rape, abuse, racisim, sexism and other societal power struggles, the group has inspired students for over a decade.

In December of 2005, a group of students decided that the power of social justice performance needed to be shared with the world. In order to effectively advocate social justice through artistic performance, they assembled The Thambo Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating community-based, social justice advocacy workshops and groups.

The power of the organization lies in connecting these groups together, to provide the support and resources they need to affect the communities in which they live. The word thambo, literally, means bone. The greater metaphorical meaning, however, is one of both solidity and promise. In its native Zulu, thambo is the bone that both grows and supports, reaches as well as remains sturdy. Thambo is the meeting place of individual and community, drawn together within a structure of infinite potential.