Program Description

The Arts and Culture in Mali program allows students to expand their creative faculties in the visual and performing arts in an exciting cross-cultural learning environment. Students develop a foundation for greater understanding of American culture while learning about traditional and contemporary Malian lifestyles and customs. Participants live and work with Malians, study French or Bamanankan, and explore indigenous, Islamic, colonial, and global influences on current social conditions. Artistic apprenticeships, rigorous study, group arts workshops, extended homestays, an independent project, gifted guest lecturers, and focused field trips are integrated into an exciting multi-faceted educational experience that supports each participant's personal and intellectual growth.

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Director Nicholas Hockin collaborates with a well-developed network of Bamako-based artists, musicians, dancers, artisans, intellectuals, and staff to create a program that is safe, challenging, locally respected, and highly appreciated by dozens of alumni from colleges and universities across the country.

“Mali is the most richly cultured country I’ve ever seen and everyone could benefit from spending time there.”
– Eric Herman, Wesleyan University

Mali's population is comprised of a number of distinct peoples or ethnic groups, including Bamana or Bambara (the largest single group), Maninka or Malinke, Soninke, Khassonke, Peul or Fula, Wasulunke, Bozo, Somono, Dogon, Bobo or Bwa, Senufo, Songhoï, Tuareg, and Moorish peoples. The vast majority of Malians are Muslim, and mosques of all shapes and sizes are found throughout the country. The official language of Mali is French, but Bamanankan is more widely spoken than any other language.

Participating student have come from a wide variety of colleges and universities, such as: Brevard College, Brown University, Carleton College, the City College of New York, the College of William and Mary, Columbia University, Eastern Michigan University, Florida State University, Goucher College, Hampshire College, Knox College, the Maine College of Art, the Maryland Institute College of Art, Northwestern University, Oberlin College, the University of Arkansas, the University of Missouri at Columbia, the University of the Pacific, West Virginia University, Wesleyan University, and Yale University.