Bridget Ulalo Shumba

Bridget Shumba is a cultural manager who holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree in Socio-cultural Anthropology from the Catholic University of Malawi. Currently, she is working with Music Crossroads Malawi as a cultural manager on a part-time basis. Bridget has worked with Music Crossroads for close to five years as an exchange volunteer (2015), and as a programmes and events coordinator (207 – 2019) and it was during this time that she was the lead researcher for the Malawi Folksong Project, particularly in 2017 and 2018. The Folksong Project is aimed at safeguarding Malawian folksongs by documenting and publishing them in different formats of audio files, videos, and books which can be passed on to the generations to come thereby preserving the Malawian culture. In her role as the Cultural Manager, Bridget provides technical assistance to the staff at Music Crossroads Malawi on numerous capacity development trainings for young people in music, dance, and oral traditions. Additionally, she also mentors young people who go on a cultural exchange programme yearly in Mozambique, Malawi, Brazil, and Norway. Mentoring these upcoming cultural managers helps her to give back to her community because it was through such mentorship that she found her own time in Maputo, Mozambique valuable during the time she was an exchange participant in 2015.