DOPE

Dusty Orange Projects Et Al, known as DOPE, is a Malawian live-events and festival production organisation. It is best known as the producer of the Lake of Stars Malawi Arts Festival, an annual arts and music festival on the shores of Lake Malawi that was founded in 2003 by British creative Will Jameson and shaped from its early years by Malawian artists including Q Malewezi, the late Lucius Banda, Fumukazi Zilanie Gondwe and Faith Mussa.

DOPE is led by Executive Director Sharmila Elias-Taijala, who joined the festival as a volunteer and has since overseen its growth into a year-round cultural operation. Beyond the flagship festival, the organisation runs the Day of Ideas Youth Festival, Set It Off (a creative women’s leadership festival), a Children’s Future Festival and community programmes that channel festival proceeds into school and clinic furniture. Reporting on the organisation describes its team as predominantly Malawian-led.

No corporate registration record was located for DOPE in the course of this research; it has also been recognised as a grant-eligible entity by the Czech Embassy in Lusaka for a small-scale development project in Malawi, consistent with an NGO or non-profit structure rather than a conventional commercial company.