The trust is organized under the auspices of the Visual & Performing Arts Department of the University of Namibia and is affiliated to the Triangle Network of Workshops initiated by Sir Robert Lauder.
Artists from Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, Spain, USA, and Germany all applied.
Tulipamwe is funded annually by sponsors, such as the Triangle Trust and the Ford Foundation as well as the foreign embassies operating in Windhoek.
It depends entirely on the support of these sponsors as it is a non-profit organization founded simply for the benefit of local communities and artists.
After the long process of organizing and coordinating the artists met, travelled to Okombahe and worked together for two solid weeks.
“In planning, the working group anticipated that the Tulipamwe process would address a broad spectrum of creative issues relevant to contemporary Namibian art.
Not only did the workshop address these predicted issues but it generated an exceptionally high degree of creative energy, experimentation, and learning-through-sharing” (Francois de Necker, at the time a member of the working group) It is clear that Tulipamwe exceeded its aims, this can be seen not only in the statements made by the participants and organizers but also by the fact that it continues to be promoted today.
A lot of Namibian artists such as Silverius Olibile and Trudi Dicks started their first sculpture pieces at Tulipamwe with the help of sculptors from Zimbabwe, SA and Zambia.
Artists attended from: Botswana, Namibia, UK, USA, Germany, France, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Senegal and South-Africa.
The coordinator of this workshop was Hercules Viljoen, a Namibian artist who is head of the visual arts department at UNAM.
This installation, called ‘Territories viii: Dreams of Africa”, was produced by Jack Beng-Thi a visiting artist from France-Reunion.
This Tulipamwe, like all the others, had the aim of encouraging the free flow of ideas and information between professional artists from within Namibia and from abroad.
In a similar way the land art, by Eric Pongerard from France-Reunion, inspired many of the Namibian artists to continue in this style, and this is coming out more and more clearly today.
Artists attended from: Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, UK, India, South Africa, France-Reunion, Zambia, France, Germany and Spain 1997- Otjiruze Guest Lodge By the fourth annual workshop, Tulipamwe had become one of the major annual events in the Namibian cultural calendar.
Moitshepi Mandidela, from Botswana, worked mainly on works that revolved around religion, his primary piece was called ‘My peoples religion’ Artists attended from: Australia, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, UK, South-Africa, France-Reunion, France, Germany and Spain 1998- Otjiruze Guest Lodge This was the last workshop coordinated by Hercules Viljoen before it became a privately run project in 1999.
Artists attended from: Namibia, Denmark, Botswana, Spain, Norway, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Rwanda, Germany, South Africa, Finland and Zambia.
The participant from Zimbabwe, Chiko, remained after the workshop to host a series of printmaking classes at the John Muafangejo Art Centre.
Artists attended from: Namibia, Norway, Zimbabwe, Finland, Zambia, South Africa, UK, Germany, Botswana, France and Spain.
This was mainly because the research station is in the middle of the desert, on the divide between the dune fields and the gravel plains, and is situated in an extremely barren area.
Artists attended from: Namibia, Northern Ireland, Botswana, Spain, Finland, France, Mozambique, South Africa, Norway and Germany 2003 – Otjiruze Guest Farm This Tulipamwe was coordinated by Jo Rogge and had an emphasis on experience and professionalism.
The Tulipamwe Arts Trust is an independent body attached to the University of Namibia which provides some logistical and administrative support but the workshops need to be funded annually.
An Open Day is held at the end of the workshop to give an opportunity for the sponsors to meet and talk to the artists in their studios and to view the work created.
Triangle Arts Trust is an umbrella organization that facilitates and supports various workshop initiatives in 23 countries all over the world.
She felt that the isolation in the empty landscape made it a more individual experience and so allowed her to expand, and work on a bigger scale.
An example of one of Arterials workshops was one that was held recently in Zimbabwe, Harare, it dealt with the marketing strategies of arts organizations.
The inaugural Tulipamwe has created new and important networks between artists in SA, West Africa, Europe, and USA.
The local artists who participate in Tulipamwe have the opportunity to apply their creativity in a cultural context and to pass on skills to their community.
Many other workshops are located in large cities right in the center of the hustle and bustle of everyday life; Tulipamwe escapes this, and so much more time can be spent concentrating on the individual.
[citation needed][3] Okombahe - the "Place of the Giraffe" appeared in the imagery of paintings and large ceramics were made out of clay from the Omaruru river and were fired in a self-built kiln.
As Seth Basson, a member of the Okombahe community stated, "I learned that you can make beautiful things from scratch, trees and waste".