Tilapia Cultural Centre has made major cultural waves in spite of the fact that it is located a good distance from central Kampala in outlying Bunga on the Gaba Road. Tilapia has brought a new conviction to programming dynamic music, cinema, performance, art, dance and theatre events in its auditorium and on its front of house terrace stage. With its music programming, Tilapia is characterized as singlehandedly concocting a new Kampala underground: nurturing dynamic African techno, electro and genre mash ups for a modest if enthusiastic and still growing audience.

Tilapia opened July 2011 as a personal project of UK expat David Cecil who had crucial financial start-up assistance from connections to Cavendish University Uganda, a satellite of DGCG, in the UK which could provide a legal framework. Most interestingly, Tilapia was originally planned as a media education institution, specialising in film. It took the original form of a cultural centre, in order to create a presence in the country and establish  people coming in to watch movies alongside a programme primarily consisting of live and DJ music + other cultural activities, including theatre, art exhibitions and performance. David Cecil observes "At first we had a mix of local drinkers, students, intellectuals, expats and rastas. The expats and rastas were the most consistent and discerning crowd, apparently, often checking ahead to see what was showing and talking about the movies afterwards." Over time Tilapia has developed a devoted and discerning audience which perhaps no local venue can ever have actually achieved before. Tilapia has attempted to maintain the unique mix of Amakula Kampala in terms of strong international films, unusual classics and African cinema that makes it the strongest weekly source for cinema screenings in Kampala. For this reason it has also become a strong location for more dynamic festival events or multimedia projects. For this reason, Amakula Kampala soon began collaborating with Tilapia Cultural Centre once its interests had become apparent and it found the most naturally collaborative partner that it had ever had in Kampala. At this time Tilapia became an alternate location of choice for those local film-makers eager to take a different approach to their film launches. Both Dilman Dila and Shams Bhanji chose to premiere their last featues at Tilapia. 

It should be noted that David Cecil was on the faculty of the film school at Kampala International University but he is currently banned from the country. In his absence Cecil has appointed Arlen Dilsizian to program the space. Dilsizian has a strong background in film programming since he was formally in charge of Cambridge University's Documentary Film Archives.  The venue is now associated with risk taking and challenge which attracts expats and locals alike for its dynamic programs. It has now enhanced its position as a dynamo for local underground culture by establishing a rehearsal space for bands that includes a recording studio capacity. David Cecil adds "I found that social networks, in both traditional and digital manifestations, have been key to maintaining a consistent and interested audience. However, people have commented favourably on the varied and non-commercial flavour of the programming - they say that this is what keeps them coming. There are sometimes complaints and raised eyebrows about the more obscure/challenging material, but I'd say that our idiosyncracy has carved out a characterful and recognisable niche for Tilapia in Kampala's cultural scene." Cecil has pinpointed the need for creating audiences for more sophisticated cinema as one of the most important tasks for him as an educator and a presenter in Kampala.