16 Jun 2022

Artists have been encouraged to take advantage of the National Arts Festival platform to launch their businesses and market their products and services both locally and abroad.

Speaking at the opening of the National Arts Festival Regional visual arts competition at Thapong Visual Art Centre, chairperson of the National Arts Council Thabo Dithebe said marketing would not only improve sales and economic gains but would increase appreciation of artists’ work.

With the newly established National Arts Council of Botswana, Dithebe said the hope was for the council to take over the Arts and Culture grant, which was currently overseen by the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture.

“We hope to take over as the National Arts Council to improve the grant system further and even develop a loan scheme that is tailor-made for the industry to ensure that there is a noticeable growth in the sector,” Dithebe said.

The council is tasked with commercialising arts and cultural activities as well as facilitating cultural exchanges with other countries and stakeholders.

He emphasised government’s commitment to assist the creative sector, noting that government, through the youth ministry came up with several initiatives to assist the industry during the two-year COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. According to UNESCO, over 10 million jobs were lost in these sectors the world over in 2020.

Dithebe further noted that through government’s facilitation, the creative sector had an opportunity to participate in the Expo Dubai 2020.

“Botswana positioned herself favourably to the international audience by showcasing culture, visual arts, music and dance to connect with other nations participating at the Expo,” he said.

He said the expo, which was held under the theme: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, recognised and celebrated the power of collaboration and partnerships towards building a better world for the arts industry.

For his part, Thapong Visual Arts Centre Coordinator, Reggie Bakwena urged government to increase the prize money in order to attract established and experienced visual artists. He said newcomers needed to learn skills from experienced visual artists and learn the patience of establishing a brand. Bakwena said the number of submissions for the competitions was not sufficient, which could be due to the low prize money.

He also appealed to government to add incentives such as exchange programmes, scholarships, art residencies and art workshops. These, he said could benefit newcomers and established visual artists as most of them were self-taught.

Categories for this year’s regional arts competition are jewellery, woodcarving, textiles, photography, painting, drawing and printmaking.

Positions one to three of the regional art competitions from these categories will compete at the national level. Position three winners received P1 000, position two got P1, 500 whilst the winner received P3 000. At national level, position one will get P10 000, position two P8 000 whilst position three will receive P6 000. ENDS