30 Nov 2022

Government is committed to long-term support of the creative industry through events and platforms such as the Botswana Music and Entertainment Week (BMEW), Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Beauty Manake, has said.

Manake said this Tuesday when she officially launched the BMEW, a cultural event geared towards promoting and celebrating music and culture during the Botswana Music Union (BOMU) awards week.  Manake said the creative sector had lucrative value chains and untapped opportunities that women and youth could harness.

“It is through such events that government get exposure to commit and support the creative industry. Through the Reset and Reclaim agenda, government is working on the realignment of its machinery,” she said.

She indicated that financial assistance from entities such as Afreximbank would convert Botswana into the creative and art centre of the entire African continent. Additionally, she said government, through Botswana Television, had created a platform to propel local content by dedicating a channel to entertainment.

“The development will be supported by enforcing an 80 per cent quota for local artists on all media platforms. We are advocating for affirmative action to have at least 60 per cent of local women music played,” Manake said, adding that would economically empower women through royalties’.

Again, Manake said government had launched an Intellectual Property Policy (IPP) to ensure that creatives could profit and share their works with the world. Such development, she said, reflected government’s commitment towards diversified economic prosperity as well as protection of the arts and creative industry.“Also, with the development of the Creative Industry Strategy by the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture as well as my ministry, which has seen the establishment of the National Arts Council, the development will ensure that the creative sector is done professionally to contribute to the growth of the economy,” she said.

Furthermore, she said gender equality remained government’s priority to ensure that policies and programmes catered for women and girls to reach their full potential. Consequently, Manake encouraged women to be more creative and produce quality music, host first class music shows and go into poetry and other creative sectors.

She also implored women to cease from being backup singers and dancers only, but grow from it and own the front seats in the industry in order to be competitive and appear in the global art industry.

Meanwhile, BMEW in collaboration with Women in Music South Africa, hosted a workshop for women in music business ahead of BOMU awards slated for December 3.

The workshop focused on, among others, financial literacy capacity building of women in the music industry, development of smart partnerships and collaborations in the industry and strategies of navigating challenges in the industry.  ENDS