10 Jun 2014

With the newly named Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Botswana Thapong Visual Arts Centre having gone under major refurbishment and now being complete, the centre is set to challenge artists to produce super quality art pieces.

Formerly known as Thapong Visual Art Centre, the art centre has been going through major refurbishments and construction; with the refurbishment of the art gallery having been completed end of November last year, the rest of the projects have now been completed.

‘Everything has now been completed and we are hoping to launch the place end of this month or beginning of July this year,” said Reginald Bakwena, coordinator of the art centre in an interview.

Bakwena said the refurbishment of the art gallery was sponsored by DTC Botswana to the tune of P700 000 hence the name change. He indicated that the art centre will boast of studios, a café and the revamped art gallery.

“The cost of everything is a little over P3 million and the money came from DTC Botswana, DeBeers, Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, First National Bank Foundation,” he said, adding that Plascon and Collegium Publishers donated paints and office furniture in kind respectively.

Bakwena said even though he was grateful for all the sponsorships, government had to be singled out for putting in P2.2 million through the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

“The investment that government has made towards the art industry is encouraging to our artists to up their game and take full advantage of the infrastructure,” he said, adding that the projects were being done by Architects Collaborators and Feature Homes.



Bakwena said the whole undertaking of the project had been a success and could not wait to fully utilise the infrastructure that had been built. “This new look art centre is going to do wonders to the way our artists will be producing art pieces. It will increase art appreciation among art lovers and generally up the level of the market,” said Bakwena, also indicating that they have long advocated for better facilities.

Further, he said the art centre was going to be a challenge to artists on how they utilise use it. “Having improved the look of our art gallery, it sends out a message that we also want quality art pieces being exhibited here and we hope that the refurbishment will trigger such positive thoughts,” he said, adding that the new look art gallery will bring much needed exposure to local artists. Ends