10 Jul 2014

The sale of artworks has raised P4 million since 2010 and the income has gone directly to artistes and craft producers, says the Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing.

Officially launching the President’s Day's seventh annual national art, basket and craft exhibition in Gaborone this week, Minister Seakgosing urged artists to be committed to their vocation and take advantage of government programmes that were intended to improve their lives.

“There is need to improve your product packaging and let your prices be affordable to your consumers, but needless to say, not at the expense of the paramount factor that your business must prosper and make profit, depending on the expertise exerted into that work,” he said.

Minister Seakgosing said it was critical for artists to intensify the creation of viable arts and crafts clusters to minimize unit costs delivery, supervision and utilities. He urged artists to take advantage of exhibitions and market days, which offers them the opportunity to showcase their artworks.

He said the launching of the national art, basket and craft exhibition was part of a series of activities for the President Day art competitions launched by President Khama in 2008. “These competitions were initiated to honour and pay tribute to our artists from different walks of life by highlighting the amount of talent that our people have,” he said.

The competitions were motivated by an appreciation of the role of the arts and culture play in poverty eradication and in creating wealth for Batswana as well as in adding value to the country’s cultural heritage.

Minister Seakgosing said the competitions continued to experience growth and it showed that people were trying to improve their lives.

The number of artists participating rose from 745 in 2013 to 3 037 in 2014.  In the Ngamiland and Okavango regions, the number rose from 449 in 2013 to 1550 in 2014.

This, the minister said, demonstrated that the growing interest generated among artists, particularly in the basket category among both the elderly and the youthful population.

He said government sought to promote the contribution of the heritage sector to the economy of Botswana as one of the means to achieve economic diversification.

Dr Seakgosing went on to say that the President’s Day dompetitions had a positive impact on the lives of Batswana artists.

He also said as a commitment by government to grow, promote and develop the art industry, President Khama issued a presidential directive on decorations, landscaping, arts and crafts in May 2008. ENDS