09 Jun 2016

An art exhibition that looks to pick regional winners for the nationals has been scheduled for Thapong Visual Arts Centre on June 15.

Speaking in an interview, programmes officer at the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, Martha Segwatagwata, said they were expecting about 700 artists to take part in the exhibition and the deadline for submissions is today.

She said the exhibition would involve visual artists from Gaborone, Tlokweng, Mogoditshane as well as Ramotswa while the artworks would be displayed at Thapong for three days to select the winners.

“People should note that June 15 would be the official opening, for which artworks that get position one, two and three would proceed to the national museum for display at national level,” she said.

Segwatagwata said categories included paintings, bead work, sculptures, textile, crafts, new media and stamps.

She encouraged art lovers to visit the national museum to support creativity in the arts industry.

“So far we have received quite a significant number of artworks and we are anticipating more before the deadline,” she said.

The youth ministry, through the Department of Arts and Culture, undertakes President’s Day Competitions on visual and performing arts to showcase creativity and artistic talent every year.

The nature of the event is such that there are competitions among visual artist and crafts producers as well as performing artist of different genres and these include traditional song and dance, contemporary music, chorale music, traditional instruments, visual arts and crafts.

The competitions start at regional level where the best groups are selected for final competition usually held in Gaborone in July.

Prizes often range from P25, 000 per group to P10 000 for individual performers as an encouragement for them to work hard in the field of arts. ENDS