19 Jun 2016

Artists in the country have been encouraged to take arts seriously as they can help emancipate them from poverty.

The chairman of Botswana Society for the Arts (BSA), Ulf Nermark said in an interview that even though there was a lot of talent in arts in Botswana, most artistes were not nurturing their skills. 

He added that both performing and visual arts could make one rich provided artistes polish their skills and brand themselves well.

“Most artistes prefer to be average, but arts is all about being different and standing out. 

Batswana need to understand that hard work, passion and being different is what makes one stand out,” he said.

He however stated that there were those artistes who work hard and try to stand out, but did not get the support and appreciation from the public adding that public support was vital in an artist’s growth.

He stated that support of both government and private sector was also necessary to grow the arts, and cited competitions like the President's Day Competitions as a good way of promoting talent. He noted that there should be ways in which such artists were groomed after winning the competition to help them develop.

 “The government should come up with structures that will help and groom these artistes so that they do not become stagnant. 

They need to be assisted to refine their skills. 

It is also upon the artistes themselves to ensure that they try to be as creative as possible with each competition and desist from recycling the same ideas,” he said. 

He advised artistes that for them to appeal to a wider market they had to come up with concepts of international standard and encouraged them to utilise modern technology to the maximum.

 Nermark also advised artistes not to relax after winning major competitions. Instead, he said they should be a motivation to work hard to stay on top.

He stated that new structures should be put in place that would help promote, manage and nurture arts in the country because the arts indusrty could play a major role in the development of the economy of the country.

He encouraged different artistes to join BSA as they would get more help such as training and sharing of ideas. ENDS