27 Nov 2016

Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development says arts and creative industry is critical to economic growth of the country as it complements tourism sector.

Officiating at the 2016 Thapong Artist of the Year Awards (TAYA) in Gaborone on Wednesday, Kefentse Mzwinila said arts and culture are a source of foreign exchange and they serve to reduce unemployment and poverty, especially among the youth.

He said it had always been the policy of his ministry to provide a platform in which institutions such as Thapong Arts Centre could grow and thrive to relieve the government of the burden of providing certain functions and services for artists.

He therefore said his ministry had sponsored Thapong Arts Centre with P2.2 million to build studios, adding that the ministry had also sponsored the awards with P345 000 from 2009 to date.

The awards, the attendants learnt, sought to discover, recognise and acknowledge new ideas of individual artists who are contributing towards the socio-economic development of their individual livelihoods and that of the country at large.

The assistant minister further said they seek to play a part in the national strategic objectives of poverty alleviation, job creation and opening new industries in the arts.

Above all, he noted, they further sought to play a social development such as self-worth among the youth.

Meanwhile, Mr Mzwinila stated that as artists gain prominence, they could play a part of luring investment into the country.

He said through such awards, Botswana could be branded as an attractive destination by being perceived as a culturally vibrant place with a flourishing artistic and cultural life.

Furthermore, he said the awards were in line with the developmental agenda of the arts and creative industries which were carried out by his ministry.

In the same breadth, he told artists that marketing and research were important tools in decision making as they helped reduce the risk of failure, ‘whether it is in the arts, product design or business.’

He said although people were generally aware of the value embodied in the quality of art, measures should be taken for such work to be reasonably priced to encourage citizen or local participation at the end of the value chain.

He further urged artists to face challenges and problems courageously and find solutions to their problems, noting that this could be achieved through a rigorous regulatory framework as well as development of good leadership in the arts sector.

The assistant minister saluted Thapong Arts Centre for its development of the visual arts in Botswana while at same time told artists that with the increased infrastructure activities taking place in Botswana, the capital city was set to be transformed by artworks in terms of painting and public art.

Different artists were in the meantime awarded according to their works. ENDS