05 Jan 2017

Fresh from scooping awards at the Northern Arts Awards which were held on December 10 in Francistown, Shadows Arts Production has set its eyes steadily on the year 2017 to achieve greater things.

The fifteen member strong theatre group won Best Theatre category at these awards against the more fancied and experienced Ghetto Artists Theatre Group.

In an interview with BOPA on Tuesday, the group's arts officer and head writer, Oarabile Seboko attributed their 2016 success to the group's hard work and passion for the arts, stating that for the year the group performed at almost all government events and social gatherings.

The year 2017 will be a busy year for Shadows Arts Production, Seboko stated. Hot on their agenda, he said, would be lobbying and advocating for increased assistance from government through the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development to formulate policies that would benefit the theatre and other arts industry in Botswana.

Seboko is of the view that the theatre industry in Botswana is not given due attention by the youth ministry.  To achieve greater things with the theatre industry, Seboko noted that places like Francistown deserved a state of the art am-phi theatre to host theatre competitions and shows.

Francistown, he said, has many theatre groups, but the groups have no means to run their organisations due to lack of finances and as such heavily rely on donors to carry out their mandate.

Availability of an am-phi theatre in Francistown to cater for the country's second city and its surrounding areas would be a highly welcome development, he said.

That way, he said, they can host theatre performances to make money and earn a living.  Furthermore, the vocal leader appealed to government to make it a policy that theatre groups be featured in all national and government events.

The current arrangements, he complained, do not cater for theatre and drama groups, but often cater for poets and musicians.

Chief among some of his to-do-list for his group this year is to appeal to the Ministries of Basic Education and that of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology to recognise and give allowances to theatre directors who assist schools in their theatre performances, saying giving them allowances for their hard work in this forgotten industry would motivate them.

He cited himself and the assistance he gives to Francistown Senior Secondary School drama group, saying he has assisted the school win many competitions for three consecutive years, but does not get paid for his hard work.

“The theatre industry in Botswana can also grow to the level of countries such as South Africa and Broadway in the United States of America," he said.

Seboko appealed for support for his group by local companies, Non-Governmental Organisations and individuals, saying Shadows Arts Production has handled many major community awareness campaigns involving huge sums of funds from different donors and has never disappointed the donors and sponsors.

“Though Shadows Arts Production does not have names of actors and actresses to its name, our dedication to growing the arts in Botswana, particularly in the northern side of the country is unparalleled to no other group of the same stature.

Since the group was started in 2010, it has been nothing but busy. We have competed in almost all Presidential Arts competitions and local competitions each year and have on numerous occasions gone as far as regionals in the competitions, where we often finish on position three.” ENDS