11 Jun 2013

South South-West Art Association (SSWAA) chairperson, Ms Rosinah Mogotsi has appealed to the business community and school heads to support Art as a subject and profession.

Speaking in an interview on June 7, on the sidelines of the SSWAA exhibition for secondary school students in Jwaneng, Ms Mogotsi said financial and moral support was necessary to encourage students to work hard to enhance their artistic talent.

She said the main purpose of the exhibition was to sensitise members of the public about Art as well as show them that they could make a living through Art, hence the theme Practical Subjects the Key to Sustainable Development Towards Economic Diversification.

Ms Mogotsi noted that their dream was to forge a partnership with companies so that they could help the association penetrate the market for more exposure of the artistic works. “Even though we get funds from schools subscriptions and the ministry, we still need help because we want to take art to the next level,” she explained.

She also called on school heads to support art activities by giving both teachers and students moral support as well as helping with accommodation logistics.

However, Ms Mogotsi said even though they were faced with other challenges such as shortage of transport and material for exhibitions, they were optimistic that they would improve in the coming years.

“Additionally, teachers were demoralised because of the 2011 strike and this is our first exhibition since then. Hopefully things will improve next year,” she said. In order to improve art as a diversification means, Ms Mogotsi said they added a new concept of emerging issues in which students used their artistic works to address current topical issues such as HIV/AIDS .

Debswana Jwaneng mine public and corporate affairs manager, Ms Naledi Dikgomo-Goulden said art could go a long way in diversifying the economy and in the process lessen dependency on diamonds.

She therefore underscored the need to support art activities in all ways possible. She encouraged students to work hard so that they could be able to compete with others in the same field at a professional level. “I challenge you to broaden your talent further so that you can benefit from future opportunities,” she said.

Ms Dikgomo-Goulden further urged teachers to continue working tirelessly and being committed in nurturing and developing students’ skills. The SSWAA exhibition comprised artworks for different categories including drawing, painting, two dimensional and three dimensional crafts, two dimensional and three dimensional designs as well as the newly introduced category of emerging issues.

Those who obtained position one to three would represent the region at the national art competitions scheduled for September in Gaborone and Jwaneng Mine pledged P10 000 towards sponsoring those representatives. ENDS