23 Jul 2013

Since their inception in 2008, the President’s Day competitions have always aspired to empower local artists and ensure that the arts become a source of livelihoods.

Despite this, some artists are still failing to stand on their own feet even after being given the platform to exhibit their talent.

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, head of public relations, Kristian Mmusi said in an interview that through the competitions, they were setting up a foundation and creating a platform for the performing artists to use the competitions as an entry point to the world of arts.

The competitions, he explained, should be used by artists to penetrate markets beyond the country’s borders. This, he added, could result in the country exporting artists who could be able to perform the world over.

One of the ways through which the ministry empowered groups, he said, was through invitation by the country’s missions outside the country where groups were sponsored to perform on the international stage.

These invitations, he highlighted were meant to serve as a springboard for artists to network and get in touch with international promoters.

“We don’t want them to be solely dependent on the ministry for international tours, they should develop the skills to sell themselves to the outside world when given such an opportunity,” he said.

Mmusi stressed that groups should understand that the ministry played a facilitative role and it was upon performers to turn the opportunity into something they could depend on for a living.

He further pointed out that through their offices in the regions, they provided guidance and offered advice on how the artists could become well established instead of turning the events into their only opportunity to make money.

“Although our target is to get mass participation for the competition to be raised to great heights, we also want to see growth on our performing artist for the purpose of excellence,” he added.

Ngwisiwa Ntogwa who led Chilenje Che Ngwao to the first position in the Hosana category explained that currently they relied and works with the district commissioner’s office to be engaged in events around Francistown.

Also, he highlighted that they don’t only wait for the President’s competition to earn a living but also tour the North East constituency performing so that they can advertise themselves to the public and to the private sector.

He further noted that although they have plans to travels overseas as marketing strategy, their wishes were hampered by lack of funds. However, he explained that while this was still the case they would have no option but to rely on the ministry for sponsorship.

Ghetto Artist managing director, Katlego Mononyane said the competitions have opened doors for them despite the fact that they are still experiencing challenges of securing venues when they want to host shows to fund raise for the group.

She noted that as a non-profit making organisation getting funding was difficult and securing venues such as halls came at a cost. However,

she said the competitions have helped them as they have managed to secure partnerships with Motor Vehicle Accident fund (MVA), National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) and were also sub contracted by BOCONGO.

Recently, she noted that they secured a job with Botswana Ash for their five million fatality free shifts celebrations.

Apart from the local jobs, she highlighted that they were also working on spreading their wings to the international community and mentioned that they have sent their proposal to be participants at the Zimbabwean shows and theatre shows in South Africa.
ENDS