A befitting honour to artistes, but . . .

arts industry in Zimbabwe continues to strive for a viable, sustainable and rewarding growth.
The Saturday night Nama ceremony was a joyful ritual of singling out for proud mention who merited recognition for outstanding and innovation contribution to the arts sector through the quality and impact of their artistic products. There were high points of achievement and tremendous success in management of  this event and in efforts aimed at ensuring that the event stands out as the pinnacle occasion in the celebration of the rich creative diversity of Zimbabwe.
The speeches delivered by the director of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, the chairman of the board of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and the chief executive officer of Cell Holdings — one of the major sponsors of the event — were appropriate, effective in encouraging and motivating the artistes of Zimbabwe to strive harder in their  heroic struggle to substantially grow a viable creative economy in Zimbabwe.
The electronic presentation of nominees was flawless. Presenters of awards acquitted themselves well in partnering the technology to make the presentation such a joy to witness. The two hosts of the night — the vivacious Miss Harare, Samantha Rumbidzai Dika, and the jovial, comedy-rich and mesmerising Carl Joshua Ncube, were effective even though sometimes they were overstretched and undermined by circumstances beyond their control.
Ncube was a formidable finding as he filled many gaps in the programme with high quality and appropriate stand-up comedy. He guided the young beauty queen  effectively while demonstrating why we cannot continue to ignore the category of stand-up comedy in the Nama nominations.
Like all development — goal-driving projects, the Nama concept urgently requires revisiting  in order to re-establish clearly its intended mission and goals as well as  to review the strategies being employed to achieve the goals. While in many respects the February 18 Nama ceremony was a major success in itself and that the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe board is highly commended for a job well done, there are, however, many challenges we cannot ignore if we are committed to the growth of a viable creative industry in Zimbabwe.
Firstly, we need to revisit the Nama nomination procedure itself. Should we continue to allow individuals to nominate themselves for Nama? Secondly, should we continue to give shortage of resources as a reason for excluding several arts categories from Nama nomination?
Thirdly, the most vexing questions that artistes ask before and after the Nama ceremony which has to do with the examination for merit of “live arts” such as theatre and dance should now be answered.
Is it not time we have a panel of adjudicators in these arts that travels though out the country to watch performances of  live arts presented by groups wanting to be considered for Nama? Such a panel would then decide who merits being declared the best actor, best actress, best dancer and best theatre director (production).
Should we continue with the process of examining live arts where adjudicators only view DVDs of the live arts and not the live arts themselves? Is the current process  not faulty, parochial, inappropriate, irrational and driven by a set of standards or valuation instruments suitable in the evaluation of a non-live and recorded media product such as film and television programmes?
Theatre is a conglomerate of many visual and performing arts elements and audience input and atmosphere which can only be valued in its live performance state.
Fourthly, should we continue to determine a people’s choice through electronic votes and  call the winners the people’s choice. What is the implication of promoting a view from the perspective of Nama that the people of Zimbabwe would choose a ballerina as their choice of the dancer of the year? Where do they see ballet to make such a choice? In their communities, in nightclubs or on Zimbabwe television?
Fifthly, should we not group all the categories of “outstanding arts reporters” in the media into one award? Can we afford awards in print, radio and television journalism which in themselves are again considered in the national media awards?
These are, in all intents and purposes, media merit awards not arts merit awards.
There are many more general points about the concept of Nama that I could delve into but would not be accommodated by this space.
The following are observations about the February 18 2012 Nama ceremony I thought were critical.
The choice of performing arts items and their sequencing in the entertainment programme is a very critical aspect when producing the programme of the Nama ceremony.
To present  ballet as the opening act of the night dedicated to recognising Zimbabwean arts and culture is to be grossly inconsiderate of  the overwhelming search of  the cultural identity spirit that should  dominate the Nama ritual.
It was as if ballet was an anthemic emblem of Zimbabwe’s performing arts heritage. This lack of cultural sensitivity can also be taken as a deliberate attempt at forcing participants to pay homage and magnifying the value and significance of exogenous cultural heritage at a rite celebrating mainly the resilience, viability and presence of endogenous cultural heritage, creativity and development.
If the national anthem  is sung after a number of items have already been presented in a national ceremony of the stature of Nama, one begins to doubt the significance  and symbolic meaning of the national anthem if it is  not used to evoke the expression of national identity, national loyalty, and to signify the prologue  of the ceremony.
In the previous Nama ceremonies, it has been shown

that to place a highly merited performing arts group’s performance after the presentation of the awards when most members of the audience areexiting the hall is to disregard the status of the chosen artists. Siyaya Arts Ensemble must be commended for putting up such a polished and spirited performance when most members of the audience were noisily walking out.
Why squeeze this excellent performing arts piece at the epilogue of the ceremony when audiences no longer care to consume any more artistic products.
And yet there was a  huge  space in the  entertainment programme before 19hours that was not effectively used to entertain those who entered the hall at the prescribed 18hours start of the ceremony. Irrespective of the quality and merit of performing artists on the NAMA entertainment programme, to have one group appear three times on the programme  performing very similar items raises  questions on the reason for the choice of the group given the huge diversity of performing arts categories that were not featured in the programme.
Performances on the  entertainment programme of the NAMA ceremony should be  regarded  exhibitions of the most illustrious and merited  representative samples from the wide diversity of the arts being practiced in Zimbabwe as well as a show  of the diversity of arts practitioners that are critical in the promotion of a viable arts industry. Therefore to concentrate  on music and dance items only in a programmes of this  rite is  to underrate the strength and undermine  rich diversity   of the  performing arts sector in Zimbabwe
Presenters of awards appear on the NAMA ceremony as recognition of their essential status and contribution to the arts industry. A situation where the majority of the presenters of arts merit awards are dominantly outside the distinct category of arts practitioners creates an impression that the ceremony would not attain celebrity status without the patronage of celebrities that are not arts practitioners per se. The NAMA night should dominantly be the night for artists.
During the award presentation, there were rude, provocative, unwarranted and demeaning comments shouted at some recipients of awards, their partners and representatives from some members of audiences in the middle of the hall. This cleared showed that there are challenges in the production of NAMA guest list. In looked as if the organisers of the ceremony may need  to employ  crowd monitors or bouncers, like those  who are employed at soccer matches, who have the power to remove from this auspicious audience. Artists come to the NAMA ceremony to be admonished but to be appreciated, congratulated and honoured.  Artists come to collect accolades and not be insulted or looked down upon by those who never take artists seriously.
creativity and development.
If the national anthem  is sung after a number of items have already been presented in a national ceremony of the stature of Nama, one begins to doubt the significance and symbolic meaning of the national anthem if it is not used to evoke the expression of national identity, national loyalty, and to signify the prologue of the ceremony.
In the previous Nama ceremonies, it has been shown that to place a highly merited performing arts group’s performance after the presentation of the awards when most members of the audience are exiting the hall is to disregard the status of the chosen artistes.
Siyaya Arts Ensemble must be commended for putting up such a polished and spirited performance when most members of the audience were noisily walking out.
Why squeeze this excellent performing arts piece at the epilogue of the ceremony when audiences no longer care to consume any more artistic products?
And yet there was a huge space in the  entertainment programme before 19 hours that was not effectively used to entertain those who entered the hall at the prescribed 18.00 hours start of the ceremony.
Irrespective of the quality and merit of performing artistes on the Nama entertainment programme, to have one group appear three times on the programme performing very similar items raises questions on the reason for the choice of the group given the huge diversity of performing arts categories that were not featured in the programme.
Performances on the  entertainment programme of the Nama ceremony should be  regarded as exhibitions of the most illustrious and merited  representative samples from the wide diversity of the arts being practised in Zimbabwe as well as a show of the diversity of arts practitioners that are critical in the promotion of a viable arts industry.
Therefore, to concentrate  on music and dance items only in a programmes of this rite is to underrate the strength and undermine rich diversity of the performing arts sector in Zimbabwe
Presenters of awards appear on the Nama ceremony as recognition of their essential status and contribution to the arts industry.
A situation where the majority of the presenters of arts merit awards are dominantly outside the distinct category of arts practitioners creates an impression that the ceremony would not attain celebrity status without the patronage of celebrities that are not arts practitioners per se.
The Nama night should dominantly be the night for artistes.
During the award presentation, there were rude, provocative, unwarranted and demeaning comments shouted at some recipients of awards, their partners and representatives from some members of audiences in the middle of the hall.
This clearly showed that there are challenges in the production of Nama guest list.
It looks as if the organisers of the ceremony may need to employ crowd monitors or bouncers, like those who are employed at soccer matches, who have the power to remove from this auspicious audience.
Artistes come to the Nama ceremony not to be admonished but to be appreciated, congratulated and honoured.
Artistes come to collect accolades and not be insulted or looked down upon by those who never take artistes or the arts industry seriously.