adminThe centre, which is turning 50 next year, specialises in pottery making, as well as training artists.
While the popular institution is still known as a hub of arts in the city, events on the ground point to the fact that the institution needs revival support, as lack of modern equipment coupled with economic challenges is hampering effective production.
The institution is run by the City of Kings Business Ventures, a subsidiary of the Bulawayo City Council.
General manager Moses Munthali indicated that a facelift was urgently needed to save the training institute from further collapse.
“We have aged machinery which was procured more than 10 years ago and as a result we frequently have break downs. There is need for the replacement of this equipment for us to remain competitive,” he said.
He said the machinery is expensive as a second hand kiln costs about $15 000.
Munthali said cheap Chinese made products were also having a negative impact on the arts centre’s business.
“Competition from the cheap Chinese pottery is simply hard to withstand due to the production costs incurred while using our antiquated machinery.
“Talk of labour costs and high costs of pottery glazes raw materials are also being procured in South Africa,” he explained.
He said the situation was exacerbated by the fact that both the external and local market have dwindled for the past year.
Munthali said the effects of sanctions were also felt in their institution but he was glad that opportunities were beginning to open up.
“We had a number of external markets, but due to sanctions, we lost all our major markets. However, we have resumed marketing our products and we have started getting orders from our old clients,” he said.
He however, chose to put all the problems faced by the organisation behind him saying they were preparing for the upcoming United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) conference to be held in Victoria Falls next year.
“In preparation of the UNTWO conference, we have resuscitated out previous distribution outlets such as Jairos Jiri Centre where pottery is sold.
Plans are underway to set up our own retail outlet in Victoria Falls as a way of increasing sales as well as exposing our artists to foreign tourists,” Munthali said.
He added that the institution was working on joining hands with the Victoria Falls Municipality to train youths in the resort town.
“We are still working on engaging Vic Falls Municipal to train youths in the town after realising that the majority of people selling wares in that town are from different parts of the country,” said Munthali.
Situated in the heart of Mzilikazi suburb, the art centre might not be that popular in the country but its pride is imbedded in the products artists wise.
Such prominent artists like Chitungwiza-based sculpture Dominic Benhura, controversial Owen Maseko, Israel Moyo, Messers Adam, Newman Ndlovu, Esther Nhliziyo and Bulawayo National Gallery director Voti Thebe, among a host of others, carved a niche at the arts centre.
Once the epicentre of the arts industry in the city, the arts centre has over the years lost its glitz and glamour that made it a tourist attraction.
At its inception, the centre served as a cultural place intended to keep young unemployed school-leavers out of the streets and at the same time imparting in them professional art skills.
As a vocational training institute, the centre offers such disciplines as fine art, commercial art, ceramics, wood and stone sculpture, batik and pottery.
In the second largest city, the centre is viewed as a vehicle to encouraging the growth and development of cultural activities and the discovery of and promotion of artistic talent among youths in the city.
Online Reporter