NAMA recognises artistes

Stephen Chifunyise Theatre
CorridorsLast Saturday, several artistes received the recognition of having been outstanding in different artistic fields in the year 2013 at the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) ceremony held at Rainbow Hotel in Bulawayo. Just being among the three artists that are nominated in one’s area of artistic pre-occupation is a significant recognition of one’s outstanding performance and contribution to the development of the creative industry.

The National Arts Council not only succeeded in having this prime artistes’ event broadcast live on Zimbabwe television, it also secured significant financial support of the Ministry of Sport Arts and Culture , several corporations and donors that provided cash prizes and other vital equipment such as ipads and cameras to award winners.

The proficiency in which the event was conducted was a testimony of the hard work of NAC management and community of artistes in Bulawayo who put together the magnificent show. The patronage of the event by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Honourable Andrew Langa as guest of honour was an equally significant demonstration of national recognition of the critical importance of the awards and the opportunity to provide the leadership required in growing the creative industry through statements that articulate critical policy directives.

In the theatre related areas the NAMA was an important recognition of Savanna Trust’s consistent contribution to the development of Zimbabwean theatre with singling out of its 2013 “Half Full-Half Empty” play as the most outstanding theatre production of the year, and the declaration of Nyaradzo Nhongonhema as outstanding actress in its “Pub Stories” production and Tafadzwa Hananda as outstanding actor in both “Pub Stories” and “Half Full-Half Empty” productions.

The recognition of Simba Kakora, aka Simba the Comic King, as the outstanding comedian of 2013,is in many respects the recognition of the young man’s commitment and passion for this theatre genre as he has been the steering wheel of Simuka Comedy – the vehicle that is responsible for the phenomenal growth of the stand-up comedy industry in Zimbabwe. The recognition of two Mphepo brothers , Nash as the outstanding actor in the film category and Jasen whose “Decorder” took the award of outstanding screen (short film), was the thrusting into the national limelight of a family that is closely identified with the growth and development of Zimbabwe’s theatre through their Patsime Edutainment Trust. By winning the outstanding actress in the film category in her role in Rooftop Promotions “Sinners” , Eunice Tava effectively asserted her acting versatility that yearns for premier roles in feature films and stage productions which unfortunately are not regularly proffered.

The grabbing of the award of outstanding production in full length film category by “Gringo the trouble maker” was not only the bestowing of honours to Enock Chihombori – a man who has persistently worked for growth of television drama and film in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa but was also a recognition of the multi-talented creative artist with the passion and commitment for creativity that is a pre-requisite for growing a viable creative industry.

To have such a proven creative talent investing his meagre family resources and those of a close colleague to such high quality and defining cultural product as “Gringo the troublemaker” without support is a clear statement about the poverty of our national cultural development strategy and policy on one hand and the eloquent explanation of the reason for the migration of many of our talented film makers to neighbouring countries and overseas.

There is no doubt that to have Chihombori present to receive the award was a fortunate occurrence as he used the occasion to make the Minister of Sport Arts and Culture aware of the national crisis of allowing pirates of intellectual property such as audio visual products to practice their theft unhindered. When Chihombori declared at the end his statement about what piracy has done to rob him, his actors and the colleague who co-funded the film project by saying: “Somebody needs to do something about piracy” he spoke for the entire community of practitioners in Zimbabwe’s creative industry. Additional comments by Olivia Charamba when receiving the award of the most outstanding female musician of 2013, to the “pricing out”of performing artistes from venues through out the country and the forcing of artists by local authorities to pay fees for putting up promotional materials on trees and other spaces, were also most appropriate to raise and to invite the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture to take the necessary action for ensuring the viable growth of the entertainment industry. Simuka Comedy, Zimbabwe’s prime stand-up comedy presented its “Will You Be My Punchline” at the Book Café in Harare.

The Simuka Comedy manager, Shanee Banda has declared: “Unconventional views and opinions, crazy satire and ridiculous prophesies are in store in this post-Valentine special.”

The line up for this special comedy show includes Simba the Comedy King who won the NAMA outstanding stand-up comedian of 2013, Comrade Fatso and Headliner-Q.

Zimbabwe’s well travelled and award winning stand-up comedian and social media strategist Carl Joshua Ncube has announced that he will run a workshop, free of charge, on social media strategies on 25th February at the Alliance Francaise Centre in Harare at 13 hrs.

Cultural operators and artists who are being invited to the workshop can register at [email protected].

Cont Mhlanga, a member of the steering committee of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Creative Industries(ZCCI) has indicated that the committee which tasked its chairman, Albert Chimedza at its first meeting in November to come up with a guiding and founding document of the chamber, presented the draft document on 17th December.

Mhlanga said that the draft founding document details the mission and vision of the chamber, the Government policy on cultural industries, the chamber’s objectives, the nature of membership to the chamber, the chamber’s structures, members’ code of conduct and the chamber’s code of ethics.

The steering committee of the chamber is expected to meet towards the end of this month for the purpose of endorsing the founding document which will be distributed to “every stakeholder person, institutions, company and promoters registered with the NAC.

After sector consultations, the final founding document will be given to a legal person who will be guided by the document to formulate a memorandum of the chamber and to have it registered by the end of April 2014.”

This week I feature the Zimbabwe Festival Network (ZFN) that was established in June 2013 at the end of a workshop for festival managers that was funded by UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD)and facilitated by Nhimbe Trust and held in Harare.

The Zimbabwe Festival Network’s mission is “to promote and support networking, information sharing, skills and knowledge through cultural festivals that are key platforms for celebrating Zimbabwe’s rich cultural diversity while nurturing creativity and projecting excellence using international best practice”.

At the end of 2012 30 arts and culture festivals were recorded.

In 2013 a number of one day festivals came on board including two carnivals held in Harare and Victoria Falls and a stand-up comedy festival held in Harare.

It is hoped that these new one day festivals will take place in 2014 and will become regular annual festivals.

One of the objectives of the Zimbabwe Festival Network is “to help market Zimbabwean cultural festivals nationally, regionally and internationally both as a platform for Zimbabwean creative expression and as viable markets for cultural products.”

The Zimbabwe Festival Network whose secretariat is hosted by Savanna Trust welcomes enquiries from managers of newly created cultural festivals. Enquiries can be sent to [email protected].

In the message to be read at all events to commemorate the International Mother Language Day to be held tomorrow worldwide, Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO has indicated: “ This year we place special emphasis on local languages for global citizenship,spotlight on sciences, showing how languages ensure access to knowledge, its transmission and its plurality.

“ Contrary to popular wisdom, local languages are perfectly capable of transmitting the most modern scientific knowledge in mathematics, physics, technology and so on. Recognising these languages also means opening the door to a great to a great deal of often overlooked traditional scientific knowledge to enrich our overall knowledge base.”

CHIPAWO’s commemorates the day on Saturday the February 22 at the Zimbabwe College of Music where it will use various performing art forms to promote the mastery and use of mother languages.