admin
Nkululeko Nkala
In the past couple of weeks I have been writing articles with messages about very serious issues.
I would have killed to write something different this week. For example I would have written about Umahlekisa @ 3 celebrations which happened at Rainbow Hotel last Friday.
The event had a very good audience of slightly over 200 paying people. There was also a comic called Owen (I will not speak) in fact ask @plainstan he had some nice things to say about him.
I saw the Highlanders technical director-coach making people laugh. I would like to say well done Ntando Van Moyo and Umahlekisa.
Come Saturday me, Nkululeko Dube (Iyasa) and Albert Nyathi went to ZIMA7 celebrations at Horizon.
It was nice rubbing shoulders with the winners and the kids on the dance floor (again I shall not speak). So, with that intro, this is what I am writing about. Over the past few weeks there has been a lot said about fashion and dressing up for the awards. A friend Archie Mhone- a producer of the just ended NAMA awards- had his own two cents to say.
Please enjoy.
a�?I have only been in Zimbabwe for four years but in those years I have been involved with all manner of events and I have been pleasantly surprised at how Zimbabweans are always able to do so much with so little.
Every year we get talk of how Zimbabwe events and awards in particular are lagging behind, we are always learning, when are we going to finally learn? Why are we not as good as the SAMAs, the BAFTAs, the Oscars, the Grammys?
Why is there no money in awards?
How come other countries give their award winners so much more? Personally I feel flattered that a 16-year-old awards event, in a depressed economy, with meagre resources; can be mentioned in the same breath as those that have been in existence for 50 years or more and enjoy corporate participation from beginning to end. I could go on but let me touch on the topics I want to.
RESEARCH – a lot of reports and comments and compliments or lack thereof have been based on what someone has seen on ZBC TV (dona��t get me started). They have been made from an emotional stance with no basis on understanding the process of adjudication, the process of production of the event (live), the process of production of the tv product, the process of understanding why the event is held the way it is e.g. red carpet, fashion sense etc.
One article slated presenters for lack of their fashion sense when in reality they were actually smack bang in the middle of current fashion trends #happysocks #GilmoreTee.
In comparing local awards to international brands, nobody takes into account economic considerations, corporate support in each country, the length or number of years the international event has had to get it right.
VENUE – A typical venue in Zimbabwe supplies the most basic things e.g. space, toilets and sometimes not even electricity. You are expected to supply your own or pay for the supply of a generator. Imagine if you had the venue supplying all your lighting, sound, video, multimedia etc. Your costs and preparation time would be very different.
CORPORATE SUPPORT – In other more developed countries, corporates understand about social responsibility and use it as a tax deduction tool. In Zimbabwe ita��s a different story. Some marketing personnel act like the money they should be investing in eventing and the arts is coming from their own pockets. Dona��t get me wrong there is some serious support from the corporate sector, otherwise we would not be having a lot of these awards and what not.
Once again, in comparing what events are done in Zimbabwe (population 12 million, economy depressed) to America (pop. 300 million, economy fairly stable) you should take into account that doing events costs money, way more than what is actually spent. So before you start mouthing off about how MetroFM awards winners received hundreds of thousands of rand, stop and think about the level of support and the number of actually fully functional companies that are not even struggling to pay salaries there are in those countries. I found this piece interesting.
Thank you Archie. Until next week, be safea��
Online Reporter