admin
Raisedon Baya
THEATRE in Zimbabwe and southern Africa is alive but, save for South Africa, not as vibrant and as visible as it should be. Theatre as an arts genre is a powerful tool for both communication and entertainment and need serious appreciation and celebrating.
One of the reasons why theatre is not reaching its full potential in Zimbabwe is lack of working structures and proper co-ordination of sector activities at both local and national level. We are all busy working as islands and as individuals. To illustrate this; some years ago a theatre indaba was held in Gweru and came out with five beautiful resolutions on how to take theatre to the next stage. All the important drivers of the sector attended the Gweru indaba and sadly after the indaba we all went our separate ways and continued to do what we were doing before indaba. It is no wonder that years after the indaba not even a single resolution has been effected.
The Gweru Indaba had these five beautiful resolutions:
1. The establishing of a voluntary national regulatory body.
2. The strengthening of existing national associations with focus on ZITA, ZATCYP and ITI.
3. Conducting an audit/inventory of theatre venues and spaces and make recommendations as to what needs to be done to uplift them to acceptable standards. Each province was encouraged to conduct its own inventory/audit.
4. Need to conduct research on training models taking place across the country in the hope of harmonising them.
5. Need for segmentation of the sector in an effort to encourage diversity.
While the above resolutions do not speak directly to defining the roles of theatre stakeholders they do speak to the sector’s desire to see change and development.
Let’s pause for a moment and think. What are the stakeholders? Who are the stakeholders? And has anyone in the sector done mapping of these stakeholders? Who are these and what role do they need to play if the sector is to achieve its ultimate goal of a big, better and vibrant theatre sector? Theatre practitioners alone will not go far if they don’t acknowledge and work with sector stakeholders.
National Government is a critical stakeholder. It needs to play its role. We expect Government to provide policies that will enable the unhindered growth and development of theatre in our country and beyond. Does our Government have a national theatre policy? Can we even locate theatre in the much-talked about and yet elusive arts, culture and heritage policy that is said to have been launched last year? How is Government enabling theatre and its workers to flourish? We know at the moment there is no national fund for the arts. As a sector there is a need for continuous lobbying for Government to create a national fund so that theatre can also benefit.
If there are visible policies at national level about theatre obviously it will also cascade to local authorities. Local authorities are another critical stakeholder. If we had clear national policies local authorities would just adapt theirs from there. However, in the absence of national policies our local authorities need show the way and to craft these policies. These policies will then direct local authorities on how to interact and help the theatre sector. The policies will inform local council on how to invest and what to invest in terms of theatre. Properly directed local authorities can invest in venues, training spaces and offer other facilities to help in the development of artistes.
Then we have corporates. As much as they currently don’t play much of a role in theatre development, they are critical stakeholders and need to be engaged seriously. Corporates can invest in theatre. They can support specific initiatives — like theatre for children and other issues of interest. Besides directly funding they could partner the sector in developmental projects or help theatre practitioners with business knowledge. Corporates can also be good consumers of theatre. They just need to be engaged.
Universities and schools have a critical role to play too. They are critical in the formalisation of training for theatre. The good news in Zimbabwe is that theatre lessons can now be found at secondary and university level. A learned workforce will take the sector to higher levels. Associations and arts institutions are also critical stakeholders. Associations have been offering a lot of training in the sector. Their critical role is to bring practitioners together so the sector can lobby and speak with one voice in matters of concern. Institutions are there to provide solid bases and grounding for the sector.
There are individuals artistes, the people dedicated to working and pushing theatre to another level. Their role is basically to create works and sell them to consumers. In a proper functional environment artistes should just concentrate on making art. Last but not least are consumers. We make art for consumers.
Online Reporter