Coronavirus: NACZ, Unesco seek ways to assist artistes
THE National Arts Council of Zimbabwe ( NACZ) in conjunction with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) will today engage stakeholders in the creative sector to seek ways of cushioning artistes from the effects of Covid-19.
Created under Unesco’s RisiliArt global initiative, the engagement will involve a discussion with representatives of the arts sector.
ResiliArt is a global movement initiated by Unesco that aims to strengthen the resilience of artistes and cultural professionals in the face of enormous challenges posed by the current health crisis.
A discussion with local arts stakeholders will be held through social media platforms like Zoom, Twitter and Facebook starting at 11am.
Panellists include Professor Hubert Gijzen who is regional director and representative for UNESCO regional office for Southern Africa, NACZ director Nicholas Moyo and his deputy Josiah Kusena.
Culture Fund Zimbabwe Trust director Farai Mupfunya, cultural governance expert Florence Mukanga-Majachani and historian and cultural researcher Phathisa Nyathi will also be on the panel.
The debate will run under the theme “Artistes and Creativity Beyond the Crisis in Zimbabwe”.
It will be hinged on examining Government interventions in the arts sector and their ability to build resilience in the cultural and creative industries in the country.
In a statement yesterday, NACZ said the engagement will also highlight how artistes have reacted to Covid-19.
“The current health crisis has enormous global ramifications for the creative sector. It has impacted the entire creative value chain — creation, production, distribution and access — and considerably weakened the professional, social and economic status of artistes and cultural professionals. Entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises, which often lack the necessary resources to respond to an emergency of this magnitude, are especially vulnerable,” NACZ noted.
The arts council said the silver lining on the dark cloud is that some creative entrepreneurs have contributed information dissemination about the pandemic.
“Zimbabwean artistes have composed songs of awareness of Covid 19, composed poems, supported one another in networks and many continue to use own creative resources to support their families. Some are forward looking and seeking for sustainable solutions in a bid to avoid such similar livelihood threats and job losses,” NACZ noted.
Organisers of the discussion encouraged players in the creative sector to be part of the online engagement in order to get insight into processes that have been activated so far to support artistes.
The platform will also be an avenue for artistes and policy makers to share possible solutions to common problems that are bedevilling artistes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Possible opportunities of growth and development in the current crisis will be highlighted during the discussion.