RoilBAA awards postponed

ORGANISERS of the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAA) have postponed the awards‘ fourth edition initially slated for August 29 to November 28 and reduced the awards from 50 to 32 after realising that some genres were not active this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

RoilBAA are multi-disciplinary arts awards that recognise and honour exceptional individuals and collaborative artistic efforts in Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South provinces.

The awards also cater for those born in Bulawayo and practising art around the world.

One of the organisers of RoilBAA, Nkululeko Nkala (pictured) said this year’s awards have to take a new shape and still be effective due to the unfortunate emergence of the global pandemic. “Further to our various deliberations on the format of the RoilBAA events this year, as we all find our way through the devastating consequences of the coronavirus, RoilBAA is redoubling efforts to help, protect and sustain our creatives and their families and ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable creatives are prioritised in response and recovery efforts," he said.

Nkala said in partnership with their main sponsor United Refineries and running under the ROIL banner (ROILBAA) with the possibility of other players joining in, they will issue subsistence vouchers or stimulus food packages to their 77 previous winners and 13 of their core RoilBAA team to make it 90 recipients.

“We will also identify a further 10 vulnerable artistes who are not necessarily past award winners, for example, elderly artists to make the figure 100 recipients. The process will involve delivery of stimulus packages to the artistes’ homes and places of work and will be documented for a delayed video programme to be aired both online and on TV," he said.

“This will be supported by a mini online concert to feature a few artistes abiding by COVID-19 safety regulations.

Nominations will open on August 28, coinciding with an online concert, and close on September 18.

The nominations will be announced on October 2, with voting lines opening on October 9 and closing on the 20th. November 27 will see the dress rehearsal ahead of the awards ceremony the following day.