Zim artistes to participate at global event

ARTISTES from different walks of life will represent Zimbabwe at the 2016 World Championships of Performing Arts set for Los Angeles.

The artistes, including dancers, actors, musicians, model and magicians, will grace the event from July 7 to 17 this year.

This is courtesy of Zimbabwe Championships of Performing Arts (ZICOPA) which was formed in response to the absence of world class African talent on international platforms like the World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA).

Speaking on the sidelines of the programme’s launch last week, Talent Scout Zimbabwe’s Zandile Zaza Ndlovu said the organisation would host its selection workshops this month and May.

“We are going to select artistes from across the country and we call them ‘Team Zimbabwe’”, she said.

Zaza said talent scouting was already underway and would end next month.

“Auditions are open to the following categories, actors, dancers, singers, instrumentalists, models, a variety of entertainers including gymnasts and magicians. The final team will be announced at the end of next month.”

She said they were excited as Zicopa to have created a platform for Zimbabwean artistes to shine on an international stage.

“ZICOPA is thoroughly excited to be able to offer Zimbabwean youth this opportunity to begin to truly hone their talent and express their dreams. This platform’s most central goal is to dare young people and their parents to dream,” she said.

The ZICOPA initiative is a brainchild of Nontokozo Moyo and Nyarai Jessica Tandy, the Zimbabwe national directors.

“They have been coordinating, motivating, financing and stopped at nothing to support their budding performing artistes.

“Being nonconformists and high achievers, they combined their entrepreneurial skills and passion for the arts to jointly form ‘African Talent Unearthed’, the organisation that gave birth to Zicopa.”