Africa-Press – Botswana. The National Arts Council has been operational since June 2022 and was launched by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in May 2023, says Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare.
He said since inception the National Arts Council Board (NACB) had developed five charters namely; finance and development, human resources, audits and risk as well as marketing and arts development committees.
The minister said the NACB had also developed a strategy which was approved in August 2023 along with the annual plan.
Rakgare said the strategy was developed after the Arts Council met creatives during a Pitso in March 2023.
“The dialogue assisted the council in gaining insights into the challenges artistes faced,” he said.
The minister said NACB had also helped artistes and that in November 2023, one artiste attended a two-week exchange programme in China, noting that the Chinese Embassy fully paid for the programme.
“NACB has also secured funding in February from the French Embassy to undertake a study on the industry,” he said.
The minister said the council also signed an MoU with the National Arts Council of South Africa on February 20, adding that it was also working with the arts councils of Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe for the socio-economic wellbeing of artistes in the four countries.
The four councils, the minister said, were currently developing a concept to host a four-nation festival on a rotational basis.
“The arts festival will be held at the confluence of the Zambezi River, where the countries of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia share a waterbody/border,” he said.
The minister said the initial proposal for the festival was held during a visit by NACB to Zambia.
“This festival will celebrate and preserve the four nations’ shared arts and cultural heritage,” he said, adding that it would also be an opportunity to exhibit the potential that the creative economies of the four countries had and to promote tourism due to proximity and the various synergies.
The minister said the council had online engagements with South Africa’s, Singapore’s and Canada’s arts councils in the last quarter of 2023, and that they planned ‘to engage more with them to explore positive outcomes for our artistes in the coming financial year’.
Minister Rakgare said the NACB had also engaged BotswanaPost stamp advisory committee, Gambling Authority, Department of Broadcasting Services, Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), Gaborone City Council as well as National Museum and Monuments to create a rapport, synergies and to streamline their collective efforts in servicing the culture and creative sector.
He said the NACB was exploring similar engagements with relevant local partners who could assist, partner and collaborate with them.
Meanwhile, he said the council had disbursed over P3 million to fund 49 projects, 43 of which had already been implemented and positively impacted the industry economically and creatively throughout the country.
He noted that the council had received 960 requests for funding amounting to more than P187 million against the P4 million they received for grants, not withstanding the fact that all the 57 constituencies had to share the allocated P4 million.
He further said the NACB had 12 full-time staff members, a technical advisor and three interns, adding that the number had to be increased for the council to undertake its mandate, especially the National Arts Festival.
“More employees are expected in the new financial year,” he said.
The minister also noted that two executive directors resigned in September and November 2023 which affected the council’s ability to deliver on its mandate.
He said the council was working with district offices to decentralise their services. The minister also said the council was working with Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) to help creatives monetise their social media content.
He, however, said Botswana was not included in the list of countries where monetisation partner programme was available due to low volumes of content in the country. The minister said NACB would continue to engage artistes, content aggregates and social media platforms to solve the problem.
“It will also work with artistes to increase their content so that Botswana can be listed,” he said.
Gaborone Central MP, Tumisang Mangwegape-Healey had asked the minister to state what the NACB had achieved since it became operational.
He wanted to know the challenges faced by the council and what it was doing to help local creatives monetise their content on social media, considering that such platforms as YouTube did not allow Botswana-based users to monetise their content.
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