Fund To Train Artists In Creative Entrepreneurship

Zimbabwe Mon 28-09-2009

Fund To Train Artists In Creative Entrepreneurship
By Stephen Garan'anga

British Council in partnership with the Culture Fund launched an exciting business skills training programme for Zimbabwean artists namely; Culture Fund sector representatives, recipients of the Culture Fund grants and other key culture sector practitioners.

The Creative Entrepreneur Programme is for practitioners who have started or are about to start a business in the creative sector and so it fitted in well with the Culture Fund’s objective to “contribute to the growth of the culture sector in Zimbabwe through provision of financial and technical support to cultural practitioners, institutions and activities”.

Part of an intense group discussion at the Culture Fund workshop

Out of those who received grants from the Culture Fund, more than 60 practitioners from all provinces have been identified. Working with the Culture Fund, the British Council hopes to add value so that the funds disbursed will be put to good use and enable practitioners to sustain livelihoods as they look at their work as business.

The Culture Fund supports various categories of the culture sector that includes Film, Audio-Visual and Multi Media Productions; Cultural Heritage; Fine Arts and Crafts; Cultural Industries; Literature and Languages; and Performing Arts.

So far, Culture Fund sector representatives have been trained to build their capacity in the vetting process of project proposals for grants. About 50 sector representatives were trained in May this year by facilitators from the United Kingdom.

Out of these sector representatives, Virgina Phiri and Chris Timbe were selected and further trained to facilitate the training of Culture Fund beneficiaries and other practitioners and they are assisted by Noel Marerwa.

Mr Christopher Timbe is an entrepreneur in the field of musical instrument manufacturing and repairs and is Director of Melorhythm Company.

He is an educationist and music specialist and is the former Director for Zimbabwe College of Music. Timbe has worked with Teachers Colleges, Universities, Colleges of Music, Schools, Arts Organizations and Centers.

Virginia Phiri is a retired Accountant and writer by profession. Phiri writes both fiction and non-fiction books, and sits on various Boards in the Arts and the Commercial Sectors, such as the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, Zimbabwe Women Writers and Women and Aids Support Network. Her published books include desperate and destiny amongst numerous others in English, Shona and Ndebele.

Noel T. Marerwa is a playwright and musician whose works include Ganyau Express, Another Mile to go and Hot Water Bottle. His hit song is “Seke Mutema”.

Marerwa has also written a film entitled “The Postman” which was submitted to the ZIFF in 2006. He has worked as an Assistant Director in Government and an Information Education & Communications Officer for Population Services International. He is currently an implementing Partner for the British Council on a number of Programmes.

During the first week of August, training of the Matebeleland and Midlands cultural practitioners took place in Bulawayo where about twenty artists underwent training in 4 of the 8 module training in core business skills.

The third week saw the same training of another batch of 25 practitioners from Mashonaland and Harare provinces being trained in Harare.

The final days of August have seen other selected practitioners from Manicaland and Masvingo provinces going through the same modules before taking a break until the third week of October 2009.

Commenting on the training; some artists said they had enjoyed every bit of it as the program made them realise how much they could stretch their potential by exploiting the limitless opportunities that they have always taken for granted.

The training programme aims to:

Increase the number of cultural practitioners feeling confident in their ability to develop a creative business
Increase in the number collaborations in creative business
Increase in the number of practitioners who will be trading among themselves in the creative industries
Increase in the number of people who will be self-employed in the creative sector
Build sustainability in existing creative business
Build a network of creative entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe and across Africa
Increase in the number of business start-ups in the creative industries
Awareness raising of the creative industries economic potential in Sub-Saharan Africa

The elements of the training programme consist of training in core business skills to give every participant grounding in business skills which are appropriate to the creative industries.

The subjects on offer include brand building and communication, defining your market, fundamentals of business planning and basic financial management and record keeping just to mention a few.

Following successful completion of the core programme, graduates will be divided into specialist groups to study areas specific to the creative industry that they are interested in. The choice of specialist route will be affected by the interests of the participant and the size of the sector in the local market.

Throughout each of the stages listed above networking sessions will be hosted, providing an opportunity for the creative participants to come together and for our programme participants to begin to build contacts in their sector.

Furthermore, a networking cultural indaba will be held in January/February 2010 where papers will be presented and issues relevant to the arts industry in Zimbabwe will be discussed. This will end up with networks being formulated within the country and outside.

Creative Entrepreneurship programme is the brainchild of the British Council. Research has shown that the creative industry in the UK contributed about 7,9% of the gross domestic product (GDP) last year and is still growing.

The above concept therefore, recognises the abundant talent and creative skills dormant in Africa. As such, US$250,000.00 has been committed to this creative initiative which is being piloted across several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa including; Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

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