Celebrate Namas for adding value to the sector

11 Feb, 2018 - 00:02 0 Views
Celebrate Namas for adding value to the sector

The Sunday News

nama gong

Raisedon Baya

IT is now an expected ritual that every time the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe announces its National Arts Merits Awards (Namas) nominees list there is an outcry from some disgruntled artistes that think they should have been part of the list. Blinded by anger they attempt to tear the awards apart — nitpicking and finding fault with everything. Fortunately, brand Nama has been strong enough to withstand the criticism and keep going.

To be honest some artistes and their friends must quietly and truly disabuse themselves from thinking that merely submitting a piece of work to Nama automatically entitles them into the nominees list. No. It doesn’t work that way. It has never been that way and should never be that way.

Nomination is for deserving works, those that meet certain standards set by National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and the adjudication team.

Notably most of the negative noise comes from Bulawayo. There is a serious sense of self-entitlement that now abides in the city. Bulawayo artistes expect to be part of the nominees list whether they have done something worthy or not.

There is this false sense that Bulawayo has to be on the nominees list for the awards to be national. It’s high time we all moved away from the Bulawayo versus Harare cold war. It’s unnecessary and very unproductive. Namas are national. They are about recognising and rewarding artistic talent and work at a national level.

Namas are not about making Bulawayo happy. The awards are not and should never be about balancing nominees between Bulawayo and Harare.

This year Bulawayo has 13 nominations out of 96. This is probably the lowest number since the Namas started. Instead of screaming and hailing insults at Nama Bulawayo needs to be asking the following questions: How many artistes submitted their works for nomination? How many artistes produced something worthy of a Nama award in last 11 months or so?

How vibrant has the Bulawayo arts sector been in the last 11 months or so? If we are honest enough and look inside ourselves we will find the truth. And that truth is not sweet enough to eat.

There is a growing phenomenon among our artistes. A very worrying phenomenon that should be discouraged by all. We have artistes that seem to be producing for Nama and not for the market. They produce one piece that only sees the light of the day when being taken to National Arts Council offices for submission.

These artistes forget that Nama is a one-day event. Fine. You may be lucky to get a nomination or even win the award. But what next? What happens when you don’t win? Obviously, this is not a sustainable model and will not push the sector in any direction except downwards.

If you are a serious artiste produce for the market. For it is the market that will pay you and feed you and your family, not Nama. Nama may recognise and celebrate you but it will never pay you enough to live on the cash prize (if it is there.) The reason why many winners end up disappointed and complaining in the media about awards is because they will be expecting the awards to end all their financial woes yet when all of us enter the awards we’ll be aware that the awards are not about cash rewards.

Artistes need to understand what the Namas are all about before they enter or shoot their mouth complaining. Artistes must be the first to defend Nama, when it needs defending. And they must be the first to celebrate it since the awards were created for them. The awards have done a lot for artistes and the sector. Ask all award-winners what winning a Nama has done to them and the stories will inspire you.

The 2018 winners will be announced this week. Let’s celebrate them.

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