The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
LAST week the Inaugural Bulawayo Arts Awards took place at the Large City Hall in Bulawayo and became the talk of the city and other parts of the world for a full week. The awards, beamed live on Facebook by the Chronicle and Zimpapers media had over 30 000 people watching via this platform alone. During the beaming of this event over 130 000 hits were registered. More impressive was the fact that the awards were watched by people from all corners of the world.
The event was watched in most parts of Zimbabwe where there was Wi-Fi or by people with data, it was watched by Zimbabweans in South Africa, Botswana, Europe, Asia and America. The Bulawayo Arts Awards trended on twitter and other platforms for over a week. I think it is safe to say these statistics are unprecedented. The event broke records and set a serious standard for itself and other events.
The success of the awards was proof enough that if you dream a good dream you can gather a thousand people under one roof and make a miracle — I still can’t believe hundreds of people with cash for tickets were turned away because the event was sold out. I don’t remember the last time an event at the Large City Hall was sold out. The awards were also proof enough that if a community stands together amazing things can and will happen — for a long time Bulawayo found something it could rally behind as one community and that support translated to the the huge success of the event.
Bulawayo people did not just come to the event, they respected it and dressed up for it. The awards were proof enough that the arts in Bulawayo are not dead but alive — the stars lit up the night. And Bulawayo music did not disappoint. Everyone was dancing to it.
The awards, to recognise and celebrate talent and effort in the arts, started as a dream eight years ago though at that time everyone — and everywhere we took this idea to — thought we were crazy and that with the current economic challenges and the way the city was perceived as unsupportive to local artistes, it would be impossible to implement or to do. In many of our discussions we were told Bulawayo has no money, that Bulawayo companies are closing down, that funders or people who make financial decisions were not resident in this city and would not support such an idea. For eight years we nursed this dream, feeding it crumbs and clean water from the city pipes. Then BOOM! It happened. Thanks to individuals like Vusa Mkhaya, Nodumo Nyathi, Zenzo Nyathi, Dumisani Lupahla, Thando Phiri, Nkosi Mlibazi, Nkululeko Innocent Dube and many others. These individuals didn’t need a lot of effort to convince.
As we wallow in the success of the event we acknowledge it was not perfect. The first edition of the awards taught us a few lessons. Here are some of them: Bulawayo has talent, all it needs is exposure. Bulawayo people have been yearning for a dress-up event. They came dressed and looking amazing.
A people that stands together can shake the whole universe. The awards made waves and were the talk of the city for days. The future of the arts will only be brighter if artistes come together.
Bulawayo needed an excuse to come and celebrate, and with the awards they have found a perfect excuse. It is important to note that these awards don’t belong to any individual. They belong to Bulawayo and only Bulawayo can grow them or kill them.
