The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
This article is in response to many people who have asked why Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo as an international platform rarely has international/ foreign artistes on its programme.
It is also a response to many foreign artistes that in the past have asked to be invited to the festival and have been waiting for a response till now.
In other platforms my argument has always been the same; the process of clearing foreign artistes in this country is too long, too cumbersome and too expensive for ordinary and honest arts promoters.
In other words the process is not conducive for business; it actually flies in the face of the current Government’s mantra of “Zimbabwe is open for business.”
This is more so if one is bringing lesser known artistes in genres that are not as popular as music.
Frankly speaking, if you are an arts promoter and you are bringing in a popular musician and are guaranteed an attendance of more than 5 000 people then it is all OK and worth the pain.
If one is bringing in heavy weights like Beyoncé, Adele, the Casper Nyovests or the Salif Keitas of the world no one would be complaining about the process.
However, festivals are much different from other art promoters and event managers whose primary objective is to make money and these will bring artistes they know will make them money by bringing thousands of people to their gigs or events.
However, festivals are different. Most festivals, especially community ones, are non-profit making and more interested in building and bringing people together.
Making money is secondary. In fact most festivals lose money curating events instead of making some.
This is one reason why so many of them in this country have gone under or suffered stunted growth.
Festivals exist to promote art, especially “art for art’s sake”.
They bring artistes from different places to celebrate them, to expose marginalised art forms, to encourage networking and sharing among sector players. Festivals promote culture and cultural dialogue. Unfortunately, authorities are blind to this fact.
With due respect, why is it much easier for a scientist or engineer to walk into this country and work than an artiste? How exactly did we get here as a country — where we are almost criminalising cultural activities? Surely, the mind boggles.
We must say from the beginning Intwasa has always seen itself as an international platform to celebrate human diversity and creativity, to share and network, to professionally grow young and up-coming artistes.
Focus has been on the lesser known and lesser appreciated art forms.
This is where we have always sought to bring in artistes from other countries — poetry, spoken word, comedy, literature and visual arts.
The maximum audience you can get for artistes in these genres is 200 people or less. So here is the challenge,Zimra will ask you to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a tax clearance.
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe will sing from the same hymn book as Zimra before they give you the green light. They will want their money. Censorship Board will be waiting with an outstretched hand for their share too.
Before you can breathe the immigration department says hello with an outstretched hand. By the time you finish with the process you would have coughed over US$1 500 for one artiste.
Now add airfares, per diems and accommodation. Also add venue, publicity, and local supporting acts. Your budget is way above US$2 500.
Since this is business you are at least supposed to break even and for that to happen you need a paying audience of 250 people, paying not less than RTGS$100 per head to break even.
But what are the common festival fees? Just a mere RTGS$10. With the current economic situation not many people are willing or can afford to pay RTGS$100 for a show. So please do the maths and see for yourself.
For years now the arts sector has been talking about the need to review this process. We all agree it is too expensive. We also agree on the need to harmonise the process and make it client friendly.
The process must be centralised in one department — most probably immigration or National Arts Council of Zimbabwe.
There must be one office where you can walk in and do everything, and walk out with your temporary work permit for artistes. The other departments, since they are all Government, can later find a way to get their share of the money.
Government’s current mantra of ease of doing business should relate to all sectors, the arts included.
The arts should be seen as a business sector too and should have policies that are in favour of growth of the creative economy and its players.
