The Sunday News
SOMETIME in 2008 we mooted the idea of having Bulawayo’s own arts awards. The idea arose from a simple need to gather all artistes working in Bulawayo and having one big celebration. What better way to do this than through Bulawayo’s own arts awards. Of course there were other reasons that inspired this idea but more critical was for the city to honour and celebrate its own sons and daughters who despite the challenges they face continue to excel in their different arts fields.
Another reason to push for the awards was to use them later to validate Bulawayo’s cultural capital tag. Those who got involved in the talk about the possibility of Bulawayo having its own arts awards were excited from the beginning, they saw big potential and believed the dream could be turned into reality. But remember 2008 was not a good year for the country.
We had just lost our currency, were experimenting on the multi-currency system. It was going to be a big risky to try and launch the awards in that kind of an environment and so the idea was temporarily shelved.
Seven years later, at the end 2015, the idea was revived. A couple of consultations were done as to the viability of the project.
But again nothing materialised. Then in January 2017 Nkululeko Nkala, while touring Netherlands texted to say, by hook or crook, the awards were going to happen this year — 2017. And sure enough on 15 March 2017 the inaugural Bulawayo Arts Awards were launched amid a lot of promise and excitement from citizens of the city at Bulawayo Club.
Talking to some colleagues in the arts on the sidelines of the launch I said one exciting thing about the awards is that now the city has one serious event to dress up for and attend. Many people in the city have been crying for a dress up event — and now we have one. So after the call for nominations by the awards committee was made, artistes started asking about how to submit, citizens and art lovers started talking about how they would love to dress up for the awards ceremony in June. Others even started asking when tickets for the event would be available. Such is the excitement for this awards.
Anyway back to the awards themselves. A call has been made for nominations for almost 40 awards cutting across many genres of art — Music, theatre, dance, literature, fashion, film, visual arts, media and spoken word. There is even a category for schools and corporates who support the arts. The Bulawayo Arts Awards will not be different from other awards — particularly in trying to add the glitz and glamour associated with awards all over the world. Remember top artistes and the who-is-who of the city will be at this event.
During the launch it was categorically stated that the Bulawayo Arts Awards are not in any way meant to counter any awards or forms of recognition in Bulawayo or the country in general but are meant to complement whatever efforts are already being made to recognise and honour local artistes. While providing a social platform for Bulawayo to meet, celebrate and socialise with artistes the awards seek mainly to uplift the arts sector in the city of Bulawayo.
However, we are all aware, there has been a lot of cry from Bulawayo artistes who feel, and rightly so, that they have been marginalised by other awards and events that take place outside Bulawayo. But more important is the fact that the Bulawayo Arts Awards are not coming in to balance the equation or to merely massage the egos of Bulawayo artistes; the awards are being curated to recognise good effort and good talent among local artistes. Everything else is secondary.
The 15 March launch was just the beginning and the easiest part. The difficult part is getting support from both the corporate and the artistes themselves and curating of the awards ceremony. To be honest the success of the awards will be measured mainly on the success of the awards ceremony. But for now its nomination time and please send in those nominations.
