The Sunday News
Vincent Gono Magazine Editor
THE National Arts Council of Zimbabwe has appealed to the corporate sector for sponsorship as it gears up for the 14th National Arts Merit Awards to be held on 14 February at 7 Arts Theatre in the capital.The awards, arguably the biggest in the country, recognise and celebrate artistic excellence of all art genres in the country.
Responding to written questions, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) spokesperson Cathrine Mthombeni said preparations were on course for the big event.
“Preparations for National Arts Merit Awards (Nama) are on course and the awards will be held on 14 February 2014 in Harare at 7 Arts Theatre,” she said.
She, however, hinted that sponsorship for the giant national arts event was not forthcoming as expected and appealed to the corporate world to extend their support as in previous years.
She added that the corporate sector’s support was very crucial for the success of the event and the growth of the arts industry in the country.
“Some sponsors are forthcoming but not as expected and we are appealing to the corporate sector to come forth and support Nama. For the contributions of sponsors will foster Nama’s growth and benefit the arts and culture sector, artists and the nation at large,” said Mthombeni.
Of late, however, the arts sector has been facing challenges in getting the required sponsorship packages from the corporate sector due to the stressed economic environment that has seen companies closing down while those that are open are operating below capacity.
This has also seen the various arts festivals especially in Bulawayo failing to live to their maximum billing and has dented the arts spirit.
The 13th edition of Nama was held last year at the Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel and artistes and other stakeholders in the arts applauded NACZ for bringing the celebration of artistic excellence to other cities.
The awards in Bulawayo were dominated by musician Mukudzei Mukombe aka Jah Prayzah who scooped four awards for his outstanding work in the arts industry and confirmed him as one of the most complete musicians after his album Tsviriyo which he also did a video for.
Victoria Falls-based dub poet Obert Dube did the region proud when he scooped the outstanding poet award under the spoken word category while Sean Mabwere scooped the best choreographer award under the dance category.
But this year the coming on board with boldness of another music genre — Zim dancehall — that has overshadowed all other music genres is likely going to shift the tables in the music category while spoken word category is also going to have an interesting tussle with the coming on board of many comedians in the country.
The 14th Nama categories are as follows:
Literary Awards
• Outstanding Fiction Book
• Outstanding Children’s Book
• Outstanding First Creative Published Work
Spoken Word Awards
• Outstanding Comedian
• Outstanding Poet
Dance Awards
• Outstanding Dance Group
• Outstanding Female Dancer
• Outstanding Male Dancer
• Outstanding Choreographer
Theatre/Drama Awards
• Outstanding Actress
• Outstanding Actor
• Outstanding Theatrical Production
• Outstanding Director
Media Awards
• Outstanding Journalist — Print
• Outstanding Journalist — Television
• Outstanding Journalist — Radio
• Outstanding Online Media
Visual Arts Awards
• Outstanding Mix Media Work
• Outstanding 2 Dimensional Work
• Outstanding 3 Dimensional Work
• Outstanding Exhibition
Film and Television Awards
• Outstanding Actor
• Outstanding Actress
• Outstanding Music Video
• Outstanding Screen Production (Television)
• Outstanding Screen Production (Full length Film)
• Outstanding Screen Production (Short Film)
Music Awards
• Outstanding Female Musician
• Outstanding Male Musician
• Outstanding Song
• Outstanding Album
Special Awards
• People’s Choice Award
• Promoter of the Year
• Arts Personality Award
• Arts Service Award
