The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
NOW that the RoilBAAs are done and dusted it’s time to look forward to the next project. However, a little bit of reflection and thanksgiving is necessary. The RoilBAAs proved once again that faith can move mountains. The journey to this year’s awards was a charmed one. It was more of a miracle than anything. Everyday felt like walking on water.
First, we started on zero and had a crazy budget of over $50 000. When we announced the budget some “social media experts” laughed and called us crazy. We were told we were being overly ambitious. The good part is the awards has a team of believers and hustlers — the six of us ran in our different directions, pitching, hunting, begging, negotiating all in an effort make the awards happen at all costs.
Our idea from the beginning was that we should try as much as possible to let Bulawayo support the awards from all directions and across the board. We believe that the wider the base of support the more sustainable the awards become. So there we were, in people’s faces, in their emails, inboxes, DMs, all trying to raise the $50 000 needed to make the awards bigger and better than the inaugural edition. In our current economy fundraising is one of the most difficult things to do. But someone had to do it. Three months to the awards and we had raised less than a tenth of the budget. We were looking failure in the face and very scared. You can imagine the nights and even the mornings — they were unbearable. I know as individuals there were moments we all considered the prospect of calling off the awards.
However, we believed. We pushed and believed until United Refineries jumped on board and announced they were taking the title sponsorship under their Roil brand. With United Refineries’ announcement we all breathed with relief. We were now certain the 2018 awards would take place. I remember sleeping like a baby that night. What I personally loved about the United Refineries deal was that it was genuine and had no unreasonable strings attached. From the onset United Refineries understood it was an arts event meant to celebrate local talent and arts achievers. All they said was we hope to push our products too while celebrating the arts. And that arrangement worked well for both parties.
The coming in of United Refineries gave the awards committee a serious boost. It put hairs on our chest, and our walk changed. Other corporates heard what we were about and expressed interest. They jumped on board. The likes of NetOne, Fortwell, ZOL, CITE, Sunday News, BoomCity and many others. Never in the history of arts in Bulawayo have so many corporates been interested in an arts event. So we take this time to thank all the corporates that jumped on board and made the awards a success. Thank you for the belief, for the trust and for supporting Bulawayo. Thank you to individuals that supported with resources.
On behalf of the committee thank you to artistes. All artistes with a connection to Bulawayo. Thank you to all who believed from the beginning, and even those who didn’t. Thank you to all artistes who submitted works for nomination. Thank you to all nominees. Thank you for your patience and for dressing up for the event. Your hard work made the running all over the city worth it. Thank you to the winners too. Keep Bulawayo’s flag high.
Thank you to Bulawayo residents. You heard the call and responded. You came, paid and dressed up. You made the event what it was, a resounding success. There is always talk that Bulawayo rarely supports her own but you proved otherwise. You came in full force. Thank you to the media, to all social media activists who screamed RoilBAA every day. 2018 is done. Let’s do it again, on a bigger scale, in 2019.
