The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
WE are conflicted. This past week we have been really conflicted. The world is in turmoil. We are all scared and moreso for those that have families scattered all over the world. Some of us have been working from home since mid-March when the National Art Gallery in Bulawayo closed its doors as a quick response to the pandemic.
When the gallery management closed the gallery, we all thought management had reacted too quickly. This was mostly because we were not prepared to work from home. We are not used to work from home. However, looking back it is clear the decision to close was one of the best decisions. We now know the gallery management had quickly realised that the institution hosted tourists almost on a daily basis and most of these were coming from Europe and high risk centres. That quick decision probably saved a lot of lives.
So, while working from home we have been watching a lot of news. Of course, news about the pandemic and its devastating effects. And most of it has been depressing, especially the rising numbers of infected people. More frightening are the numbers of people refusing to be tested or people ignoring the call to stay at home. Since we are in the creative sector it follows that our interest is more on how creatives all over the world have been affected and how their governments are trying to cushion them over the blow of the pandemic. We all know creatives normally work with crowds and that we also know that this virus loves to play and mingle with crowds. This led to the cancellation of most events and performances. Concerts were cancelled. Festivals were put on hold. All kinds of shows — music, theatre, dance, and everything were suspended. Theatres and other venues across the globe were closed and many jobs lost.
In Zimbabwe the arts sector was probably the first sector to be told to close shop. Again, the reason was about the crowds usually associated with shows, concerts and festivals. While watching news it became very interesting to see countries like United Kingdom, Australia, and our very neighbours, South Africa, put something together to cushion the creative sector against this pandemic.
What does this say about these countries? It simply says these clearly understand the value of the creative sector and have no wish to see it completely destroyed. These countries have shown the need to keep the creatives alive even under a serious crisis.
Imagine the shift from being excited about this kind of news to the realisation that in Zimbabwe nothing like this will happen. To expert handouts for artistes would be foolhardy. Government officers working in the creative sector might be the only ones who may continue getting salaries. The rest of the sector will have to find means to survive.
Tough luck if they had not saved for a rainy day. But we all know that most have no savings. And most will have no income for some months, if not longer than that.
While we know that our Government has no resources to match UK, Australia and even our neighbours we are aware something can be done.
It doesn’t have to be big and it doesn’t necessarily have to be free handouts. We believe there were resources set aside for Independence celebrations. And obviously entertainment was going to be the main part of the celebrations. And so, we strongly suggest these resources to be put towards mass education on the pandemic.
All Government can do, through both the ministries of Health and Arts and Culture is to commission artistes to create messages around the pandemic and pay them for it. That way they stay employed and not starve during this crisis.
Whatever happens this crisis has taught us one big lesson as a sector. To always have savings for that rainy day. We should move away from this informal way of doing business. When things settle down, and if we all survive, we must take stock and start doing the right things. We must have a new way of doing things that prepares us for a crisis like the one we are in now. As for now our wish is that everyone stays at home, practice social distance and let’s all help each other survive this crisis.
Keep safe and stay alive.
