23 Sep 2018

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) Limited, through its BTC Foundation has signed a partnership with Thapong Visual Arts Centre worth P1.7 million spread over a three-year period.

Giving an overview of the sponsorship, BTC Foundation chairperson, Michael Mothobi said for the past few years, BTC through its Corporate Social Responsibility office, has been the official sponsor of the BTC Phonebook cover design competition.

He said the competition, which has helped to unearth artistic talent, has continued to grow the relationship between the two partners.

“In 2016 for example, subsequent to the establishment of the BTC Foundation, our sponsorship increased to include the Thapong Artist of the Year Awards (TAYA),” he said.

Mothobi further said over the years, there was no formal framework for sponsorship and agreements were negotiated on an annual basis in the spirit of good faith and goodwill.

He said the Foundation found it prudent to have a formal agreement with Thapong to develop the visual arts at grassroots level and monitor progress.

“The sponsorship covers the BTC Phonebook cover competition, TAYA, training and development of art teachers, which are extremely critical areas,” said Mothobi.

He noted that the sponsorship also covered administration and curator fees, among others.

He said artists would be sponsored to attend workshops and share skills with an array of established professionals from across the SADC region to ensure that ‘our artists gain international exposure and widen their scope, geographically and intellectually’.

Mothobi further said artists were dependent on people’s opinions.

Managing director of BTC, Anthony Masunga said as a company owned by Batswana, their business was an integral part of the community.

“In order for us to remain profitable and sustainable, communities in which we operate must thrive socially, economically, environmentally and ethically,” he said, adding that such was the reason BTC made an undertaking to plough back a percentage of its profits into the support of initiatives that positively impact communities and help uplift the lives of the people.

He said over the years, BTC had partnered with like-minded organisations, entities and engaged in projects that sought to have a positive impact on the community.

“At BTC, we pride ourselves on being a responsible corporate citizen and through the BTC Foundation we will continue to deliver positive sustainable impact to our communities for the benefit of all our stakeholders and pave our way in the corporate social investment space,” he said.

For his part, coordinator of Thapong Visual Arts Centre, Reginald Bakwena said a lot of information regarding the BTC Phonebook cover competition and TAYA would be shared on official social media platforms.

He said the BTC Phonebook cover competition was open to junior and senior secondary schools because Thapong wanted  to discover and nurture raw talent.

“The guidelines clearly state that we also do not want plagiarised computer work. 

We also realised that some of the work we have seen before was done by teachers and we do not want that,” he said.

Bakwena said they would undertake awareness campaigns on what it is that they want as Thapong and also incorporate judges’ recommendations regarding the BTC Phonebook cover competition.

“We are hoping to have four awareness campaigns and posters for the competition are already out,” said Bakwena.

He said the guidelines for TAYA, which is only open to members of Thapong, would be posted on the Thapong Visual Arts Centre Facebook page.

“Last year we had 117 participants and the year before it was around 100. 

We want to increase our numbers this year. 

For the BTC Phonebook cover competition we had 138 participants last year and we also want to increase the numbers,” he said.

He noted that the deadline for submissions for both competitions was October 21. ENDS