25 Mar 2021

The long anticipated National Arts Council (NAC) is expected to be fully functional by July, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development Tumiso Rakgare has said.

He announced this at the official opening of the 6^th annual Botswana International Music Conference (BIMC) in Gaborone on Wednesday. 

Rakgare said the hope was NAC would address concerns of artists fully as it would serve to regulate and improve the creative industry for economic gains.

Parliament passed the National Arts Council of Botswana Bill in 2020, and the establishment of an Arts Council was in line with the National Policy on Culture, which recognised that the arts needed to be given necessary support if they were to grow and create job opportunities for artists and other cultural practitioners.

In a bid to support the recovery of the industry and creative, Rakgare said in 2020, ministry collaborated with various stakeholders in order to minimise the negative effects of Covid-19. 

He said the ministry staged virtual events and engaged artists who were paid through the ministry Covid-19 relief fund. 

Although it was not enough, Rakgare said efforts cushioned artists against harsh impact of the pandemic.

Botswana entertainment industry is reliant on live events, therefore Rakgare said with the negative impacts Covid-19 has had on the industry, it was time to find ways of doing things differently in the new normal.

He implored other stakeholders such as BoFiNet, Botswana Innovation Hub, HRDC and arts associations to engage and explore developing a proper ecosystem for the creative sector; with focus on alternative physical and digital retail structures and outlets for arts and crafts, music, fashion and many others.

The minister also said 2020 presented challenges to the economy and the creative industry too was not spared, with complete shutdowns of events, which crippled potential earnings of the creative sector.

He said the ministry was compelled to look at opportunities to continue collaborating with stakeholders in order to keep the industry light burning, noting that the ministry was constantly reviewing policies and approaches to help the industry weather the current storm.

He said they continued to support activities that would boost the industry and identified BIMC as one of such activities. 

Policy specialist in the ministry, Gao Lemmenyane confirmed that the NAC would be functional in July.

He noted that they recently closed expression of interest for board applications and that they would appoint the board in the next two weeks, after which a consultant would be in place to recruit for the secretariat for the running of the council.

Lemmenyane mentioned that the ministry was pushing to unlock the industry with what was already available, leveraging on the NOW! Television channel and creating content out of President Day Competitions activities as well as Constituency Competitions.

He said re-licensing and extending programmes contract on NOW! channel was a way to extend value chain and generate income for the sector. He said the ministry was pushing for content producers to pay talent that was involved.

As, he urged content producers and talent involved to sign residual agreements so that they also benefit and the beneficiation trickled down to everyone in the value chain. ENDS