19 Jun 2023

Creatives have been urged to embrace digitization as a way to market their artworks.

The call was made by the assistant district commissioner, Ramogaupi Gaborekwe during the Northern regional arts festival on poetry, mogolokwane, choral and fashion show in Maun on Saturday.

Artistes were advised to exploit various forms of media to market their productions pieces and eventually contribute to the development of the economy.

Gaborekwe said creative industry had the potential to contribute to the growth of the economy by addressing high unemployment rate and improving livelihoods.

“Digital marketing was the way to go and you should leverage on the use of information, communication and technology (ICT) space as it can help you to bridge the communication gap and go further as you would be able to send samples, products to potential clients without necessary seeing them physical,” he said.

Gaborekwe further noted most artists were now finding it difficult to travel and market their works hence digitization was the panacea. He also motivated them to take their works as enterprises and own them in true sense.

He also advised them to have sound business plans, targets and objectives to ensure they reap profit from their businesses. They were also tasked to produce high quality works that would attract customers and be easier to post and market.

“If you have thriving enterprises, you could grow, make better profits, pay tax and create employment opportunities for others,” he said.

Gaborekwe emphasised government’s commitment towards assisting the creative sector, noting that government, through the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sports and Culture had come up with interventions aimed at growing the sector.

He said  the establishment of the National Arts Council of Botswana showed government commitment in growing the sector.

He said the council was tasked with commercialising arts and cultural activities as well as facilitating cultural exchanges with other countries and stakeholders. 

Artists were urged to support the council as it had the potential to boost the industry.

Gaborekwe also told artists to appreciate value chain development, which he said had the potential of bringing more profits and urged them to explore other activities in line with arts. “The role of the arts is to transform the world for the better,” he stressed.

A fashion designer, Lorato Barwabatsile who is also the founder and director of Peculiar Couture company shared her experience and passion in the fashion industry and motivated other fashion designers to explore the world if they wanted to go afar.

The Gaborone fashion designer who specialises in producing unique and typical garments for both women and men said travelling was key as they could interact with their counterparts and share ideas that could help improve their businesses. “As a fashion designer, you should make traveling a hobby because there is so much value in that as you are able to easily market your brand, learn new things and be recognized,” she added.

Barwabatsile pointed out that her business gained momentum and made a mark in the international space through travelling the world, saying that he had visited several countries to network and establish partnerships.

Designers, were emboldened to establish partnership as they could take them to the next level. Marketing, she said would not only improve sales and economic gains but would increase appreciation of other artists’ work.

She also encouraged artists to focus on using different marketing strategies of which digitization was seen as the positive way out to reach all angles of the globe.

North West District Youth coordinator, Tshoganetso Mahupe encouraged the community to take advantage of the National Arts Festival to showcase what they could offer.

She raised a concern that the uptake of the programme had declined over the years and urged parents to encourage their children, groups or interested individuals in the creative industry to register well on time so that they benefit from the programme. BOPA