Another 5 Years : Whats Next for local Arts???

Now that the election and ConCourt madness is behind us, as a creator I get a question in my head: What now for us???. Still cannot believe ZEC got away with the mess they did during this election period. Back to the issue at hand, Is there hope for us creatives, can one make a life just using their creative talents??

I don't want to be a prophet of doom but given the ruling party's record with handling the arts there is no hope for us. They may surprise us but so far their history says otherwise. Its gonna be another 5 year struggle of local creatives getting popular on social media with no corresponding improvement in the bank account. So what's next??, what should we do??, what should change for the arts industry to improve?? Will only be concentrating on the Media Arts which I will split into two: Music and Movies/Series.

Music

The music industry has been very affected by the lack of attention from the government and respective ministries.  The Gvt should now start to prioritize music as it can also contribute to the GDP is handled well. There is need to protect the creatives by making copyrighting easier for local arts, as many are now resorting to foreign organisations to copyright their music. That will help local musicians earn some money as their music is uploaded or used online. 

Also piracy has been a major cancer for artists, and the authorities seem to not care about that issue. There should be resources allocated to that issue, do a regular and thorough crackdown on those that burn and pirate music in the streets. The crackdown may not completely remove all the pirates but it will minimize them. To take advantage of that there is need to register all those who sell pirated disks on the streets and use them as registered distributors. In such a scenario, the distributor gets a commission and the artist gets some revenue for their work. Creating a database of such distributors requires a lot of funding and that is where the responsive ministries need to step in. This is however a tall order as some genres actually benefit from piracy, so there is need for a serious dialogue between  the artists from different genres to find common ground.

The only notable move that the government has done was the 100% local content law that was put in effect in the early 2000's. It was a controversial move but we cannot deny the fact that it gave the Urban Grooves movement a chance and fast forward nearly 20 years later that move led to the expansion of the local music scene. More young people entered the music industry after that and currently we have seen some grow to become icons and some legends (Winky D). However that move only brought exposure to the local music industry there was no framework to ensure that after the artists get the exposure how were they gonna transfer it to financial gain. In that aspect the government just let the artists figure it out themselves but due to lack of finance not much has changed. The Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (ZIMURA) was established in the early 1980's and is supposed to protect artists and collect royalties from radio stations and ZBC for them but its effectiveness if questioned as it can go for many months without disbursing any royalties. It should be the leading authority in curbing piracy and ensuring the copyright process is effortless and it does neither of the two. Part of the issue is that ZIMURA has no enforcing powers so on its own it cannot arrest those who pirate music, so it comes back to the lack of support from the government. 

There are a lot of legendary artists whom are struggling to make ends meet regardless of their status in the arts industry. When someone has contributed greatly to the society they should not live like outcasts, for example the family of the late Leonard Dembo is suffering in poverty but their father is regarded as the godfather of sungura and among the best ever artists to emerge from Zim. Its worse because his music is still being widely played on various radio stations, where are the royalties going to??? The respective authorities should ensure that artists are not taken advantage off by those labels that have funds, they should ensure that a level of ethical standards are upheld. We cannot be celebrating artists saying they are legends when they are leaving a life of struggle, when one is regarded a music legend even their life must testify to that.

Movies/Series

This is the most under-performing section of media arts, if you go into the streets and ask random people how many local movies they know released in the past 5 years, many will fail to answer that question. The movie industry in Zim is at an all time low, the golden days of Yellow Card, Jit, Neria, Everyone's Child...are long gone. Gringo The Troublemaker is the only notable movie to come in the past couple of years and that shows how awful the industry is when in 5 years we talk of one movie. 

There is need for major investment in the movie industry. Movies provide a solid and effective way to market the country as a whole, the minister of tourism and media should recognize this and take advantage of it. I have many countries that I want to visit mainly because of a movie or series that I have enjoyed which was shot there. Paris is recognized as the romantic capital of the world and the romantic movies acted there played a big part in earning that title. We must make use of the natural beauty of Zimbabwe and market it through our movies. 

Another major issue that has hindered the movie industry is the awful censorship board. The board is composed of people who have no interest in the arts, its more structured to protect and push political propaganda rather than promote creativity. Some of the board members are old and imagine trying to pitch up a series like Game Of Thrones to a 70 year old!!. There is need to restructure the censorship board and inject new young blood who are passionate of showcasing the creativity that we have in Zim. 

The silver lining is that with the popularity of social media, YouTube to be specific. It gives creatives a platform whereby they can showcase their artistry without the need to be subjected to propaganda fueled censorship board. That opportunity is being exploited by a lot of satire comedy channels such as my favourite Zambezi News and other creatives can also make use of that. YouTube also delivers a global platform for you, if you push your videos correctly you can reach millions with much less hustle. Also if it happens that there is a directing or cinematography position that you want to go for you YouTube channel can act as your CV or reference. 

So ya that is my summary analysis of the two leading media arts. There is a lot of work that need to be done in order for our arts industry to starts competing with other African powerhouses and that all starts with the respective authorities and government dedicating more attention and capital to the arts sector. We now in a era whereby the arts industry must be seen as a way to market the country global wide and also how they can contribute to the country's GDP. Hope those are the changes we are going to see in the arts sector.

To develop the arts sector we need to work as a team, so feel free to share your views and suggestions of what must happen in order to get our arts sector back in line.

Proud_Zimbo