Batswana�s appreciation of art growing - Bakwena

Lekopanye Mooketsi | Friday January 23, 2015 17:48

 

Bakwena told Arts & Culture that in the past, local artists depended on tourists to buy their works. 

However, there is a positive development where Batswana have started to buy artworks. 

“The market has improved.  We even get commissioned,” he said. 

That growth in the appreciation for art could be attributed mainly to the change of mindset in government.

Since government started buying and exhibiting works of local artists, Bakwena said more people have now started to develop a career out of art. 

He said they get queries from both primary and secondary school students who want to know what Thapong is all about. 

In his view, it will be a good investment to develop artists at grassroots level.  He said they are looking for companies that could partner with them to establish ‘Re Ba Bona Ha’ for art. 

Following the refurbishment of the Thapong Visual Arts Centre last year, Bakwena said that they plan on coming up with the best way to utilise the infrastructure to benefit the artists. 

Also, the plan is to use the infrastructure to raise funds for sustainability.

Bakwena said one of the fundraising initiatives that they are going to undertake is to open and lease out a café next month.

The centre has already leased out an arts shop. 

Also as part of resource mobilisation, Bakwena stated that they rent out their studios, and an open space at the centre for those that want to stage events. 

“We have a challenge to run our programme due to lack of funds.  But once we have been able to raise funds we will be able to operate smoothly,” he said.

Regarding upcoming projects, Bakwena said they are going to stage a members’ exhibition in February. 

“We want to hold more exhibitions that will develop artists.  We would also like to teach artists how to deal with the media.  We want to coach them in that area and how to prepare their portfolios,” he said.

The Thapong coordinator added that they intend to hold workshops to teach artists how to develop concepts for competitions.  He said that they realised artists are lacking in this regard.  

Another area that they would like to embark on is implementing exchange programmes, so artists can benchmark with the counterparts in other countries. 

Also in the pipeline is a project to revamp the Thapong website to make it more attractive.

Bakwena said members of the public should know that Thapong is open to both artists and non-artists. 

“We need everyone’s contribution,” he said.

He said they want to see a situation where more art centres like Thapong are put up in other areas. 

“That way the industry could grow,” he said.