Recession eats into artwork buyers' pockets?

BASHI LETSIDIDI
Correspondent | Wednesday May 20, 2009 00:00

'When we ask for sponsorship from companies they tell us about how badly the economic crisis has affected their businesses,' says Reggie Bakwena, the coordinator of Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Gaborone.

Lack of sponsorship has also made it impossible for the planned extension of the centre this year to go ahead. Those who would have assisted financially cite the current global economic downturn.

'Even foreign donors have cut their budgets. This recession is really going to affect the creative industry,' Bakwena says.

On the whole however, the situation is not bad because lately the government has become a major consumer of local art. Bakwena says that they are hoping and praying that the situation stays that way.

Not many people have associated the spate of directives from the Office of the President (OP) with democratic virtue, but artists are singing a different tune in that regard.

Bakwena says that after the government issued a directive last October that instructed government departments to buy local products, artists have been doing a roaring business. The tell-tale signs are evident in the corridors of government offices, which are adorned with artworks by local artists.

Bakwena says that should the situation worsen to a point where the government begins to feel the pinch, sales of Botswana artworks would tumble with a domino effect.

On the other hand, Bakwena says that sales to individual buyers have fallen drastically.

'As a result of the recession, they can no longer afford expensive paintings,' he says.

To deal with the latter complication, Bakwena says that he has advised artists in his stable to lower their prices in order to make products more affordable to buyers who would otherwise find them prohibitively expensive.

As regards the survival of the centre, Bakwena says that they are renting space and charging commission for artwork sold through them.

Not everybody is feeling the pinch. Nicola Hart, general manager at the BotswanaCraft Marketing in Gaborone, says that they have not felt any impact and she chalks that down to the fact that they have only one major cultural event in a year - the Letlhafula Day on May 30. Hart says that their major sponsors,  including Mmegi, have confirmed that they will be sponsoring this year's event, the ninth since the cultural festival started.

Throughout the year the centre hosts other cultural events, but Hart says that their involvement only goes as far as providing the venue.