Arts centre on the cards
Dumisani Ncube | Wednesday December 16, 2015 15:10
The trio, which was invited by local NGO Dreams Alive Club, facilitated the Arts and Entertainment Expo that mainly focused on acting, theatre and dance.
“These workshops have been amazing. We discovered that the talent in the country is fertile and it needs more attention to help it grow in the right path,” said Banks after announcing that they will be establishing an arts centre for all ages during an open panel discussion on the last day of the expo.
She stated that the main reason for establishing an arts centre is to help young people who cannot afford to attend special schools that offer arts in their syllabus.
She said: “This is mainly for children from public schools even though it's open to everyone off all ages”. Banks said the arts centre will have more Hollywood artists coming to teach various disciplines.
She said: “We will bring more people from the States that will be teaching at the arts centre. They will stay for at least six months in the country and other will come as they keep rotating”.
She said the arts centre will not only focus on imparting arts skills, but also the administration side so that artists will be able to manage their crafts and funds. Locals such as Reginald Richardson and TV personality, Nametso Semakula, have shown interest in being part of the specialists that will be imparting their knowledge and skills to aspiring artists.
“The dates for the establishment of the arts centre or where we are going to be operating from is not yet confirmed, but we will be announcing soon,” said Dreams Alive Club coordinator, Tshepiso Maruping.
The only confirmed thing was that the trio will be coming back to Botswana in April for another workshop and they will be bringing another Hollywood star that will be focusing on teaching music skills.
Banks also stated that during their visit in April they will also participate at the Maitisong Festival.
Overall, various established and upcoming artists such as Kele Mogotsi, Lone Motsomi and Tumisang Baatshwana attended the Arts and Entertainment Expo workshops where the trio shared their first hand Hollywood skills.