Thapong awards postponed to November

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Tuesday September 14, 2010 00:00

 

'We felt that our artists need time to produce good quality artworks; so we decided to give them more time to do so,' he said adding that artists also need to research the works that they hope to present.

Another reason for the postponement is that the date clashed with the annual 1000 Toyota Desert Race, popularly known as Mmantshwabisi, which will start and finish at Kumakwane village on the Gaborone-Kanye Highway.

Bakwena said that since Mantshwabisi often attracts a lot of people, they did not want the awards, which are the highlight on the local visual arts calendar, to be overshadowed by the motor sport event.

He said that he was happy that people are calling from all over the country, enquiring about the award. This year they are expecting a lot of entries as the centre has courted people from the northern part of the country to take part.

The centre has also reached out to people in other rural areas as in the past, most of the participants came from urban centres. 'We expect to be overwhelmed by entries, but sadly we cannot accommodate all of them because our gallery is small,' he said. Bakwena added that other artists, whose works would not be were mounted during the exhibition, should rest assured that their products 'will be included in the catalogue'.

Bakwena, who urged graphic designers to take part in the awards, said that he has been encouraged by the past exhibition, which showed much improvement in terms of presentation and quality.

According to Bakwena, the TAYA was initiated in 2004 as a way of stimulating creativity among members of the centre. At the time, the competition was only open to artists in residency at the centre. Only seven artists participated in the pioneering award ceremony. That year a painter won the competition.

By 2005 more artists from other parts of the country participated because of outreach activities of the centre. That year a Ramotswa-based artist won the competition with P3, 500 as first prize. 

'Participation in the competition has since increased in subsequent years along with marked improvements in the quality of most entries.

However, several artists were disqualified because they did not meet set standards,' said Bakwena.

Bakwena asserted that with generous support from sponsors, prize money has also increased over the years. In 2006 the first prize was P4, 500 while in 2007 it was P5, 000 and for 2008 and 2009 the prizes were P7, 500 and P15, 000 respectively.

To help promote visibility, a prize for media practitioners who write about visual arts was introduced in 2008.  Since it was introduced prizes of P3, 500.00 and P4, 000 have accordingly been awarded.