Every year around this time, Thapong Visual Arts Centre in collaboration Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) Limited Foundation, would have opened entries for the BTC Phonebook cover design and 2020 Thapong Artist of The Year (TAYA) competitions. The TAYA is open to good standing Thapong members residing in Botswana while the phonebook cover is exclusive to individual students from all junior and senior schools. Thapong coordinator, Reginald Bakwena revealed that they will not host the two events due to the slow response from sponsors.
He said all of their sponsors were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and they are at a recovery stage. “As we are all aware, COVID-19 restrictions made everyone cautious on spending money. One of our sponsors, MYSC, did not even host the President's Day competitions and this also affects us,” Bakwena added. To address the situation, Bakwena revealed that Thapong is organising a curated exhibition by the end of the year to make up for this. He said the date will be communicated to artists and the latter are encouraged to continue working hard towards this exhibition. Bakwena also said TAYA will be held early next year. “We also request people’s contribution, assessment and feedback on Thapong awards.
