THIS week I write from Warsaw, Poland, where I am attending a world congress for theatre meant for children and young audiences.
Save for theatre, practitioners will discuss new trends in the arts, including music and dance and map out strategies on how to handle various aspects of the arts and deliberating on issues and views around the future of the arts by young people and for young, present and future audiences.
International committees will be formed and global ideas shared. This is more or less the United Nations council for those involved in arts for young people.
To my disappointment though Zimbabwe is not represented among the over 100 different countries from all corners of the world. Our desk is lonely and stands there with our name label and flag seemingly lost among the many global representatives. I am not here as a representative because I have together with me Iyasa — the only African show to be staged among over fifty productions from all over the world.
Zimbabwe was supposed to be represented and without any excuses. We can not continue to complain about lack of growth in our arts industry when we do not involve ourselves in sharing with everyone in the world on how they are managing in their own countries.
South Africa will host the next congress in 2017 in Cape Town and we need to stand up and be counted. If we remain bottled in our narrowness as a country in the arts — particularly arts for young people — then we risk going extinct. If we want to get lost we must continue to run alone, but if we want to go far we ought to join the world forum.
In one of the sessions there was a discussion about trends in arts for and by young people in respective nations and this debate got me seriously thinking about the respective arts for and by young people in my country.
I acknowledge that many young people are taking up the arts as a career in Zimbabwe which is very positive, but then the question is how sustainable those careers are. To start with most nations are talking about qualifications in the arts. They are highlighting how they have embarked in training directors, actors, producers, musicians formally.
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They have a paper to show for these careers, but in Zimbabwe I doubt if even a third of those who study arts in formal institutions end up in the industry let alone if they are fully equipped and trained to withstand careers in the industry. Flip the page over and the reading is not so inspiring either.
Many of our actors, musicians, dancers, arts journalists, directors and film makers have no formal education in those careers. In fact, most of them are workshop or self taught or even simply basing their careers on talent. From where I stand right now soon it’s going to be even more difficult to sustain careers in the arts without formal education to validate the talent especially if one chooses to explore their careers beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.
In the spotlight also is whether artistes and producers of art be it music, dance and theatre are producing sustainable art products. Will we still be singing the songs we hear on radio today 20 years later? Will the plays and songs grow better with age like wine and can they be preserved for future generations?
We still sing Dolly Parton’s music, we still study Shakespeare’ plays. Closer to home we still love Lovemore Majaivana’s music, Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie among others and plays like Wole Sonyika’s The Lion and The Jewel, Ngugi Wa ’Thiong’o’s books, Cont Mhlanga’s Workshop Negative are all proving worthwhile to study or play generation after generation.
On the contrary are our young artistes and those producers of today publishing work that will stand the test of time? For how long will we cherish the new tunes like urban grooves and dance hall music? Will the theatre work and films produced now be case studies in schools and universities in the future?
I have nothing against the new trends in the arts and music for the moment, but while we do so we also need to invest in timeless art because it is through the arts that future generations will know their roots, understand their history and use that to shape their future.
Another crucial lesson I take away with me from this world arts congress is that we need to invest in different types of audience based on their taste,age and preferences.
In Zimbabwe most of us have forgotten about the audience. Who is producing theatre and music for the child in grade zero and at primary school? Who is taking the shows to where audiences are comfortable to come and watch them without feeling like they are violating their preferred surroundings.
Not everybody who loves arts or enjoys our music wants to go out all night long or to come to bars . Some wish they could enjoy music and the arts with their families and child friendly venues. We seriously need to be considerate of all these dimensions when we create our work.
Who are we singing for? Where are we staging our work and why? Is a career in the arts all about the artist and what they want or does the audience have an influence? Keep walking.
