HomeOld_PostsLet’s take visual arts more seriously

Let’s take visual arts more seriously

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By Dr Tony Monda

FOLLOWING our Independence in April 1980, it has become important to nurture and develop a vibrant indigenous cultural economy built on a new spirit of creative confidence.
The visual arts are a vital sector which fuels the creative economy to help generate future jobs in one of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy.
This is a sector with a verified testimony the world over for creating employment, generating wealth and rejuvenating emergent towns and rural communities and contributing to an inter-related and culturally conscious society.
The current Zimbabwean academic systems needs be better developed and refined to produce a more proficient system for arts education and cultural knowledge management so as to strengthen and improve the relationships between visual arts and the general public the local understanding of arts.
As a nation, our education and cultural leaders need to ensure that institutions of higher learning produce arts graduates of higher quality who are capable of entering and functioning in the creative sector of Zimbabwe productively.
According to a survey to date, there are only 11 visual arts graduates out of a growing number of over 2 000 artists.
There are very few academic artists who are making any effort to create a tangible visual record of their various cultures in contemporaneous discourse.
Zimbabwe needs to ensure that institutions of higher learning produce better educated and innovative arts graduates to be able to contribute to the creative sector and are represented on national forums concerned with the socio-economic, cultural and artistic development of the nation.
Given art is in a unique field of discourse that is continuously evolving and that this evolution is part of its innate constitution, its research and documentation will improve internal understanding of the arts and encourage information exchange about the sector.
The visual arts are also unique in their dung-beetle, cumulative effect – the more art that is being created the greater the body of knowledge for research and discourse, the greater financial and cultural rewards for the country.
The important role of widening participation and community involvement in the arts is essential and so is the deliberate guidance of arts appreciation.
A higher social and academic profile for the visual artists must be ensured.
Young people must be made aware of the opportunities and benefits in the studying of arts subjects.
The encouragement and training of artists to work in education and other participatory settings is likewise essential.
Art and cultural exchange are vital
By their very nature and identity the visual arts are the pictorial face of a nation and therefore serve a meaningful role as a magnet for cultural tourism and educational exchange.
As such, Zimbabwean academic and arts institutions need to create links with other partners in different parts of the world in order to create opportunities for academic exchange and travel.
In this way our artistic excellence can be assessed against world class standards.
There is great potential for the arts to develop its own commitment to strong international relationships through such cultural partnerships between tertiary arts institutions.
Zimbabwean arts graduates who enter the creative sector should be represented on regional forums and consortia concerned with economic and cultural growth and development.
Increasingly, institutions of higher education play a role in regeneration and re-development of arts and culture and in the determination of national cultural policy.
Arts career in an institution in Zimbabwe as they do not exist.
Therefore, it is futile for a young art student to seek employment in this sector of the economy.
As a result arts graduates are forced into self-entrepreneurship in order to earn a living in their chosen discipline.
Arts courses need to be made available at all 10 universities in Zimbabwe.
Engaging professional artists, such as Zimbabwean intuitive sculptors, painters, potters, blacksmiths and crafts people as a ‘third stream’ of activity, alongside and integrated with academic teaching and research will boost the academic body and commercial viability of the artworks currently being produced at Zimbabwean colleges and universities.
Indigenous knowledge transfer should also be a mandatory part of the successful development of innovation and excellence in the arts.
Considerable capital investment must be made towards visual arts through various grants from a home-grown Zimbabwean arts funding scheme, which has the interest of the nation at heart and is not determined by biased external donors and their un-enlightened local intermediaries.
Sustained support for the visual arts should be made available through various public charity and humanitarian organisations such as the local lottery or lotto.
By building and sponsoring enhanced arts facilities and financing various public arts projects in high-density urban areas and rural centres, we can regain our global reputation for excellence and innovation in the visual arts.
The idea of art being perceived as a leisurely pursuit should be countered by more study and consultation on how best to portray, support and encourage the visual arts of Zimbabwe.
Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic in Bulawayo, near Gwanda town, along the Beitbridge Road, established in 1981, Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), the Great Zimbabwe University in Masvingo, are some of the new Zimbabwean tertiary institutions who have incorporated art as a major component of their curriculum.
Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) and Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, musician, art critic, practicing artist and Corporate Image Consultant. He is also a specialist Art Consultant, Post-Colonial Scholar, Zimbabwean Socio-Economic analyst and researcher.

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