By Tendai Chisiri
There has been changes in the National Arts Merit Awards for the 22nd edition to be held at ZITF in Bulawayo on 24th February early next year with the media category scrapped and media uplifted to enter special awards.
National Arts Council of Zimbawe (NAC) director, Nicholas Moyo at a press conference officially launching NAMA 2023 said there has been a lot of changes done. “However, one of the major changes is that there will not be a media category going forward. Media awards are going to be given under special awards not as a category on its own”. he said.
NAMA has special awards where it recongnises outstanding personalities in promoter of the year, arts services, arts personality, diaspora based artist and also life achievements awards. Media because of the role that it plays in supporting the arts it has been uplifted from being a category to be under special awards. It is now up to NAC on how it has been coined and how many awards. will be going to the media sector.
NAC went on an exercise of consulting various stakeholders in reviewing NAMA in terms of its categories. There had been various meetings in Harare and other provinces and the result can be seen in some of the changes that will be there in NAMA 2023. The core business of NAMA is to award artists. NAMA entries are those from the 1st of December 2023 up to the 30th of November 2023.
Nicholas Moyo undersored what the adjudicators look for. ” Has that product been published, exhibited, read, shown or is there a theatre audience that you eye to and say that the production was performed in a better way. There had been situations where people create productions for NAMA”, Moyo said.
” We have seen this a lot, a dance group do a beautiful production, bring in three cameras, come and stand at a platform, record it, go into the studio, edit it, package it and send it to NAMA”, he revealed. When we look at it, it would be an excellent product. Has it been consumed becomes the biggest question”, he said. NAMA does not award works that have not been consumed by their different audience.
“It is also my privilege to announce that NAMA awards are moving to Bulawayo. NAMA’s traditional venue has always been Harare HICC in the last two years. Decision was taken with Jacaranda Culture Media Corporation (JCMC) to take NAMA to Bulawayo at ZITF Hall 3. So it means changes have been done and it is going to be bigger, better, and we are looking forward to it”, he added.
NAMA has been in Bulawayo for two consecutive years. The decision to take NAMA to Bulawayo emanated from the decision to take NAMA out of Harare. Venues were sought throughout the country and it was found that there are no venues that can host the magnitude programme whilst it is a challenge to the arts council NAC-Zimbabwe, government of Zimbabwe, and also the public and private players that construct facilities and venues that can be used for big arts and conference events in Zimbabwe. Bulawayo offers some facilities that can host
NAMA executive director and JCMC managing director Napoleon Nyani said it is their 4th edition managing NAMA. ” We are very excited to spread the love. We have been trying to spread the love outside Harare. We are trying to make sure that the work we are doing with NAMA mantains its national status as an award ceremony. So we have been trying for the past two to three years to see where else can we take it”, Nyani said.
” We are excited that the upcoming awards show will be held in Bulawayo. We have been coming up with themes, possible performances, how to make up the event look fantastic spectacular and how we are going to make it the best lifestyle event in Southern Africa. We are passing boundaries. We are trying to push the bar as we can with each edition that we hold”, he added.
“For JCMC, this is our first time of having NAMA outside Harare. We always asking corporate partners and sponsors to come on board early so that we can be able to fund the work” he advised. All arts genres and arts sectors are represented, recognised, or appreciated within NAMA through the NAC-Zimbabwe.
The theme of NAMA 2023 edition is ‘KWAN 22″. The theme is from the combination that it is the 22nd edition and it is happening in Bulawayo. Bulawayo like an industrial hub in Zimbabwe is known for burning as the chimneys for coal produce smoke. Kwa Ntuthu Ziyatunqa is the nickname of Bulawayo derived from Ntuthu meaning smoke. Kwa22 highlights 22nd edition’s venue The last edition’s theme was unlocking dreams as a 21st edition. 21- year olds are presumed to receive a key to unlock their dreams at that age.
News Sport Online 