By Charleen Moyo.
What a way to jump start the year with another Scripts & Bars initiative.
For those of you that are in the dark about what Scripts and Bars is, it is a super exciting programme that unifies young Zimbabwean creatives from different disciplines such as fashion design, digital art and performing arts under one common theme, which is increasing their ability to be competitive and productive on the global stage. On the first weekend of February Scripts and Bars conducted a two-day Digital lab at Pikicha Gallery which saw different creatives present their profiles and progress from the 2022 creative projects to a panel of industry experts from TBWA, Magna Carter and ZTN to name a few. The creatives included various animators, voice-over artists, fashion designers, and musicians from Bulawayo such as Mawiza, poets such as Margaret Chideme who came all the way from Mutare, photographers and writers.
As much as they fell under the same titles such as African comic book artist, they all had different art styles and stories to tell. T.S Zombie, one of the African comic book artists produces graphic novels with a horror theme which features a gory style that is reminiscent of the walking dead. His work has a stark contrast to Kuda Rwizi’s art style which is influenced by Shonen manga yet culturally inspired and closer to home. In total, there were seventeen young Zimbabwean creatives with talent that can potentially give Hollywood and Vogue a run for their money.
Kay Media Africa is the delivery partner for the programme which is supported by the British Council Creative Economy programme, which supports Cultural professionals and artists to develop their knowledge, artistic practice, skills and networks contributing to greater prosperity and sustained livelihood.
The drive for this programme is that there is so much young talent in Zimbabwe that needs to be nurtured and allowed room to grow for it to match the progress in neighboring countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
Amongst the guest speakers was Jabulani Kwaramba, a lawyer from Honey & Blanckenberg who emphasized the importance of intellectual property. The biggest take from his presentation was that one should have everything in writing, even if it is signed with a pencil a contract is binding.
Margaret Chideme, a Mutare based poet notes that;
“First 30 is not a message to teach but a message to heal as the main focus is on women that have loved, hurt, divorced and those in lust.”
Her poems are as raw as sushi and she does not shy away from anything in the name of remaining true to her authentic self. Luminous, a rapper and author (produced a project entitled ‘Confessions of a Fornicator’) hailing from the city of Kings and Queens, Bulawayo, shed his light on how it is difficult to abstain from temptations such as drugs, and crime. He goes on to write about how he managed to overcome the temptations after coming to terms with who he was. Harare-based singer-songwriter Kimberly Makumbe and fashion designer Sotho Light both shared their passions on body positivity, and how society has caused a lot of body dysmorphia across all genders and people from different walks of life. Sotho Light wishes to make clothes for you that fit you and your character and Kimberly Makumbe shares her sentiments on embracing your body through her music.
Animator Kuda Maxwell and Kwaito extraordinaire Mawiza both shared their opinions on men’s mental health and how society deems what a man is, how he is supposed to behave and how he must never allow himself to open up to someone when he gets overwhelmed by life. Journey of the Forsaken and Kabulungu both shed some light on how men need to be allowed to feel vulnerable and should not be ashamed to seek help despite what society says. Mankowski, a renowned scholar on gender posits that boys and men are often instructed to reject or steer away from anything stereotypically feminine as part of the socialization of masculinity and to only show emotions related to anger.
The multitalented Lennox who is a photographer and poet managed to merge both of his passions into one and not only does he tell stories through his pictures, but he also manages to narrate the stories by adding a poetic twist to it. His style is more contemporary, and his images are very provocative and get the people talking. Rudo Hove, the Head of Production at ZTN was beyond impressed with what the creatives showcased, and she encouraged content creators to be aggressive when approaching media platforms such as her own. Blahtee an artist manager from South Africa was one of the facilitators and shared how creatives can make use of their social media by making sure that it captures more of what their work is about rather than what their life is about, “instead of having a Gucci handbag on your story rather have a picture or video of your craft.’’
The next few weeks will be busy for the 17 creatives because after polishing up their presentations they need to showcase how they can become more marketable and competitive on the global entertainment arena. Artists are usually considered the backbone of society because they have a unique way of expressing what simple words cannot through photography, fashion, animation, music and poetry, the message will always reach its target audience. Eugene Ramirez Mapondera gave some stoic advice to the young creatives “Don’t compromise the quality of your work to compete with trends, trends come and go but your work should speak for itself and always remember that your work will reach the audience it is supposed to reach.” He went on to say that the way you use your social media has a great impact regarding how your work will reach people and who actually interacts with your work, we live in a day and age of bots and the number of followers you have should never determine your worth and you should always let your work speak for yourself.
In conclusion the scripts and bars accelerator has jump started activities within the creative sector and offered participating artists from Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare an avenue to take their projects and profiles to new heights through access to alternative audiences and markets. Look out for more information about the artists and this accelerator on the scripts and bars website www.scriptsandbars.com as well as on social media using the #ScriptsandBars.
