As many might know, renowned theatre guru, Daves Guzha was recently elected the president for Arterial Network Africa.
But what is the village man’s plan is as he leads the network for the next two years?
In an interview with the network, Guzha revealed his plan and his wishes for the entire African creative sector.
“During my tenure, Arterial Network’s focus is going to be anchored on three pillars : Stability, visibility and growth. For me :
“Stability means consolidating gains of the past whilst affirming our present and future trajectory through high impact and continental endorsed humanity centred initiatives.
“Visibility : African creatives have allowed politicians to run riot with the continent and become the griots of our people. It’s time for us to restore and retain our mandate and never again shall we allow ourselves to be second cousins to other sectors. We shall be more vocal and be heard in a coordinated way as we upscale our advocacy and lobbying as we push for the observance and implementation of the various protocols our Governments love signing and not respect,” he said.
“Concerning Growth, we have all noticed that our African cultural heritage is being appropriated worldwide for commercial purpose. It’s a disturbing phenomenon that we should really be concerned about. The Basotho blanket and the Masaï cloth among many other African traditional productions are now being produced industrially outside of the continent with little or no gain whatsoever for our creatives. The African folklore is also exploited by Hollywood companies in their search for new catching ang inspiring stories.
“Growth as we will pursue it is really about knowing that African creatives must solve their problems by themselves and in order to achieve this, the creative and cultural industries must be recognized as actual viable industries and have tailor made financial packages in place from Africa‘s own financial institutions designed to speak through a consumer base which is in excess of 1 billion people.”
“This particular committee’s mandate is not to talk, but to do and we can only do by listening to the artists. That’s why we are going to do a lot of consultations towards artists and cultural players, in order to pinpoint their challenges and expectations towards Arterial Network. Over the next months, through social media and other channel, our members will be invited to write directly to me in order to share their concerns.”
He highlighted that the creative sector can grow faster if those involved would listen to practitioners.
“I personnally think the creative and cultural sector can gain a lot by listening to the practitionners, by consulting the people who are already doing and who face very specific difficulties. This particular Steering Committee strongly believes in servant leadership, We are not here to serve ourselves but rather to be useful to the industry.
“We are in the business of serving African creative and cultural industries’ best interests and that starts with us claiming ours space and taking back our narrative.”
Asked what his message to African cultural players is he said, “Africa has got more than enough wealth on its own, be it natural or cultural resources. It is our mission to celebrate our creativity and to create value for our continent through the cultural and creative industries.
“My message is for African artists working in diverse genres to come forward (just like the visual artists already did), because none but ourselves can fulfill our own dreams and aspirations. So we would need musicians, theatre makers, writers, poets, dancers, to join and contribute to the creation of resources for the sector. We must conquer our interdependance in order to be able to make our own decisions and to support our own African creative and cultural initiaves.”
Guzha siad its time for the African creatives to be more vocal.
“My first wish is for the sector to become more vocal, to claim its rightful place and never again have to be second fiddle to no other sector. I wish that our actions and the value we bring makes everyone realize that there is everything right with being an artist.
“For 2018, my last wish would be growth and expansion withing the sector and having the sector being written within the mainstream economy. As we stand up, all we we expect is to be listened to and be heard,” he highlighted.
Source: Arterial Network: http://www.arterialnetwork.org/article/Interview_with_Daves_Guzha_Arterial_Network_President
