According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the cultural and creative industries have become essential for inclusive economic growth, reducing inequalities and achieving the goals set out in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
Positioning itself among the fastest-growing sectors in the universe with an estimated global worth of 4.3 trillion USD per year, the culture sector now accounts for 6.1% of the global economy as they generate annual revenues of US$ 2,250 billion and nearly 30 million jobs worldwide, employing more people aged 15 to 29 than any other sector.
Wistfully, the sector – regardless of how important it has been in its economic footprint and employment – was hit much harder than expected by the coronavirus pandemic, UNESCO said in December 2020, urging targeted policies and actions to help it weather the crisis.
As bleak as the picture may appear, hope was not all thrown out of the horizon as more and more key players in and beyond the sector evolved and initiated different emergency benefit schemes, wage-subsidy programs and other forms of cash injections as a relief to deal with artists and cultural professionals. To this day, concerts, festivals and creative resource seminars/workshops have been taking place online as the sector finds itself on a massive trajectory to clean up, conduct post-mortems and self-analysis and perhaps more importantly, on healing from the subsequent storm of the Covid-19 chronic.
In deference to the sector’s innovativeness and bouncebackability, the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) announced on Thursday that it will be hosting this year’s Culture Week commemorations under the theme “Resilience in Safeguarding Creativity and Cultural Diversity”. The theme, it says, is based on the recognition that while the CCS has been severely affected by the global Coronavirus Disease (COVID19), it has remained resilient and therefore Culture Week provides an opportunity to celebrate and promote creativity and cultural diversity.
This year’s commemorations will be held from May 15 -22, 2021.
In a communique to the press, NACZ communication and marketing manager said:
“The National Launch of Culture Week will be on the 15th of May and thereafter events will be organised and executed at a provincial level through the NACZ structures. NACZ has thus begun mobilizing its different stakeholders and structures to prepare for this important annual event, which for the second year running will be held virtually in line with the COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings.”
The week-long cultural fiesta will feature various online showcases including dance, music, film, theatre, Visual arts, literature, poetry and comedy on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, YouTube, television and radio.
“Culture Week is this year being celebrated to bring social cohesion and integration through the Arts and Culture in the face of COVID-19 and its associated lockdown measure, which lead to the isolation of families and cultural practices,” added NACZ.
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe was created through an Act of Parliament in 1985 and has been ‘championing’ the promotion and development of the arts sector by providing support, initiating arts programmes and forging partnerships with key stakeholders in the arts and culture sector.
The concept of Culture week is drawn from the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity by UNESCO in 2001 which proclaimed the 21st of May as the “World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Diversity”.
Zimbabwe, being replenished with a vibrant art sector that targets both tourists and local people, thus expanded on this day to Culture Week which seeks to celebrate the world’s diverse cultures. The week provides an opportunity for Zimbabweans to flaunt their intangible and tangible cultural heritage forms that need to be preserved for posterity.
