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Culture Fund Board Chairman Announces Grants worth USD 208,000.00
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- Category: Press Releases
- Created on Thursday, 08 October 2009 06:29
The Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust Board Chairman, Luxon Zembe, announces successful grant applications for the 2nd cycle 2009.
The Culture Fund is a sustainable development NGO contributing to the growth and development of the culture sector in Zimbabwe through the provision of financial and technical support to cultural practitioners, institutions and activities. The Fund upholds the principles of fairness, integrity, accountability, transparency, creativity, boldness and non-partisanship.
The culture sector is an integral part of and a catalyst in our country’s journey to recovery, and as such the Culture Fund continues to envision a dynamic, diversified and sustainable culture sector imbued with national values and identity, which contributes towards socio-economic development for wealth creation.
The Fund, available to Zimbabwean cultural practitioners, groups, organisations and institutions has funded over 350 projects in the last three years in all the provinces of Zimbabwe with very high success rate. In the process the support has fostered processes, classifications of the sector and strengthened institutions which promote cultural diversity and accessibility. The Fund builds public value by enabling the free cultural and artistic expression of all Zimbabweans and preservation of cultural heritage.
The Culture Fund supports ideas that seek to improve the livelihoods of Zimbabweans and as such maintains a bias towards the marginalised sections of our society as well as those with a detectable impact on socio-economic development, employment and wealth creation. Programmes include;
• The Music & Edutainment Programme (modern & traditional musical instruments purchased for schools, groups, institutions and associations).
• The Music & Dance @School Programme (support directly to schools & through the Chipawo’s Arts Education Programme for marginalised schools).
• Partner of the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA)
• Young People Creative Writing (strengthen young writing talent in partnership with the Standard newspaper Cover to Cover competition)
• Free Xpression through Festivals Programme (support to over 18 national and provincial festivals, fairs and events)
• Training & Advocacy Programme (stakeholder capacity building workshops and seminars.)
• Research and Resource Centre (The Baseline Survey Report was launched and is being distributed. We are building an information and knowledge hub at the Culture Fund offices)
The Swedish Embassy and the Swedish International Development Agency, Sida, have remained the major funding partner while the Royal Netherlands Embassy is supporting our Resource Centre Project. The British Council is partnering the Fund in an exciting 3 year training programme for local artists, “the Creative Entrepreneurship Programme” that has benefitted more than 120 artists from across the country to date.
The Culture Fund continues to have fruitful technical collaborations with cultural officers of the Ministry of Education, Sport Arts and Culture and the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe. These strategic partnerships assist with the dissemination of information on the Culture Fund and the distribution and collection of grant application forms in all the provinces.
Since beginning of this year, the Board resolved to disburse grants twice a year in order to allow artists, especially the marginalised, to submit applications throughout the year. For the current cycle of funding application forms were distributed in 3 languages, Shona, Ndebele and English. 462 project proposals were submitted requesting over USD11million!
The Board’s technical advisory Sub-Sector Committees met over a duration of two weeks in September and made their recommendations on the projects for the Board’s consideration. The Culture Fund Board makes the following observations in relation to the grants programme.
• Due to last year’s hyperinflationary environment, 2008 projects faced challenges of accessing funds and value retention. These projects had to be further supported in 2009 to enable full implementation.
• The Board made a decision to support 10 projects that needed timely response and could not wait for the normal cycle. This kind of intervention will continue at a level and a criterion determined by the Board whilst ensuring this does not circumvent the normal processes.
• The generally quality of applications has not improved much from the last cycle, justifying continuation of training and capacity building programme for the sector.
• The Culture Fund will prioritise increasing access to arts, culture and creativity for more people, including those in outlying areas through forging new strategic partnerships with local authorities and civil society organisations.
• The interest in arts and culture for the benefit of all Zimbabweans will be broadened through investing in specific heritage projects.
• Partnerships with the corporate sector are slowly growing. The Fund partners Delta Corporation in the Jikinya Dance Festival and The Standard and Stanbic Bank in the annual Cover to Cover children writing competition.
• To address issues related to weak project applications and with a view to build on progress, the Fund will identify new and imaginative routes that will tap into existing Zimbabwean creativity and innovation. • Some sub-sectors like literature and film/audio/visual and multimedia continue to be a challenge to fund in terms of the technical nature of project proposals and the size of their budgets. Efforts to find a workable solution are being pursued in consultation with the sub-sector and other stakeholders while accepting resource limitations of the Fund.
• Being national social and economic hubs, Harare and Bulawayo continue to submit larger numbers of proposals and grants awarded are proportionate to this fact.
IMPORTANT information is meant to guide 2009 applicants:
• The Culture Fund does not currently have the administrative capacity to respond to all unsuccessful applications and only communicates directly with the successful ones.
• All successful applicants are required to attend compulsory Grantees meetings before disbursement of funds is made. This will allow sharing of best practice in grant management and signing of Memorandum of Grant Agreement. The meetings will be held within the next two weeks.
• Funds will be disbursed according to each project requirements and a proper financial record must be kept for each project funded.
• All funded projects should be properly documented, and will be monitored and evaluated.
• Those who abuse project funds in breach of their contract with the Culture Fund will be required to repay the full amount or face prosecution.
• Please note that the decision of the Board is final.
• The creation of the inclusive government has ushered a new era of hope. The Fund believes that the Culture Sector must think and act creatively in order to exploit new opportunities for creating wealth.
The following the summary below is a list of successful grant applications for the 2nd cycle of 2010. The grants list is presented by Sub-Sector, the name of the project, province and the funding offered.
Culture Fund Approved Projects 2009- Second Cycle
A) Successful grant recipients announced on 8 October 2009
Approved Projects by Province
Bulawayo 11
Harare 22
Manicaland 5
Mash Central 2
Mash East 2
Mash West 2
Masvingo 2
Mat North 2
Mat South 4
Midlands 1
Total 55
Approved Projects by Sub-Sector
Cultural Heritage 13
Cultural Industries 1
Fine Arts & Crafts 15
Literature & Lang 10
Film 2
Performing Arts 14
Total 55
Board Approved Projects by Gender (applicants listed on application forms)
Female 42%
Male 58%
Festivals & Events (Oct-Dec 2009) 9
Rural Schools 3
Institutions 12
Groups 16
Individual Projects 15
Total 55
Project Name Province US$
Cultural Heritage
Jikinya Children’s Traditional Festival Harare 5,000.00
International Images Film Festival Harare 2,000.00
Great Icons of My Time Harare 3,000.00
Shangano Arts Festival Mat North 3,000.00
Ibumba Arts Festival Bulawayo 2,000.00
Onini Iyo Kumakomoyo Prisons Festival Manicaland 2,000.00
Cultural Industries
Asiphileni Herbal Industries Mat South 3,300.00
Film, Audio-Visual and Multi-Media
Fading Pictures Harare 4,500.00
Fine Arts & Crafts
Batik Project Bulawayo 1,000.00
Cyrene Art and Design Club Mat South 1,250.00
Masakhisaneni Mat South 1,000.00
Sizalobuhle Mat South 1,000.00
Njere Dzemaoko Harare 2,572.00
Sculptures Symposium 2010 New Zealand Harare 2,932.50
Chitsinde Curvers Mash Central 1,000.00
Tsetsetse Craft Club Manicaland 1,000.00
Mutsamvu Manicaland 1,000.00
Stone Curving Midlands 1,000.00
Literature and Languages
Catch it before Sunset Harare 5,000.00
Kudzidza netariro Readers Harare 2,000.00
Performing Arts
Isiphiwo sami Talent Search Bulawayo 3,000.00
Jairos Jiri Band Bulawayo 2,500.00
Office Equipment- Byo Musicians Association Bulawayo 2,195.00
Wedza Stars Mash East 1,255.50
Ziva Kwawakabva Group Mash East 610.00
Mahombekombe Traditional Dance Group Mash West 1,500.00
Ivhu Inhaka Masvingo 1,500.00
Gertnel Mbira Group Masvingo 1,000.00
Bhehwe Top Starz Band Mat North 5,000.00
Achapwanga Beni Arinoti Dance Group Mash Central 2,000.00
Total Grants Awarded on 8 October 2009 66,115.00
B) Projects Funded in between 1st and 2nd Cycles of 2009
Memory Chirere: Oxford University Dambudzo Marechera Lecture Harare 670.00
National Arts Council 2010 Strategic Planning Workshop Harare 11,660.00
Performance Arts Education for Rural Schools by Chipawo Harare 19,820.00
Children Writing Zimbabwe-Cover to Cover Magazine Publication Harare 10,150.00
Artists for the Pan African Cultural Festival- Algiers 2009 Harare 6,190.00
AU_SADC_UNESCO 2010 Conference Arts Exhibition Harare 7,612.00
National Archives of Zimbabwe: Restoration of Audio- Visual Collection Air Conditioning System Harare 9,850.00
Mpopoma High School-Dreams and Teams Enrichment Week Bulawayo 2,975.00
Jikinya Traditional Children Dance Winners (ZRP School) Trip - Tianjin Performance Arts Festival China Harare 10,000.00
National Museums National Cultural Heritage Quiz 2009 Competitions Harare 8,035.00
Total 86,962.00
C) 2008 Projects Topped Up in between First and Second Cycles
Documentation of Ndau in Chipinge and Chimanimani Masvingo 1,480.00
Changing material Culture of the Ndebele Bulawayo 3,276.88
Four Plays and Essays Bulawayo 1,046.00
Gugu & Nobukazi’s Décor Bulawayo 29.00
Nompilo Nkomo Residency Programme Bulawayo 419.74
This September Sun Bulawayo 2,099.00
Pakare Paye- Schools Film Education Project Mash West 7,092.50
Rutendo The Chief’s Grand daughter Mash East 2,366.67
Chipawo Music and Dance At Schools Harare 6,399.00
Misodzi yemhandara Harare 1,425.00
Unsung Heroine Harare 3,500.00
Musical Instruments: Zimbabwe Union of Musicians Harare 27,475.23
Domboramwari Arts Residency Harare 3,677.50
Great Musicians of my time Harare 507.00
Nyanga Craft Centre Manicaland 220.00
Ngoma Dzepasi Manicaland 856.00
Total 55,470.52
Total Grants Awarded for 2009 2nd Cycle 208,547.52
