LÜDERITZ- The National Art Gallery of Namibia (NAGN) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Snobia Kaputu, is confident Namibian visual artists if provided with conducive platforms to create and showcase their art, can become progressive artists and great art entrepreneurs.
Kaputu and her team visited the !Nami#nus Constituency Office meeting local artists and Constituency Councilor Jan Scholtz on February 11 as part of their regional consultations. According to her, they have been consulting regional stakeholders since 2018. Kaputu explains that the purpose of her consultations is to familiarise herself with the status of visual artists in the region and to inform the respective communities on the importance of art in society and the valuable contribution it makes to the development of the specific communities, the region and the country at large. “The NAGN’s desire is to collaborate and network with respective stakeholders in the constituencies, to create platforms that will enable artists to create and showcase their art. Kaputu adds that the NAGN is in the process of implementing programmes that will also meet the need of the artists at grass root level. However, for the NAGN to do so, it is important to understand the situation of our artists in the regions in order to put interventions that will assist them to create and showcase their art.
According to Kaputu the approach will be to identify in each region already established structures which the NAGN can collaborate with, for the artists to have permanent space to work from, share their creative skills, showcase their product and contribute to the cultural tourism of Namibia. She further indicated that the request from the NAGN is for relevant stakeholders in the regions to join forces in sharing resources, and provide the required platforms for artists to create and sell their products, thus creating a balance a between demand and supply.
Kaputu is requesting all Namibians to appreciate and invest in the arts by acquiring artwork from Namibian artists for their private use for their businesses to display, or to support any art project. In that, way the public will make it possible for Namibian artists’ content to grow.
The participants to the meeting were introduced to the standing projects of the NAGN and new programmes for 2019 starting with the creative exhibition scheduled for March, as part of independence anniversary celebration. Kaputu says the regions that have already been consulted are Hardap, Oshana, Kavango East, Khomas and //Kharas. She promises that other regions will be consulted during 2019/2020.
For more information on NAGN programmes, the public is invited to visit NAGN website at www.nagn.org.na or consult the Communications/Marketing Officer, Annapaula Vakamuena, at 061-231160/0818068694 Or the Curatorial Coordinator Meenda Shivute at 0818068692.