By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK – The newly appointed centre manager at the Katutura Community Arts Centre (KCAC) is determined to improve the current lack of proper communication among the different entities at the centre.
It is general knowledge that the three art promoting entities accommodated at the centre under the auspices of the College of the Arts have been operating in isolation for years in the same building due to personal egos and other artistic differences.
“My biggest challenge is the lack of clear structures at the KCAC. Presently no real communication exists among the three units, something very detrimental for arts promotion on national level,” said Austin Kwenani, who was appointed centre manager in October.
He referred to the visual arts department, the media arts department and the national extension programme operating at the same premises.
“There exists a lot of animosity among the three departments due to an obvious lack of trust and the fact that policies of the College of the Arts are not followed nor properly adhered to. This is destroying the creative working spirit of the place,” the new manager said.
He said the centre has a lot of potential for art promotion, something that can be achieved once relationships are improved.
“To salvage the deteriorating situation once and for all, I intend starting a collective representative committee as a matter of urgency in the New Year. This committee will have the task of coordinating all arts-related activities on a regular basis. The present scenario of departments opposing each other and the infighting, rather than being focused on the work at hand, will hopefully stop once this committee becomes operative. Anger for each other needs to be redirected if we are to achieve positive results,” the no-nonsense manager, a former clerk at the Khomas Regional Council, said.
Ted Scott heads the media department while Lucky Pieters runs the national extension programme and Eric Snack is in charge of the visual arts
department.