Tangeni Nahweka

To unlock the creative potential in people, the National Arts Council of Namibia (NACN) is offering artists, individuals and organisations, such as the Home of the Arts (HOTA), funding.

This pledge comes after chairperson of the NACN, Patrick Sam. The Home of The Arts (HOTA), hosted its first arts festival at Wera Café and Theatre here where Sam made this pledge. The arts festival followed numerous successful workshops in visual and performing arts, supported by the National Arts Council came the inception of Rundu Annual Arts festival. 

Nanyemba Hafeni Katamba, Chairperson of the arts festival organizing committee mentioned that, a total number of 40 participants (mostly young people) have benefited from expert-led training in graphic design, photography, filming, music instrument, vocal coaching, theatre, dancing, drawing, painting, graffiti, craft using steel and wood. 

“Hosting the festival served as a great platform for HOTA arts students as well as professional artists to showcase their talents and entertain the audience. This resulted in return on investment to our donors/sponsors” Katamba added.The Kavango East Chief Regional Officer (CRO), Ludwig Thikusho, stressed that for arts to flourish, the Namibian education system needs more trained people in the arts discipline to assist the ministry of education in this regard. He further stated that arts in general have the ability to develop communities.

HOTA is a non-profit organisation based at Rundu, which focuses on art development in the Kavango East region. Through the support of NACN, it has so far been able to conduct workshops in disciplines such as graphic design, photography, filming, music instruments such as (guitar, piano and drums), vocal coaching, theatre, craft, and dancing.

* Tangeni Nahweka is an employee of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) based in Rundu in the Kavango East region.