By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK “The theatre administrator workshop held last weekend by Sati was a good refresher for more experienced Namibian theatre activists and a good learning experience for newcomers.” This is the view of Elize de Wee, actress and producer of Theatre Zone at the National Theatre of Namibia. Thirty selected Namibian theatre personalities attended the workshop that was staged by the Southern African Theatre Initiative (Sati), based in Johannesburg. “The workshop covered a wide range of theatre skills development aspects, some simple administrative stuff, things that we Namibian theatre people tend to neglect. We are normally so much engrossed in the creative processes that we forget how to run theatre groups and companies,” said Elize, also a workshop participant. According to her the three-day workshop should have been longer for other inexperienced people to learn more. “Because of time constraints, everything had to be cramped in within only three days. This made things a bit difficult. However, the whole exercise gave us new direction in the theatre field with regard to theatre business plans, budgets and fundraising proposals applicable to the Namibian situation. This was all aimed at creating structures within theatre groups to develop them into sustainable entities for job creation,” De Wee said. The Executive Secretary of Sati, Mpho Molepo, before his departure for Johannesburg, expressed his profound gratitude to the Namibian theatre fraternity for accommodating and participating in the workshop, one of many his organization has staged over the last six years in the southern African Region. Most of Sati’s theatre projects are financed by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).