BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – The Minister of Sports Culture and Youth Affairs Harries Madze Bulunga has affirmed the value of His Majesty’s Government and her partners in putting into the arts.
Bulunga said the partnership between the Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture and Antidote, conceived during the Vukubone Music Conference 2022, has given birth not only to a public partnership funding through the EU but also the birth of our Mbabane Arts and Culture Centre.
He was speaking at today’s launch, where it was a double celebration as they were also launching the Vukubone Sound Lab.
The Vukubone concept is taken from the Nguni phrase ‘Vuka Ubone’, which translates to ‘wake up and see,’ also referring to being made aware or enlightened.
This is a 6-week accelerator program that aims to fast-track and amplify early-stage or emerging sound artists (music producers/sound designers, singers/songwriters, DJs, and podcasters) and give them a springboard to launch their careers.
The accelerator program is collaboration between the Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture and Antidote Music, with Antidote Culture Foundation as an implementation partner.
The VUKUBONE Sound Lab was born out of the VUKUBONE Music Conference 2022, a project by Antidote Music and Antidote Culture Foundation, which was supported by Music in Africa as part of the Music in Africa Live grant.
“The conference was an opportunity to unravel the issues faced by Eswatini’s music industry, while highlighting the opportunities within the industry, as well as gauging what artists needed to build their capacities. The goal was always to take the topics further than the series of panel discussions and to create interventions that would tangibly work towards improving the knowledge competencies of and accessibility of resources to Eswatini artists,”said Bulunga.
He further said, the concept of the VUKUBONE Sound Lab was selected for the Sound Connects Fund, which is the initiative funding this project.
The Sound Connects Fund is made possible with funding from the ACP-EU Culture Programme, a project implemented by the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and funded by the European Union (EU).
The Fund is also co-funded by Goethe-Institut and Siemens Stiftung. This is a clear demonstration that there is a lot to be achieved when passionate art lovers bring their minds together for the betterment of the overall arts sector.
“Through its network of partners, I am told that Antidote Music will provide support to participants in pitching for potential funding to further develop and implement their projects. Moreover, participants in each cohort will be required to work on a separate collaborative project that will be showcased to global audiences by Antidote Music. His Majesty’s Government will always rally and support all initiatives that contribute to the development of arts in Eswatini and we congratulate Antidote for being trailblazers in this regard,” added the Minister.
Worth mentioning is that, this is the third arts centre they have opened in a space of a month in their quest to establish four centres in the country’s regions. “Indeed, the arts sector has become a meaningful sector in global markets, spaces and an economic stimulus for global economies. This is in line with the aspirations of the African Union Aspiration Five which envisions an Africa with a Strong Cultural Identity, Common Heritage, Values and Ethics,” said Bulunga.
