Following six months of local coaching and international mentorship, five female artists supported by the ResiliArt Accelerator programme in Zimbabwe had an opportunity to network and connect with different cultures and creative professionals to boost their business visibility and skills across Africa.
During a recent networking event at Moto Republik, the five beneficiaries were joined by creative industry professionals working in the fields of film, animation, music, visual arts and literature. Conversations, while held informally, focused on issues critical to the development and sustainability of the creative sector in Zimbabwe and in the region.
Of note was the need for increased capacity in non-creative aspects of an artists’ career. Specifically, the five participants highlighted the business and legal skills they acquired from interacting with ResiliArt Accelerator Zimbabwe and how these have positively impacted their creative businesses. They highlighted how creatives in Zimbabwe work for survival without adequate and sufficient knowledge on contracts, negotiation, making proposals, pitching, and other business skills. Most creatives are not aware of Intellectual Property rights and protecting their work, leaving them vulnerable to detrimental partnerships, IP theft and further disenfranchisement. The female creatives expressed the desire to extend and expand the ResiliArt Accelerator programme to the wider Zimbabwean creative community.
The ResiliArt Accelerator six-month pilot programme has delivered customized online mentorship from other African women creative professionals and regular face-to-face sessions from a team of local coaches. The creative female entrepreneurs have strengthened their capacities in project planning, pitch, fundraising, marketing and financing, as well as enhanced their business skills and professional capacities, ultimately improving the reach and scale of their creative businesses. The lessons learned from the Accelerator will allow UNESCO to more effectively and meaningfully, continue to empower creative professionals in the region and beyond.