Vuyisile Mlilo, Sunday Life Reporter
IN a bid to revolutionise the creative industry, Eugene Ramirez Mapondera and Keith Kuhudzai, visionary leaders in Zimbabweans co-founders of Kay Media Africa, have spearheaded a nationwide initiative called Scripts and Bar.
Mapondera and Kuhudzai’s scheme seeks to equip artists with industry knowledge and marketability, thus transforming their creative endeavors into profitable ventures. Mapondera described the initiative as a platform for creatives from multiple disciplines.
“This is an incubation workshop in which we meet with a list of artistes we selected from a core of applicants, they comprise writers, songwriters, rappers, digital artists, and event managers. The idea is to equip them with tools to create sustainable patterns of conducting business ways of curating their work, ways of streamlining their social media and their personal communication and presenting their brands ahead of launching them for an acceleration programme where we now prepare them to better position what they do in the market. Therefore, be more commercially viable we also later in the programme focus on matters around distribution promotion and sales,” he said
Recently, the duo organised an engaging and transformative incubation hub in Bulawayo. Gathering an assembly of talented artists from various disciplines, this event became a catalyst for honing their skills and unlocking their true potential.
Eugene Mapondera
The incubation hub focused on broadening the horizons of creatives, providing them with the necessary tools and resources to navigate the dynamic landscape of the creative industry. From masterclasses conducted by industry professionals to hands-on workshops, participants were immersed in a wealth of knowledge and practical experiences.
Mapondera, renowned for his exceptional expertise in animation, conducted sessions centered around crafting engaging and captivating storylines. With his impressive track record, his insights opened up new avenues of creativity for aspiring writers and directors alike.
Accompanying him was Kuhudzai, a seasoned entrepreneur and marketer, and media practitioner. Kuhudzai’s sessions focused on enhancing the marketability of artists in a competitive industry. By equipping participants with essential marketing strategies and business acumen, he ignited hope and confidence among artists who constantly face hurdles.
“Our goal is to put artists in an environment that helps them focus and broaden their understanding and there are two critical things that we are trying to achieve. Firstly, help them level up in terms of their business knowledge and make them cognisant of the fact that art is a business. Secondly to answer the question what does a creative business look like? Given that the arts industry is not similar to any other industry, we equip them with information skills and tools that help them navigate the business side of things. The next thing is Digital content and how do we improve the artists’ content so that it’s more attractive so that they can grow a fan base that values their content, creating content that is brand friendly.”