Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
WHEN the ROIL Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAAs) roll into the City of Kings on 25 November, the city’s arts lovers will be treated to new faces, fresh stage designs and improved productions, as organisers of the beloved extravaganza seek to shake things up, seven years after the city’s flagship award ceremony made its debut.
For the past seven years, the RoilBAAs have served as the extra motivation needed by artistes in a city who had long decried the fact that they did not feel appreciated by other award ceremonies around the country.
Seven years later, the RBAAs have become a standard bearer on the local arts scene, injecting a dose of glitz and glamour that local showbiz seemed to be lacking before they were introduced.
However, after seven years, including some in which the awards were held with the backdrop of a global health pandemic, the RBAAs are looking for a new lease of life.
In an interview with Sunday Life, one of the organisers of the awards ceremony, Raisedon Baya said when the awards are held at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre this year, Bulawayo will be welcome by a host of new faces, particularly on stage where recent auditions had unearthed entertainers that were eager to please.
“So, we have had auditions around the artistes that will participate and perform at the awards. The reason for the auditions is that we are now aiming for new talent and fresh faces that we will showcase at the awards because previously we have chosen people randomly and when you do this, you end up picking people that you are familiar with. The auditions, as we witnessed this year, actually bring new faces and new talents that you might not be familiar with and I think that’s an advantage for us. People will see new faces that will bring a new dimension to the awards,” he said.
Baya said the new changes were made possible by support from Culture Fund, who had heard the organisers’ pleas for more support for behind-the-scenes work.
“This year, we have another sponsor, as we are receiving major support from Culture Fund. This support is basically about what happens behind the scenes because this has been our cry. We have said in terms of the quality we want to deliver at the ceremony, we have been lacking here and there and therefore Culture Fund is coming in to support that element. So, I think we have held two workshops and auditions because we are trying to tighten up the production itself.
“We had a workshop around the technical aspect of the whole production. We tried to bring people who are versed in lights, sound, the Public Address System and all that to start working together, sharing ideas way before the ceremony so that we bring to our people a better, more dynamic award show,” he said.
Baya said more sponsors had entered the fray this year, with the excitement among Bulawayo’s business community illustrating the fact that the awards were an attractive spectacle.
“As always, it’s never enough but we are one of the events that need to be grateful because we have United Refineries, through their ROIL brand, that for quite a number of years have been our title sponsor and believe totally in what we do in celebrating Bulawayo and the arts, especially the arts that is created and consumed in Bulawayo. I think their support has been one of the reasons why we have gone so long and why we are this visible and exciting ceremony. We have people and companies that have been coming in to support and this is why we feel like we have a product that a lot of people want to rally behind. We hope that what we put together will be worth the support and energy that we are getting,” he said.
For the past few years, the RoilBAAs have changed the month that they are held in a few times, as organisers seek a date that they feel will land them maximum support from Bulawayo. After last year’s ceremony, which was held in December, Baya said they felt that competing with the host of events that were held in December, was not healthy for the awards ceremony.
“We have been here and then in terms of the date over the years but last year, we thought we had nailed down the perfect date when we scheduled the awards for December. We felt that since it was towards Christmas and people were in a festive mood, they would really like to go out. We felt that since our event is a dress-up event, it would make sense because people who we would be appealing to would already searching for places to go.
“However, we also then discovered that there are a lot activities around that time and right around that time, a lot of our target groups and even nominees would rather be with their families in the rural areas. That’s the time that they want to rest at home and even take holidays outside the country so, we felt maybe we were competing with too many things and then we decided that it would be for the best if we moved it to November. That is the main reason why we moved to that month. We feel like in terms of events, there aren’t as many around that time as there are in December so hopefully, we are going to attract more of our target audience this time around,” he said.
Baya said while the award show was getting bigger and better, they had not lost sight of the fact it was still meant to celebrate the city and its artistes.
“We keep saying that this is a platform that this is an event that, first, supports artistic excellence in Matabeleland and second, we just want to see people from Bulawayo and even from outside, to come, dress-up and enjoy. That is why we always sell the event as Bulawayo’s biggest dress-up event because we feel that, after you have done everything you can as an artiste, you need a day to celebrate, be yourself, dance, sing and be alive once in a while,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nkululeko Nkala, also an organiser of the RBAAs, said submissions for this year’s ceremony were now closed, while they were in the process of determining the prize for the winner of the hotly contested People’s Choice award.
“We closed nominations and submissions yesterday (Thursday) and from 1 November, tickets will go on sale and I think the early bird tickets will be very cheap. We are still working on the People’s Choice prize and thus far, I can say it is still too soon to announce anything with regards to that. We had auditions for performers and they should be ready soon,” he said.