ResiliArt Accelerator, an organization that supports young female creatives, has finished its pilot mentorship program, which included five young artists from Harare and Bulawayo. It aims to expand next year.
The five female artistes selected for the pilot project are Nothando Chiwanga a performing artiste and photographer; Nasibo, a musician; Prudence Nyahangare, who is into visual art, Thandokuhle Sibanda, a poet; and Yolanda Ngwenya, a fashion designer
ResiliArt Accelerator is funded by UNESCO and the Embassy of Japan.
“The aim of the project was to train 5 female creators in Zimbabwe from different parts of Zimbabwe in the necessary skills they need to develop their business. So the project started in June and it ended today, December,” said project’s community manager Vera Chisvo.
The artistes were trained over a period of 6 months by 5 local coaches in business skills, communication, digital media, law and applying for funding.
She added that the project serves to both encourage aspiring women to pursue careers in the creative industry and to serve as a reminder to female artists that there are business options in this heavily male-dominated field.
“We were looking for people who had been in the industry for at least 3 years, that was the minimum requirement we were looking at and we were also looking at the level of professionalism or expertise or experience that one had in term of their performance level,”
“It was just meant for 5 girls this year but then for next year the plan is to make it regional and to scale up so this was just a pilot to see how does it work, is it practical where do we need to fix how much more we need and things like that,” added Chisvo.
The beneficiaries will share their learnings with girls and young women in their communities through an outreach component, creating a positive cascading effect that promotes creative entrepreneurship among the target group.
