COPPERBELT ARTS ARE RISING AGAIN: KANGWA CHILESHE RALLIES CREATIVES TOWARDS A NEW ERA OF PRODUCTION

Oct 4

6 min read

Kitwe artists engage Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts and National Arts Council leadership as Government support, international exposure and renewed creative activity point towards a stronger Copperbelt arts sector

The atmosphere at Kitwe Little Theatre carried a strong sense of possibility as artists from Kitwe and surrounding towns gathered for an engagement with senior leadership from the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts and the National Arts Council of Zambia.

At the centre of the engagement was Kangwa Chileshe, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts, whose message to the creative community reflected Government’s continuing focus on opening opportunities, strengthening artistic development and exposing Zambian talent to platforms beyond the country.

The engagement brought Government and artists into the same room to discuss not only the challenges confronting the sector, but also the opportunities emerging through Government programmes, international exposure, arts development and the revitalisation of creative spaces.

For the Copperbelt, the significance of that conversation goes beyond a single meeting.

It speaks to something bigger: a province with an extraordinary creative history beginning to rediscover its artistic energy.

KANGWA CHILESHE: EXPOSURE MUST HELP BUILD THE SECTOR

During the engagement, Permanent Secretary Kangwa Chileshe highlighted the importance Government attaches to creating opportunities for Zambians to gain exposure beyond the country.

A number of practitioners have benefited from Government support this year to participate in activities outside Zambia across different disciplines, including film festivals, theatre festivals and other artistic platforms, while similar international exposure has been facilitated within sport, including football.

That approach is important because international exposure should not be viewed simply as an opportunity to travel.

When a Zambian filmmaker attends an international film festival, they enter an environment where films are not only screened, but financed, marketed, distributed, sold and connected to international audiences. They meet producers, directors, distributors, commissioning executives and other professionals who can potentially become future collaborators.

The same applies to theatre. Participation in international theatre festivals exposes practitioners to different approaches to performance, directing, stagecraft, production design, audience development and the commercial possibilities surrounding live performance.

Sport provides similar lessons. Exposure to international competition and professional environments allows practitioners to experience different standards, systems and methods that can eventually strengthen development at home.

The real value of such exposure therefore lies in what practitioners bring back to Zambia: knowledge, professional standards, confidence, networks and an understanding of how their disciplines operate internationally.

THE COPPERBELT MUST PRODUCE AGAIN

The message from Kitwe should also challenge the Copperbelt creative community itself.

Government can create programmes. Institutions can facilitate opportunities. The corporate sector can provide partnerships. Arts facilities can be rehabilitated and strengthened.

But ultimately, artists must create.

The Copperbelt needs productions.

It needs films.
It needs theatre.
It needs music.

It needs documentaries, television programmes, animation, photography, visual arts and digital content.

The province has produced significant artistic talent throughout Zambia’s history, and the opportunity now is to transform that heritage into a contemporary creative economy capable of competing nationally, regionally and internationally.

That revival must include film.

The Copperbelt possesses an extraordinary combination of locations, stories, performers, writers, musicians, technicians and communities capable of supporting a thriving film and television production ecosystem.

Film is particularly important because it connects so many disciplines. A single production can employ writers, actors, cinematographers, directors, editors, sound professionals, costume designers, makeup artists, musicians, photographers, graphic designers, caterers, transport providers and numerous other businesses.

When film production grows, an entire value chain can grow around it.

KITWE LITTLE THEATRE SYMBOLISES WHAT IS POSSIBLE

There was also significance in holding the engagement at Kitwe Little Theatre.

Creative infrastructure cannot simply exist as buildings carrying memories of what happened there decades ago. These spaces must become active again.

A functioning theatre should host performances, rehearsals, workshops, film screenings, festivals, training programmes and other cultural activities. It should become a meeting point between experienced practitioners and emerging talent.

For the Copperbelt to experience a genuine artistic resurgence, its creative spaces must once again become places where productions are born.

This is why Government engagement with artists within these spaces matters. It allows leadership to experience the environment in which practitioners operate and better understand both its potential and its challenges.

INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES MUST CREATE LOCAL IMPACT

As more Zambian practitioners gain international exposure, there is also an important responsibility to ensure that the knowledge acquired does not remain with individual beneficiaries.

A filmmaker returning from an international festival should be able to share knowledge with other filmmakers. A theatre practitioner who encounters new production methods abroad should be encouraged to transfer some of that knowledge to colleagues. The same principle applies across music, visual arts and sport.

That is how individual exposure becomes sector development.

One person travels, but many people can eventually benefit.

Over time, those experiences can raise standards across the industry and prepare more Zambians to enter international platforms with greater confidence.

ARTISTS MUST ALSO POSITION THEMSELVES FOR OPPORTUNITY

The Kitwe engagement also demonstrated why direct interaction between Government and practitioners is necessary.

Artists need accurate information about the programmes being developed for them. At the same time, institutions need to understand what artists are experiencing on the ground.

These engagements therefore create an important bridge between policy and practice.

But creatives must also recognise that opportunity comes with responsibility.

The modern artist must increasingly understand professionalism, intellectual property, contracts, markets, digital platforms, financial management and the business side of creativity.

A filmmaker cannot think only about making a film. They must eventually understand who will watch it, where it will be distributed, how it will generate revenue and how the intellectual property can continue creating value.

The same applies across the arts.

Government support can create opportunities, but sustainable creative careers ultimately require artists to transform talent into professional practice.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS CAN ACCELERATE THE REVIVAL

The wider Copperbelt working visit has also placed emphasis on strengthening relationships with the corporate sector.

That conversation is particularly relevant on the Copperbelt, where some of Zambia’s largest mining, energy and industrial companies operate alongside a substantial creative community.

Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, can help support cultural infrastructure, festivals, training, artistic development and community programmes.

However, the relationship should eventually move beyond sponsorship.

Artists are businesses.

Filmmakers produce corporate films and documentaries. Photographers create professional imagery. Designers develop brands. Musicians and performers support events. Digital creators communicate with audiences. Production companies create advertising and communication content.

The Copperbelt creative economy should therefore increasingly position itself not only as a sector seeking corporate support, but also as a professional industry capable of doing business with Corporate Zambia.

NAMA SEES AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A COPPERBELT CREATIVE RESURGENCE

NAMA President Morgan Mbulo, who participated in the engagement, has continued to emphasise the importance of revitalising the Copperbelt creative sector and ensuring that filmmakers and other practitioners take advantage of the opportunities emerging around them.

For NAMA, rebuilding the sector will require cooperation between artists, Government, the National Arts Council, arts institutions and the corporate community.

The Copperbelt does not lack talent.

What is needed is an ecosystem capable of converting that talent into productions, businesses, employment and intellectual property.

This means getting creative facilities working again, encouraging production, strengthening professional standards, connecting artists to markets and ensuring that opportunities for exposure ultimately contribute towards stronger industries at home.

THE COPPERBELT IS NOT STARTING AGAIN, IT IS BOUNCING BACK

Perhaps the most important message emerging from the Kitwe engagement is that the Copperbelt does not need to reinvent its creative identity.

The foundation already exists.

This is a province that has produced artists, musicians, performers, broadcasters and filmmakers across generations.

What is required now is a resurgence.

But this resurgence must belong to the present generation.

It must embrace film and television production, theatre, music, animation, digital content, new technologies and the changing global creative economy.

It must create opportunities for young talent while retaining the knowledge of experienced practitioners.

And it must connect local creativity to national, regional and international markets.

The engagement led by Permanent Secretary Kangwa Chileshe, together with the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts and the National Arts Council of Zambia, therefore represents another important step in reconnecting artists with the programmes, institutions and opportunities surrounding their sector.

Government support and international exposure can open doors.

Institutions can create platforms.

Corporate partnerships can provide additional momentum.

But ultimately, artists must walk through those doors and create.

The Copperbelt has produced before. It has inspired before. It has entertained Zambia before.

Now it is time to produce again.

The talent is here. The stories are here. The creative spaces are here. Opportunities are beginning to open.

The Copperbelt creative sector is not merely looking back at its glory. It is preparing to bounce back and build a new one.

By Morgan MbuloPresident, National Association of Media Arts, NAMAMedia Consultant