The two-day summit will be held from May 31 to June 1, 2023. The event is organised by the Botswana-EU Policy Dialogue Facility in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, NIRAS and the National Arts Council of Botswana.
Efua Bortsie from NIRAS explained that the objective of the summit is to guide Botswana’s culture and creative industries (CCI) sector towards commercialisation, piloting with the music industry.
Bortsie said the summit also seeks to identify shortfalls that restrict growth and pinpoint approaches that will enable Botswana’s CCI stakeholders to commercialise resulting in improved revenue streams across. “This event is an inaugural two-day event that is a confluence of artists, industry executives, educators, entrepreneurs and policy makers in a collaborative and educational series of interviews, panels and performances. Attendees will learn about the CCI– music industry from unique local and international perspectives brought to life with stories, practical experiences and dialogue on present challenges and opportunities,” Bortsie said.
Furthermore, she stated that the objective of the summit is to create an enabling environment to discuss pertinent issues and opportunities for the CCI sector to grow in Botswana. “Moreover, we see the event as a great platform for artists and other industry players to form potential collaborations and expand their networks. A core part of the project is to use all the information discussed during the summit to feedback into policy/regulation recommendations that would be put forward to the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sports, and Culture to review,” she added.
Bortsie also said the summit will host both international and local cultural and creativity industry players. Despite its stagnancy over the years, government has identified the creative sector as potentially significant to the nation’s Transformational Agenda. As stated in the Transformational Agenda 2036, the creative industry is earmarked as a sector that can create employment and diversify the country’s economy while also allowing for foreign exchange.
Additionally, the CCI is seen as pivotal to the transformational agenda due to capacity to enhance economic growth opportunities as well as complementarities and business linkages with other economic sectors such as tourism.
