New art gallery on the cards

Kgomotso Modise

With the arts and culture sector suffering from a shortage of art galleries and museums, a new art gallery is in the pipeline and is scheduled to open next month in Gaborone.
The art gallery dubbed The Creative Shack and Gallery is the brainchild of radio personality Thabo ‘Drew Chadhall’ Letsebe. It will be based in Molapo Crossing and will mainly cater for young artists who will be given a chance to exhibit their works.
“The Creative Shack and Gallery is an exhibition and showcase hub for youth in arts. I have had a dream for over five years to open a gallery that can be center for artists, each month we will partner with an artist that will showcase their work all month long. We will have regular openings and the gallery will host workshops on business of art and workmanship,” said Drew Chadhall.
He explained that the art gallery was mainly established to assist artists without a place to exhibit or sell their work.
“Anything on canvas will be on our walls at the gallery, however we will be strict on professionalism and presentation. Obviously, we are not looking for mediocre. We will have a membership and also open for guests from all over the world, all we need is a link to your work, our council will review your work and go over logistics, then create history with you. Each week of the month, we will update our walls with new artworks”.
Chadhall said he expected the gallery to open opportunities for young artists in Botswana and that it will be a hub for them to network and interact with other artists.
“We will host an opening for the artist and then go through a month of marketing your work. Guests from everywhere will be invited to come check it out and we will even extend our invitations to other galleries and artists across the globe. Each week, guests from corporate, government and private sectors will be hosted to tour the gallery and pick artworks to buy,” Chadhall further explained.
The Creative Shack and Gallery is set to work closely with Thapong Visual Arts Centre and corporations in order to generate funds by the selling artworks.
The gallery will be one of the very few in the country, and will join Sophie Lalonde and Thapong Visual Arts Centre in giving artists opportunity to grow their trade
Chadhall and his team have been previously promoting the arts sector by hosting events such as Chillstep Sundays whereby artists exhibit and sell their works. Meanwhile Chadhall has announced his resignation at Yarona FM where he has been working as a radio presenter for the past eight years. He says he now wants to focus on his business.