At this year’s Yarona FM Music Awards in Gaborone where the government introduced the Arts and Culture Grant, a powerful conversation echoed far beyond the celebration of musical talent that was aplenty
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
A clear and urgent call to action was made at the Yarona FM Music Awards (YAMAs) in Gaborone recently — Botswana’s creative industry needs bigger cheques, diversified funding, and bold strategies to stake its claim on the global stage.
The call was made by the Chairman of Business Botswana’s Creative Arts and Media sector, Tonderai Tsara. “We stand at a crossroads where we don’t have the kind of funding we see in other countries,” he stated.
“Sponsorships are under pressure, the cheques are small and are not big enough for everybody. So how do we fund all these dreams and export our talent?”
60% of P7bn
Tsara painted a vivid picture of what is possible. In Australia, giants like Google and Facebook contribute to funding journalism. Locally, although mechanisms like COSBOTS, CIPA and the media levy exist, they remain insufficient to meet the scale of ambition among Botswana’s creatives.
Tsara underscored the immense value that creatives generate in today’s digital economy. “When you pay for the internet, only 5% of it is emails and Zoom calls — the rest is music, YouTube and movies,” he said. With telecommunications a staggering P7 billion industry in Botswana, creatives generate about 60% of that content and deserve a larger slice of the pie.
“If we analyse the ecosystem of what drives the internet, and look at what others are doing, it should be easy and simple to get to a point where our cheques are bigger, our funds well-funded, and Botswana’s creativity becomes a global export,” Tsara asserted.
In a timely response, the Assistant Minister of State President, Maipelo Mophuting, unveiled a beacon of hope when she introduced the Arts and Culture Grant.
Potential renaissance
Under it, artists and cultural practitioners and organisations will soon access up to P50,000 for smaller projects and up to P250,000 for larger initiatives. “This is more than just funding,” said Mophuting. “It is our way of saying we see you, we believe in you, and we are ready to invest in your voice.”
The government is also laying the groundwork for the National Creative Arts and Film Fund as a sustainable pool of capital aimed at supporting large-scale projects — which is a significant move aligning with Botswana’s Vision 2036 objectives of cultural preservation, economic diversification and job creation.
For Botswana’s creatives, long shackled by financial limitations, these developments signal the beginning of a potential renaissance. With such thoughtful policies, diversified funding streams and sustained advocacy, the country is poised to transform its creative economy into a robust, export-driven powerhouse.