Continental opportunity for creative youths
Malawian creative youths stand a chance of getting the platform for international exposure courtesy of the Oscar of African Creativity competition organised by the Egyptian government.
The initiative aims at supporting, promoting interest, talent and creativity of African youths in cultural, artistic and creative development-oriented activities and is open to all African youths aged between 18 and 35.
The event, expected to take place in Aswan, Egypt from September 1 to 10, will help discover and enhance visibility of African young talents and creative minds. It also aims at promoting the spirit of competition in different fields such as short films, music, plastic arts and animation.
The National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCM) is coordinating the initiative and has been tasked with receiving applications from local creatives interested to participate.
NYCM communications officer Kate Kujaliwa said they hope Malawian youths in the creative sector will make use of the opportunity to showcase their talents to the world.
She said: “The organisers made their own assessment where they found out that African youths are not being accorded enough space and platforms to showcase their talent to the world compared to youths from elsewhere. This is what moved this idea.”
Kujaliwa said Malawi has been allowed eight slots in plastic arts, three in short films category, three in animation and in music there is one slot of a group with a maximum number of 15 members. As per the requirements, aspirants are supposed to send a new original video of what they do.
“Though we had limited time to market the initiative, the response has been encouraging. As of today [Wednesday] we have received 23 applications. We hope by Friday when we will be closing the number will have tripled,” she said.
Kujaliwa said they will be responsible for transport costs for those who will be picked but the host nation will take care of accommodation, meals and local running costs. She said they are counting on the help from some of their working partners. In a separate interview, Egyptian deputy ambassador to Malawi Abdallah Hosny said the initiative is part of the country’s efforts in empowering African youths
