The Malawi Government has allocated K50 million per constituency translating to K11.4 billionin the reformed Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to promote arts and culture and transform them into viable tourism ventures.
Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture director of arts Humphreys Mpondaminga disclosed this on Friday in Zomba during the official launch of a report of a mapping study of the arts and cultural industries in Malawi conducted by the University of Malawi. He said under the current set up, government wants artists in every constituency to access the funds and use it towards promoting arts and cultural activities.
“We want the arts sector to become a viable tourism option. People within and outside Malawi should appreciate our artistic and cultural products. This is how dedicated government is in promoting arts and culture,” he said.
Mpondaminga said that under the new set up, groups that perform arts and cultural activities will have to take the initiative to apply for the funds.
He assured Malawians that the forms for application are simplified.
Chiradzulu Nyungwe legislator Macpherson Ndalama (Democratic Progressive Party) said artists should take advantage of the development to do more.
“This demonstrates that government is serious about arts and culture. We just have to think and make sure that we put the money to good use,” he said.
Ndalama, who also heads Zaluso Arts Organisation, said artists should take this development as an opportunity to use culture and arts as a tourism tool.
“We must also develop a spirit of appreciating our own arts and culture. This way our industry can grow,” he said.
Ndalama said as a policy maker, he expects the government to soon operationalise the National Arts and Heritage Council (Nahec).
“As MPs, we did our part by passing the Bill and we hope soon the Nahec law will be fully operational,” he said.
The parliamentarian said under the CDF, they have simplified the application forms for arts funds at constituency level to make it easy for arts actors to access the funds regardless of party politics affiliations.
Currently, Malawi has 229 constituencies, meaning government is committing K11.4 billion to the arts development every year.
On his part, principal investigator of the study Professor Zindaba Chisiza said the study has discovered that the industry is youthful and needs support from government.
“The arts industry has potential, but it needs deliberate initiatives that can help it grow and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s development. These include access to tailored grants and credit facilities, increased private-public partnerships and building skills and professional capacity through targeted training programmes, among others,” he said.
Government introduced the reformed CDF, increasing the funds from K220 million to K5 billion per constituency.
According to the study on arts and cultural industry, the sector contributes K28 billion to the annual gross domestic product.
