ORGANISERS of the annual Bulawayo Arts Awards (BAAs) said this year’s edition of the awards ceremony will be bigger, better, and glitzy and should stand head and shoulders above the rest in the country.
BY NKULULEKO SIBANDA
One of the brains behind the awards, playwright Raisedon Baya, told NewsDay Life & Style that they were committed to hosting the awards.
“We are definitely going to have the Bulawayo Arts Awards this year. This will be the third year of the awards and we are dreaming of having a bigger and better ceremony.
“Our plans will go ahead, no matter what. Our prayer and hope is that we get partners for the event who will help us carry the event through.”
Baya said this year they hoped to attract big sponsors and partners for the event to cement their plans of having a bigger event compared to those in previous years.
“We have bigger plans this year; we gave away about 45 awards last year and this year we want to increase these awards to 50, but this has to be backed by entries for the various categories that we have lined up, and of course, the sponsors,” he said.
Baya said the awards were not only meant to celebrate achievements made by artistes, but also celebrate the city and the people of Bulawayo who have supported the arts industry despite the prevailing harsh economic environment.
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“This is an event (awards ceremony) for the people of Bulawayo, where we celebrate with them the achievements of the arts sector. It is the event for the people of Bulawayo and we hope that they will be able to come out in their numbers and support their own who have done well in the field of the arts,” he said.
Baya said if everything goes according to plan, the awards entries call would open during the first week of March.
“We have already started working on this event. We are expecting artists to submit works they produced between July last year and April this year. The call set to open on March 1st will closing in May,” he said.
“We hope that the community of Bulawayo will take time to go out and prepare adequately for this event and help us make it big as we envision it as the organizers.”
Last year’s edition of the awards was partly sponsored by the United Refineries using its Roil cooking oil brand.
