PROJECT manager Tawanda Ndlovu says MutARE Tales Arts Association provides a platform for emerging artists to shine, grow and make a lasting impact which is rooted in Zimbabwe’s cultural heritage and the belief in art’s transformative power.
The association first came on board as a project in 2018 under Bigert Eggert, the founder.
It was later revived in 2023 as an association after a period of inactivity.
NewsDay Life & Style had a conversation with Ndlovu, where she disclosed that the association’s mission is to empower and inspire young artists from under-resourced communities by providing access to resources, mentorship and opportunities for creative expression.
A perfect and enchanting example was the October 2024 talent search held in Sakubva, Mutare, where hidden talents came to light.
Visual artists, who had once only sketched in silence from their homes, are now gaining visibility.
Musicians and poets found new platforms to amplify their voices and some even joined the association formally, a testament to the association’s power to inspire tangible change.
This work doesn’t happen in isolation.
- MutARE Tales Arts Association empowers creatives
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MutARE Tales has strategically partnered organisations such as Youth Development Initiative Trust, Young Entrepreneurs Trust Zimbabwe and Green Governance Zimbabwe Trust.
These collaborations have enabled the association to go beyond the arts and venture into entrepreneurship, climate awareness and youth leadership.
Over 20 artists have benefited from youth-centred programmes run in conjunction with these partners.
“When we did the mural or wall painting on environmental sustainability, that was primarily a project for the visual artists, but poets and singers were roped in and asked to come up with lyrics based on the mural and we did videos at the mural site,” Ndlovu said.
“At the launch, we had one of the dance groups perform and other singers also performed.”
ND: Your programmes focus mainly on mentorship and business skills. How important is entrepreneurship in today’s arts scene, especially for youth in Zimbabwe?
TN: I often say art is not understood for the role it plays in our day to day lives socially, culturally or even in the business sector.
Instead, it is seen as something of low value, that does not matter much in our society.
Because of this, we push the artists to be the ones to change the narrative.
This is why we take the artists through workshops and mentorship programmes so that they can get the necessary skills to be able to understand the basics of how to run a business because that is how they should view their art, not as a hobby, but as a business.
ND: How do you measure the long-term impact of your work on the artists you mentor and support?
TN: We smile when we see artists we have worked with getting recognition on different platforms and there are some who have been able to do amazing work at competitions or programmes.
Artists who perhaps started shy but were able to improve in terms of self-confidence and communication skills through the workshops.
Also just seeing the artists continuously engaged when they could have given up is truly heartwarming.
ND: Zimbabwe has a rich cultural legacy. How does MutARE Tales balance innovation with preserving traditional art forms and stories?
TN: We cannot separate art from culture.
In fact, our culture as diverse as it is, is expressed through art, so as we innovate, we still do so within our cultural context.
That is just the way it is.
I am personally very passionate about our cultural heritage as Zimbabwe, so as the project manager, I am currently working on projects that have a deliberate focus on the preservation of our culture and traditional values.
Resources allowing we have three projects planned where artists will be engaged in some very interesting work, rooted within who we are, our identity.
