Deputy Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Owen Chomanika Monday unveiled technical assistance from Unesco Aschberg Programme for the development of regulations to establish the Malawi National Arts and Heritage Programme.
The development comes as the creative sector continues to lobby for the establishment of National Arts and Heritage Council (Nahec) whose Draft Bill is yet to be enacted in Parliament.
Chomanika, who represented Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda in his remarks the event in Lilongwe, said that the government through Department of Arts, has secured sponsorship from the Unesco Aschberg Programme.
He said the sponsorship is in form of technical assistance for the development of regulations for the establishment and operationalization of the Malawi National Arts and Heritage Promotion Fund and that this offer comes with a complementary package of US$30,000.
“Under this project, the Unesco Aschberg Programme will support the Malawi government with two experts, who will work on the development of regulations of the fund. The experts will do a desk review of similar establishments, hold stakeholder consultations, and do a validation meeting of the regulations,” Chomanika said.
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He said the experts will also conduct a comparative analysis to appreciate how cultural trust funds are managed within the region.
“The Malawi National Arts and Heritage Promotion Fund is one of the provisions proposed in both the National Cultural Policy and the National Arts and Heritage Council. The fund will also be in response to the findings of the review of the sector done in 2019 which identified the need for the establishment of multiple and robust financing structures for the cultural and creative industries,” Chomanika said.
With the fund established, the deputy minister said operators and stakeholders in the sector will have access to financial resources that will help in implementing creative projects, enjoy rights to artistic freedom and promote the diversity of cultural expressions.
“The fund will support the Malawi 2063 which calls for policy interventions to make arts and culture as one of the sectors to grow the economy through income generation among artists, in communities where arts and culture thrive, and through export of creative products and services,” he said.
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Senior Assistant Executive Secretary for Malawi National Commission for Unesco Christopher Magomero said the development means the government is committed to the establishment of the long awaited National Arts and Heritage Council (Nahec) with a fund that will support artists, cultural professionals and practitioners.
“It also gives hope that the status and freedom of artists will improve if Nahec and the National Arts and Heritage Promotion (Nahep) Fund are established,” Magomero said.
Unesco Aschberg Programme is one of the programmes run by Unesco and aims at supporting initiatives by governments and civil society organisations whose goals are to protect and promote artistic freedom in over 25 countries. The programme is run with financial support from the government of Norway.
