Windhoek — The National Arts Council of Namibia (NACN) has disbursed an amount of N$1.3 million to Namibian artists this year.

This is more than half-a-million dollars more than last year, its first year of granting financial assistance to the arts fraternity. The grants were made to performing artists, theatre organisations, visual artists, crafts persons, authors, poets, playwrights and media arts.

Performing artists were granted N$323200, while theatre organisations received N$93103 and visual artists walked away with the bulk of the funding, namely N$591042. Three crafts projects received a total amount of N$63451, three literature artists received N$40000 in total and the only two media arts applicants that met the criteria were granted a total amount of N$51643.

According to Nicky Marais, a Council Board Member who made the announcement, the council has also decided to support a few ad hoc projects. It will sponsor flight tickets to the US of local accapella and classical group, Vocal Motion 6, to participate in the Voluntary Visitors Programme organised by the American Cultural Centre. The group will attend vocalisation training workshops at colleges with professional artists. They will also perform and have the opportunity to promote themselves at venues in different states. Marais said this project meets the council's mandate of skills development and promotion of local artists.

She also announced that the council would partner with Omalaeti in its 'Uukololo-poetry/story telling night', which will be held at the Zoo Park in Windhoek every week. An amount of N$7750 per week has been budgeted for this project, where poets and storytellers can recite traditional poetry and tell folk stories.

She added that the council was promoting various events and programmes to achieve its mission to build an environment that is enabling for the identification and development of the creative talents of all Namibians for the betterment of self, community and nation and also to encourage the development of a sustainable arts industry.

According to Marais, the granting of financial assistance to artists and arts organisations was one of the main activities of the National Art Fund. The funding was established to assist artists across all spheres to carry out art related activities aimed at building their capacity.

"The Fund endeavors to support artists through the provision of financial or material support to enable them to show and promote their creative talents, with the idea that this may encourage them to begin to make a sustainable income from these exploits," she said.

The National Arts Council received about 200 applications from all 13 political regions of the country.

"The Arts Council will provide technical assistance to ensure the sustainable implementation of the approved projects and it would also continue to build the capacity of those who did not qualify for this year's round of funding so that they could perhaps be assisted in future," she added.