The eThekwini Municipality says it will work with the arts and entertainment sector to help them with a recovery plan from the impact of COVID-19. This came out of the municipality’s meeting with artists.
The meeting comes a year after a group of artists blockaded the N3 highway demanding that lockdown regulations be relaxed to allow for live events.
Artists take to the streets pleading with the government to relax COVID-19 regulations:
Chief Executive Officer of the production house, Word of Mouth Pictures, Mandla KaNozulu, has called for investment in television dramas and feature films.
“We want funding. We need to create the work that will take our kids, our young actors to Broadway.”
Another artist says, “Being a gospel musician, I was singing all over the world, but because of COVID-19, I’m now a funeral singer. I celebrate nothing about COVID. I’ve lost so many people, and I’m losing so many people through depression.”
Acting Head of the eThekwini Municipality’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture Vusi Mazibuko says the unit’s function is evolving into developing talent as a critical function.
“Because the interventions that we have are not, in the main, shaped by your own desires and your own needs. They are mainly shaped by the historic data that we have and programmes that we may have developed over time. Some of those may no longer be relevant at this stage.”
