Gweru (New Ziana) – The Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation has disbursed $$700 000 to artists in the Midlands Province as part of the government’s Covid-19 financial relief to the arts industry.
The government has set aside $10 million for the industry to help alleviate the plight of artists who are no longer able to work and earn an income.
Midlands Provincial Arts and Culture Development and Promotions officer, Shockson Reward said a total of 471 applications for support had been received from artists, and the funds were being disbursed.
The money was being disbursed via Netone’s OneMoney facility.
Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, artists are no longer able to conduct shows, and earn an income.
“We received 471 applications in total for Midlands province. Approved were 112 individual applicants, 17 associations or groups, making it a total of 129 beneficiaries. They were approved by our provincial committee which comprised of National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) officials. But the selection process was done at district level by district committees. Individual artists received ZWL $ 5 000 each and groups received ZWL $7 500 each,” Reward said.
“As a province, we will keep requesting for more Covid-19 artists relief fund since many more artists are yet to receive the funds,” he said.
New Ziana
