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Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF)
- Annual Event
LINKFEST 2004 - Biannual Event Book Cafe :: discusses an Artist's Charter for Zimbabwe DAILY UPDATED ZIM NEWS SITES MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT :: www.mmpz.org.zw MMPZ produces weekly reports of its findings, which are available by e-mail for free. The reports are also published in Zimbabwe's mainstream newspapers every weekend.The weekly reports are a result of intensive monitoring of all news and current affairs on radio, television and the print media. The media monitored are: Radio: ZBC Three FM, Radio Zimbabwe and SW Radio Africa Television: ZBC1 (MMPZ watches other international channels for local news) Print: Zimpapers (The Herald, The Chronicle, The Sunday News, The Sunday Mail and the Manica Post); The Zimbabwe Independent, The Standard, The Daily News, The Mirror, The Financial Gazette, The Business Tribune and the Weekend Tribune DAILY UPDATED ZIMBABWE NEWS SITES ZIMBABWEAN FUNDRAISING CHARITIES *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Zimbabwe Interenational Book Fair (Annual Event held July/Aug)
_______________________________________________________ LINKFEST-2004-LINKFEST-2004-LINKFEST-2004-LINKFEST-2004 Nov 03 Here is info from
LINKFEST 2002 LINKFEST Art Promoters : U.S. contact Global Works! Globalwks@aol.com Phone/fax 614-253-1605 {Readers note that this will be at
the time of the next Total Eclipse on
INVITATION TO DISCUSS An ARTIST'S CHARTER for Zimbabwe The Book Café is acting as a facilitator for an initiative currently being discussed amongst artists and intellectuals, called: An Artists' Charter for Zimbabwe. There was an inaugural (closed) meeting on Thursday 30 May at 5:30pm at Book Café, to begin working out a structure and way forward. If you would like to participate in future meetings and friends you feel should be invited, please go ahead inform them too. Much of this work is done by word of mouth. Here below is a background document setting out the broad parameters of this initiative. There is considerable scope for flexibility. This is a draft document for discussion purposes only. The meeting itself will go about defining this initiative as an accurate reflection of the perspective of artists. At this time, our view as facilitator is simply that artists and creative workers in Zimbabwe should begin a vital process, in the national interest, to define the role of the artist in Zimbabwean society and conditions needed as artists to fulfill the potential of our creative industries. The creative industries have potential and untapped resources to galvanise and empower society, socially and economically, in ways that no other group can. The vital link is that artists themselves discuss and define their role, through such a charter. Paul Brickhill Director, Book Cafe bricks@mweb.co.zw Artists and Creative Workers of Zimbabwe. A document for disscussion at the BookCafe by Paul Brickell What will you tell your children when they ask what you did at this moment in Zimbabwe’s history? Artists and creative workers are the collective conscience of the nation. They reflect our identity and give shape to the diverse ways society sees itself. However one interprets current events, we all know that Zimbabwe is at the crossroads of immense social and cultural adjustment – bringing new opportunities, challenges and dangers. Most of the time our focus is on immediate issues and problems – but is falls to the artist and intellectual to question what underlying trends and contradictions are shaping our way of life, in the past, present and future. What is the vision of our society, in 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, a century to come? It is, we believe, essential, for artists and creative workers to collaborate, in a renewed spirit of nation-building, to draft an "Artists’ and Creative Workers’ Charter", and proceed to sign the same and bring it to the attention of the nation. It is a charter, composed and drafted by the cultural community for itself, for benefit of the nation. Why is this necessary? What is a charter all about? National policy is the prerogative of political leadership, determined by elections through the will of the people. Artists and intellectuals, on the other hand, bear responsibility to reflect, through creative work, social values, ethics, what is sacred, what is expedient, what IS the individual, the community, the nation. It is never-ending. Every work of art and intellectual product says something. About who we are, how we live, what we think, what we laugh and cry about, how we see the world, where we came from and where we are going, what fears we face – as individuals and communities. Artists therefore have immense responsibility in creating consciousness and reflecting the many-sided realities of society. Without this process, society cannot progress. It falls to the artists and creative workers to seek to understand honestly, the inner forces of society. Contradictions abound: between urban and rural life; the logic of homogeneity and the richness of diversity; the generations that lived in Rhodesia and the "born-frees" which read this in school. The inequity between the top 3% and the impoverishment of workers and peasants has accelerated the sense of a country in a crisis of contradictions. Such searching questions cannot be addressed solely in conditions of political or economic expediency, with ad hoc approaches to deep-rooted problems. Without effort from producers of culture, Zimbabwe may not escape the grip of "decisions of expediency" made by forces, in society, which see their interests only in the short term. If you are interested in contributing to this debate initated by Paul Brickell at a gathering of invited artists at the BookCafe last Thursday you can contact him at bricks@mweb.co.zw
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