{"id":27219,"date":"2016-07-01T12:42:14","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T10:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=27219"},"modified":"2016-07-01T12:42:14","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T10:42:14","slug":"let-them-smell-the-flowers-whilst-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2016\/07\/01\/let-them-smell-the-flowers-whilst-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Let them smell the flowers whilst alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

A <\/strong>lot has been said about Malawi not being vibrant enough to recognise its sons and daughters who excel in different sectors whilst they are still alive.<\/p>\n

All what the country has excelled in doing is talking great about these sons and daughters whenever they are dead.<\/p>\n

With all that said, the other sectors have tried their level best to recognise and reward those who have shined and shown great potential in their work.<\/p>\n

But it is a different story in the arts where artists have done great works and ended up putting the country on the world map but are never honoured whilst they are still alive.<\/p>\n

During the 2016 BET Awards held in United States of America which brought together several celebrities and recognised different artists including award winning actor Samuel Jackson for his contribution to the growth of Hollywood, one of the organisers pointed out that artists need to be recognised for their talents and that they should be given the flowers whilst still alive.<\/p>\n

The organiser further said it is important to decorate the artists whilst they are still alive for them to celebrate with their families and not when they are dead.<\/p>\n

There are lots of artists in the country, who have worked hard for this nation and yet they died without any recognition.<\/p>\n

Looking on the ground at the moment, there are no awards for the creative industry to reward and motivate them to continue producing the best.<\/p>\n

At onetime art organisations came together to put on the ground the Bwalo la Aluso Festival which saw several artists being recognised \u2013 but today this platform is no longer there.<\/p>\n

Several other event organisers have come up with awards, some of which have failed to live up to the expectations while others have only ended up stealing from the very same artists.<\/p>\n

Some arts organisations have continued to partner different organisations to award artists something which has helped in motivating artists to be more creative and produce more work and this includes the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Innovations Awards.<\/p>\n

The MBC Innovations Awards decorated several people from different sectors including visual artist Elson Kambalu in the creative industry.<\/p>\n

The arts and culture have been sidelined for a long time and yet have proved beyond reasonable doubt that it is one of the solutions to the economic problems the country is facing.<\/p>\n

Some quarters have come out to say that arts and culture are not that important and yet there are countries including United States of America which are doing well because its arts and culture.<\/p>\n

In the current budget, the Ministry of Sports and Culture has been under-funded and reasons which have been given are that it is a sector that is not that \u201cimportant.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what brings us to an initiative which has been started by veteran musician and retired deputy director of culture Bernard Kwilimbe.<\/p>\n

Through his creation \u2013 The Rainseekers Arts and Education Centre \u2013 Kwilimbe wants the sons and daughters, who have served the country to their best to be recognised.<\/p>\n

Having moved in the creative industry for years, Kwilimbe said he has seen a gap hence creating a platform that would decorate artists and others.<\/p>\n

The first event saw several artists which included Maria Chidzanja Nkhoma and Kambalu being decorated.<\/p>\n

And now another platform to award artists and other people has come up which will be held on July 15, 2016.<\/p>\n

Kwilimbe said the Rainseekers Arts In Education Conservatoire congregation will award certificates of recognition to deserving eminent individuals who have, with time, championed the cause for attaining their aspirations in life and acted as role models through hard work, scholarship, patience, wisdom, creativity and courage as well as providing mentoring to others.<\/p>\n

He described the Rainseekers Arts In Education Conservatoire as a teacher, social-cultural animator, artisan, artist and leadership education initiative based on the principle of providing basic management education for development as a way of complimenting the nation\u2019s socio-economic development agenda.<\/p>\n

Kwilimbe, who is the Principal and Initiator said that he created this platform not to make gains but he realised that there were a lot of people who have the done the best for the nation and yet they have never been recognised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need someone to come all the way from outside the country and decorate our artists and other people. This is why I took a step and I am happy that some people have come to support me in this project,\u201d said Kwilimbe.<\/p>\n

He said some of the people who will be rewarded this time around served in the government in different capacities and that they have retired.<\/p>\n

Through this platform Kwilimbe, also said he wants to help uplift the arts and culture but also motivate artists to keep on being creative.<\/p>\n

Some of those expected to be decorated this time around include The Malawi National Dance Troupe ( The Kwacha Cultural Troupe) which will be presented with the Malawi\u2019s Cultural Expressions \u2013 Song, Dance and Music Award.<\/p>\n

The Rainseekers Arts In Education Conservatoire congregation will also offer the Clare Joseph Bernard Certificate of Recognition Award to eminent Malawian individuals.<\/p>\n

The list of the recipients of the award for self starters and a Mark of courage at a tender age are Sean Shabaan Kwilimbe.<\/p>\n

There are also accolades of excellence to social cultural animators in visual arts, media and arts and culture communication and indigenous musical arts education.<\/p>\n

Some of the beneficiaries include visual artist Nickson Malamula, Owen Lupesya in the media, Waliko Makhala, Charles Mkanthama and award winning actress Joyce Mhango Chavula.<\/p>\n

There are also awards in the excellence in service: public, civic and gate keeping which will be awarded to Etta Mmangisa, Francis Kid Mkoloma, Vailet Kambuwa, Villi Chibonga, Enock Chibwana, Francis Makoza, Sam Martin Kankhobwe, Mteweti Wambali Mkandawire and Reverend Father Canon Michael Alumbeni Mkoko.<\/p>\n

Makoza, Kakhobwe and Mkoko will be awarded for showing a unique mark in Public and Civic Strategic Management Leadership Execution while Elta Mmangisa will be awarded for showing a unique mark of interest in enculting in the youth the notion of value classification for self esteem development<\/p>\n

Nkoloma will be awarded for showing a mark of innovativeness in the field of aeronautical engineering and related sciences while Chibonga will be awarded for being inspirational to the development of women in the Christian values counseling roles.<\/p>\n

The others are Vailet Kambuwa who will be awarded for championing the cause for unique fashion designs promotion in the garment industry through her Body Map Creations Brand Enterprise.<\/p>\n

Mtebeti Wambali Mkandawire, who has since said he will not be part of the awards will be decorated with a Mark of unique consistence in ensuring that one\u2019s musical attributes and aesthetic zeal and order bring about sanity, knowledge and sincerity In the populace\u2019s Thinking<\/p>\n

Makhala, who has since commended Kwilimbe for the move, will be awarded for showing a mark of unique zeal in ensuring that Malawi\u2019s Arts move centre stage through his ethnomusicology related aspects pursuits in research, documentation and performance as well as being a focal point for networking in the arts industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lot has been said about Malawi not being vibrant enough to recognise its sons and daughters who excel in different sectors whilst they are still alive. All what the country has excelled in doing is talking great about these sons and daughters whenever they are dead. With all that said, the other sectors have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27224,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27219\/revisions\/27224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}