ZIMBABWE Music Rights Association (Zimura) has failed to kick-start its Bulawayo Music and Cultural Centre project since its ground-breaking ceremony in 2018.
Zimura secured 5000 square meters of land at stand 18151, Emhlangeni from the City of Bulawayo for the purposes of constructing a Music & Cultural Centre complex.
The ground-breaking ceremony was held in 2018 which marked the beginning of the construction phase. Construction of the facilities' boundary walls started in 2022.
However the initial phase to raise the building is set to start this year once funding has been secured.
The project is expected to be complete by the end of the year 2025 and official opening will be announced once complete. The facility will benefit the creative industry, the community and the people of Bulawayo.
Zimura manager for Southern Region David Makombe told Standard Style that there are numerous challenges they are facing at the moment to ensure that the project succeeds.
“One of these is the limited resources that the organisation has in order to execute given that the organisation is a non-profit organisation. In this regard, it is seeking to partner a variety of organizations to ensure that the initial phase of the construction kick starts,” he said.
“The economic situation in the country also makes it difficult to ensure that the project construction starts. It is vital to note that Zimbabwe collects most of the royalties in local currency and as such the administration fee that it charges for the collection is continuously being hit by inflation.”
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Makombe said this makes it harder for the organization to fund the project as the local currency continues to lose value against the US dollar which most suppliers are charging in.
“Zimbabwe Music Rights Association seeks to engage quite a number of partners. Among the prospective partners is Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) which is one of the giants in the production of cement in the country," he said.
“Negotiations are still underway in trying to secure the funding.
“The organisation is also seeking to acquire grants and the business development office is in the process of applying for grants from foreign governments’ diplomatic missions for instance, the Japanese grants spearheaded by the Japanese Embassy.
“The organisation seeks to engage the government for possible funding as the government strives towards the realisation of the sustainable development goals.”
Makombe said the main thrust of the project is to help alleviate poverty among the youths by providing a space for them to work in the field of art.
“This will also improve the livelihoods of upcoming artistes by creating work for artistes and increasing income levels from art related activities. This will ensure that the nation achieves the sustainable development goals in line with national vision 2030 of an upper middle-income economy by the year 2030 as enshrined in the National Development Strategy 1," he said.
“The project also seeks to cover up the infrastructural gap that exists in the nation particularly in Bulawayo. Over the years, there has been dilapidation of music creative infrastructure and that has affected heavily the creative sector.
“Due to the economic situation in the country, the government cannot rehabilitate the existing infrastructure, therefore Zimbabwe Music Rights Association decided to construct such a state-of-the-art centre to fill in the infrastructural gap and equip the centre with modern music infrastructure.
“Moreover, the project also seeks to ensure that there is an increase in the creativity of the music sector. Music plays a crucial role in the economy of any nation and as such there is a need to ensure that we increase the creativeness of the sector. Creativeness is of greater significance in that it will enable the sector to be able to export our music production to other nations thereby increasing income generation.
“Quality music with meaningful lyrical and compositions will enable our artists to be invited in foreign nations and perform which therefore generate income to the nation. Given such a background, the Zimbabwe Music Rights aims to enhance creativity in the music sector to ensure there is production of quality music through the creation of studios equipped with modern infrastructure.”
In addition Makombe said the project seeks to ensure that there is skills development in the creative sector.
“Zimbabwe Music Rights Association with its various stakeholders and partners will hold workshops on the facility to teach people in the creative sector on how best they can monetise their works," he said.
“It is paramount to note that music is business and as such there is need to fully maximise the industry to ensure that there is social development of the people through enhanced economic stability in their lives.”
