By Staff writer
THE Midlands Royalty Arts Awards(MRAA) are set to return this year after a three year absence, organisers of the awards have announced.
This time around though, the awards have been twerked to focus on talent development in the remote areas of the province.
MRAA co-founder and director Clever Bokosha said the actual dates for this year’s event will be released later this month but tentatively the awards ceremony is scheduled for this November.
Bokosha added that after the last awards held three years ago, the organisers felt that they were letting artists in the province down hence the decision to revive the awards.
“The Midlands Royalty Arts Awards were on a hold due to a multiple reasons and they have returned after noticing that there is still a gap in the Midlands Province in terms of celebrating and promoting artists,” he told this publication.
“Therefore, these awards are back so that they can continue with work that they have been doing. We have changed slightly in the sense that this year’s edition of the awards, the organisation is more focused on scouting talent and artists in the rural parts of the province however, we are not leaving out the artists in the urban parts of the Province.”
He added that on top of giving awards to artists, MRAA will also embark on a program to empower artists through trainings that will enhance the artists’ proficiency in the industry.
“This year’s edition is not focused on just awarding the artists, but as an organisation we are aiming to conduct workshops on various topics with the objective of leaving these artists with not just an award but skills which are necessary for their careers,” Bokosha added.
The MRAA are the brain child of Bokosha and Farai Chigumbu, and were started in 2020 mainly focusing on celebrating teenagers in the arts industry, before expanding to include all artists.
So far, the awards have been held twice, with the inaugural awards in 2020 and the subsequent ceremony the following year.
