Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation (JCMC), the event organisers tasked with putting the National Arts Merit Awards together surprised many with a great show at the 20th edition held last month despite limitations. Gem Nation News (GNN) spoke to JCMC executive director and producer of the NAMAs Napoleon Nyanhi (NN), on the event and how they managed to pull it through. Read the excerpts.
GNN: Congratulations on the successful 20th edition of NAMA, tell us how you pulled it through?
NN: Let me start by saying, thank you for the support. It was a hard road but we pulled it through. It took a lot of planning and organising, running around looking for sponsorship and the sorts. We started preparing for this year’s edition in July last year. Coming up with concepts, themes, approaching potential sponsors, reaching out to artists and all that. It takes time and it needs time to come up with an event that caters for different people. So I’d say giving the project enough planning period and approaching people whilst there was still time helped us pull through with the event.
GNN: Explain to us how you felt about the production?
NN: Mixed feelings i must stay. It came out pretty well, it was a good production. There were quite a few mistakes that my team noted and we hope to rectify at the next NAMA. it is quite daunting being at the epicentre of it all and knowing exactly how things were supposed to come out, those little mistakes became big pain points. But overally, I feel we pulled off quite a good event.
GNN: How many performing artists did you engage this time?
NN: In this year’s edition we had a bag of talented artist. In total, we had about 95 artists including the bands and groups. These include Molly Dzangare, Xcul Boi, Kadjah, ma9, Mokoomba, Enzo Ishall, Breezman, Tanto Wavvie, Crooger, Jnr Brown, Awa Khiwe, Mimmie, Janet Manyowa, Zimpraise, Unveiled, Minister Mike Mahendere, Mbeu, Mambo Dhuterere, Nyasha David, Nutty O, Kae Chaps, Kikky BadAss, the band, the acrobats, the drummers , the dancers, the emcees for red carpet and the main show.
GNN: What are some of the concepts you used in the production?
NN: The national arts merit award being a national event as well as the premier award ceremony in the country had to be produced with concepts that feed in to the culture and lifestyle of the people. Also one of our aims being taking Zimbabwean events to the next level we had to think big. We decided to include different artists from different genres to make the night eventful. The concept of doing medleys was one major concept we used that made the production stand out. we thought as this event is for the artists why not include as many artists as we could from musicians, dancers, bands, speakers, acrobats, designers and others to come up with something solid and unforgettable. It took a lot of planning and coordinating, but it was all worth it.
GNN: do you see NAMA improving with each edition and why?
NN: Yes, of course. With every edition we try to do something fresh and new. We try to up the levels and take Zimbabwean events to greater heights, and with NAMA being the premier award ceremony in the country, we try by all means to keep improving it and bringing up unique concepts with every edition. of course, it being an awards event there are certain things we cannot change or run away from but we strive to make every edition bigger and better than the previous.
GNN: How many NAMA editions have you put up as jacaranda culture and media corporation?
GNN: As the Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation, we got the contract to run the National Arts Merit Awards in 2019, and we ran our first edition which was the 19th edition of NAMA in 2020. in 2021, Covid-19 took quite a toll on us but we did not stop we held a virtual edition which was NAMA legends, which honored 40 legends of the arts industry, the 2021 edition did not necessary count as an edition of the NAMA as it was a virtual one. So this year’s edition was the 20th edition. Basically we have been running the NAMA for 3 years now; the 19th edition in 2020, NAMA legends edition in 2021 and the 20th edition this year.
GNN: What sort of support do you give to NAMA as JCMC?
NN: Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation is an events management company, therefore giving it the platform to run such a high class, state of the art national event puts the event company on the map. JCMC however, supports the national arts merit awards through giving it the right services needed to host the award ceremony. It offers event management skills, artist management, recording studio and other facilities relevant and suitable to make the event organized and extraordinary. This year JCMC was also a major sponsor of the event as it covered the gap that had been left by sponsors.
GNN: Are you also involved in the adjudication?
NN: All adjudication processes are done by the national arts council of Zimbabwe. submissions, nominations and everything else to do with the award recipients is full responsibility of the national arts council. JCMC is not involved at all
GNN: what were the challenges you faced looking at the last 2 years?
NN: I would say our biggest challenge was sponsorship. Looking at the economic challenges in our country, it is rather difficult to get enough sponsorship to meet with the dreams and vision we have for where and how we wanted our event to be. However, even with all those challenges, with the little that we did manage to get from our sponsors we would still push to give Zimbabwe word class award ceremonies. then looking at the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, as much as it had a toll on the whole world, it greatly affected us to the extent that we could not host the 20th edition last year, but we did not allow that challenge to completely shut us down, thus we adapted to the new normal and held the virtual edition of the NAMA legends.
GNN: In terms of logistics what were issues involved?
NN: For the event to come out proper, a lot of time had to be invested in rehearsals and coordinating rehearsals of over 90 people is no small task. Artist welfare and staff welfare were also essential. transportation, accommodation and all other sorts of catering for the whole team were some of the logistical issues that we had to deal with.
GNN: What sort of budget do you want for successful hosting of the NAMA?
NN: It is almost impossible to put a specific figure on the budget that might bring our NAMA vision to life. This is because we have different ideas and concepts for each edition and all those require different things. But as a dreamer a US$200k budget for next NAMA would produce a spectacle that will make the whole continent envious
GNN: Could you explain why Leroy Gopal was the host again this year?
NN: As the NAMA organizing team we came up with a strategy whereby we have a host present for at least 2 editions of the event, however, we will not be having the host present with the same person as before, we will be rotating them. Also to cater to our theme which was Zimbabwe and beyond, we thought why not have a host who is keeping the Zimbabwean flagship not only in Zimbabwe but Beyond Our Boarders. awards shows the world over have ‘seasons’ and each season follows a similar path and has the same hosts.
GNN: How different was this year’s NAMA from the previous one?
NN: As I have mentioned before, we strive to bring freshness and unique ideas and concepts with every edition, therefore every edition is different. In this year’s edition we had a red carpet that was strictly by invitation, on the 19th edition the red carpet was for everyone and we noticed that there was a lot of commotion on the red carpet, therefore we decided to have an invite for the red carpet. Still on the red carpet, we had a red carpet performance by Kikky BadAss and Kae Chaps and that performance set quite the tone of what to expect inside the event. Moving on from the red carpet, we had a 45 minute pre-show concert by Mokoomba and it was something we had not done in the previous editions. moving to the awards show, we had different genre medleys whereby we had a dancehall medley- which was a Soul Jah Love mix, a gospel medley with some of the greatest names in the gospel industry, a hip-hop medley, a mbira performance with renditions of Chiwoniso Maraire hits and a spectacular closing act by Nyasha David and Nutty o. So as you can tell this year’s performance was different from the 19th edition as it had medleys throughout the show.
GNN: Explain some of your limitations in delivering the event in view of sponsorship and pandemic?
NN: Looking at the economic constraints in our country and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, we did face a lot of limitations. Some sponsors had to cut their budgets as they were also affected by the pandemic. This was to our disadvantage as we also now had to tone down some of the concepts we had planned for this year’s edition.
GNN: Winners got not only gongs but cash how did this happen?
NN: The government of Zimbabwe through the ministry of youth, sports ,art and recreation, every year provides funds for the winners to enjoy some prize money on top of the gong and certificate. In this year’s edition, our title sponsor, old mutual added the flexi funeral policy award to the winners’ prize. The flexi funeral award is a funeral plan policy which pays out a cash benefit to cater for funeral expenses for a member or their dependents. Therefore, all award winners walked away with zwl$100 000 in their flexi funeral plan which is valid for 3 months.
GNN: Any last words?
NN: I would like to thank the national arts council for coming up with the national arts merit awards and for keeping them going up till now. i would like to thank the government of Zimbabwe for all its support. all our major sponsors; old mutual, Nyaradzo Group, Cimas, Gateway Stream, Greygate, 4 May, ZBC and all the corporates and partners who played a part in making this historic event a success. Preparations for the 21st edition are already in motion, so watch out.
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