By MANA
Principal Secretary responsible for administration in the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture, Yagontha Munthali has hailed the national digital roadmap as very imperative when it comes to promoting the arts of Malawi globally.
He said the sentiments on Tuesday at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe during the launch of the national digital roadmap for the cultural and creative industries.
Munthali explained that the coming of digital platforms has opened space for artists of various categories to sell their arts using digital tools as YouTube, Spotify and others monetarily, thereby placing the arts of Malawi on the map.
“This will be huge as it will break the traditional boundaries where artists sell locally using traditional models on how to sell their creative works, but through digital platforms, it is very possible to break barriers globally while also earning resources and more recognition in general.
“I urge stakeholders to join the regional or global level to discuss the issues as soon as possible and use the digital platforms wisely as it is also a source of fake information and leakage of artists’ works,” he explained.
Director of Arts in the Department of Arts, Humphreys Mpondaminga explained that the project will run for 12 months and has been divided into two phases of technical consultancy and practical works.
“The first phase aims to review the local landscape in terms of policies we have for digital technologies, as well as looking into how they will be operated on the actual ground by the department to fill in some gaps that are there when it comes to arts using digital platforms.“A national road map will be developed to outline procedures to be followed by the Department of Arts when it comes to the safe usage of digital platforms for various artistic projects,” he added.
Approximately USD 30,000 has been allocated for technical consultancy services to support the operation of digital platforms by artists in the country.
One of the beneficiaries during the launch, Nthangwanika Kondowe, applauded the ministry for its efforts to ensure that the arts are not left behind when it comes to the use of digital platforms in the country.
“This will artist when it comes to the distribution and publication of arts globally, thereby helping the country to earn the much-needed forex exchange.
“The roadmap is timely since a lot of things have changed digitally, for example, the introduction of AI and other platforms used in the art industry,” she added.
