2016 – A positive year for the arts |30 December 2016

END-OF-YEAR  ISSUE

The National Arts Council, which is the supreme body coordinating the arts at all levels in Seychelles, has had a very positive year 2016.

The National Arts Council’s (Nac) mission is to nurture the arts and make it an integral part of the lives of the people of Seychelles. Its objectives are to promote the arts for self-expressions, learning, reflection and community-building, also by shaping our cultural development through arts and developing a sustainable environment that enables the arts to entertain, enrich and inspire our generation and future ones.

Since the beginning of 2016, and throughout the year, Nac has been extremely busy coordinating different kinds of artistic activities internationally and nationally be it music, exhibition, poetry, painting and many more.

In our small island we have so many different types of art, which represent our melting pot of culture such as assemblage, ceramics, artistic design, drawing, graphic, music, painting, photography, sculpture, video, among others.

In an interview with Seychelles NATION Nac’s chief executive Jimmy Savy discusses Nac’s performance in 2016, the various activities that have marked this year, how Nac is promoting artists’ rights and new concepts for 2017.

“2016 has been a very hectic year; we started early this year with certain activities while some took place towards the end of the year such as the Arts Festival which was a great success. It is really hard to put in place an Arts Festival. Also this year we started preparing for our ‘Biennale’ next year through which we want to promote the art work of our talented local artists. Also we started preparation for an Art Award also scheduled for next year. We were also able to support many artists who needed help financially or by guiding them along the right path. We also worked closely with other associations such as the Seychelles Musicians’ Association (Seymas) and Seylar (visual arts association),” Mr Savy said.

“We want to help all Seychellois artists practicing different art forms to seek marketing and sales opportunities for their work both locally and internationally. Many people have criticised us this year saying we only support some artists, but those artists have been coming up with projects that will further their career. Nac is ready to help every artist in Seychelles – whether its help for a concert, for air fare tickets, among others. We are ready to provide, but artists need to come to us and seek for help. But for the long- term we are working on a new act stipulating  that artists who come to seek help from Nac need to be registered with an association such as Seymas, Seylar, Arterial Network, Bling Bling Association, among others,” he said.

Among the many events the Nac took part in this year was the Cannes Fair to promote our rich culture in arts, and giving the opportunity to our local artists to advertise their luxurious art work abroad.

For the year 2017, Mr Savy foresees a challenging year with various activities such the regional Biennale, the Jeux de la Francophonie, Art Award, along with the opening of the new music stadium.

“Next year such activities as Festival Kreol and Carnaval International de Victoria will be taken over by the newly created Cinea. Nac will work mostly in the development and promotion of local artists in different kinds of work. We are also aiming for a new strategic plan for the next five years, so that we can better serve our local artists and promote their art,” Mr Savy said.

Throughout 2016, Seychelles also welcomed various International singers such as Radio & Weasel, Beenie Man, Charly Black, Konshens and Romain Virgo.

Compiled by U-Roy Jules