creating creative spaces for girls

Creating creative spaces for girls

MASIMBA BIRIWASHA, GROUP ONLINE EDITOR HARARE - Jun 14 2011 16:27

A new project, Girl Child Creativity (GCC), aimed at mitigating the under-representation and unbalanced participation of young females in the arts in Zimbabwe, was launched last week in Harare. The project which is brainchild of internationally-acclaimed performance poet and writer, Mbizo Chirasha and veteran filmmaker and broadcaster, Agnes Gudza, is aimed at enhancing the ability of girl children to develop themselves mentally and creatively.“The aim of this project is to reduce the under-representation of young women in the creative industry. We want to teach the girls how to find opportunities with their talents and develop them. We want to avoid the syndrome in the country currently where the girl child wants to fly yet she can only be allowed to crawl,” said Chirasha.“We are going to have motivational poetry and writing workshops. In future, we are going to have talent-realisation programmes where we are going to have accomplished writers, musicians and promoters talking to the girls on how to identify and nurture their talents.”Agnes Gudza, operations manager of the project and renowned filmmaker, said the project was aimed at empowering the mental capacity of young girls so they could become creative in all aspects of the arts and their lives.She added that the purpose of the programme is to reach out to a lot of girls especially in rural areas. Chirasha said GCC is working in collaboration with the US Public Affairs, the New Ambassador Hotel, Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe, as well as Chiedza Childcare Centre, to reach out to disadvantaged and marginalised girls in the country. He said the first part of the programme will be rolled out in Harare before moving to Gweru, Masvingo and the rest of the country.