Arterial Network Zimbabwe Chapter

A national strategy for CCIs is key because it guides deliberate action by government around planning, investment, and support for CCIs to reach their full potential. We have been implementing cultural and creative industries workshops under the Creative Actions Programme of the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust in partnership with the EU Delegation to Zimbabwe.

We were able to engage with the city of Bulawayo, Kadoma and Chief Mazvihwa during our CCIs workshops. One of the key observation of our evaluation is that devolution of the strategy has been very limited. There is little evidence of deliberate embracing and implementation of the national CCIs strategy by local authorities and traditional leadership-traditional chiefs, cities and towns except for a few examples from cities such as Bulawayo. It was also noted that accountability around CCIs resources within cities should be improved as some cities have received invitations on behalf of creatives to perform in other countries and they sent their own officials instead of the creatives.

Cities should be at the center of the CCIs strategy implementation as they are in close proximity to citizens than central government. Generally, cities are regarded both as hotbeds of creativity and innovative culture and places where different actors (policymakers, civil servants, NGOs, citizens, start-uppers, entrepreneurs, etc.) receive continuous stimuli to engage in innovations. They should enhance the close link between contemporary creative expression and heritage, in a manner which celebrates diversity, enhances social cohesion, supports the growth of tourism, attracts investment and ultimately makes a city livable. The transformative impact of cultural and creative industries will not be fully realized without policies and enabling environments at the local-city and town level. Creating an enabling environment at the local level is therefore important to enhance the creative vibrancy of cities.

We recommend that the Ministry of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, incorporate local government officials in strategy implementation, to accelerate access to cultural infrastructure, the development of new cultural infrastructure and the rehabilitation of dilapidating cultural infrastructure. We also suggest that artists engage closely with the city council officials, drawing key lessons from Nhimbe Trust’s work with the city of Bulawayo. We are also excited to share that Chief Mazvihwa pledged to support an initiative around strengthening CCIs at grassroots level in his community.

Creatives follow closely workshop proceedings in Gweru.

Thank you Theatre in the Park for hosting us.

Bulawayo we are bringing the workshop on evaluating our National Cultural and Creative Industries Strategy to you! 19 and 20 November 2025 are the dates and the venue is Hub. We are looking forward to fruitful engagement with diverse stakeholders on how we can effectively implement the strategy for the betterment of our sector!