The angels are smiling down on talented Rwandans who for years have had to move mountains in order for their talents to be recognized or bear fruit. “ArtRwanda-Ubuhanzi”, is a new talent hunting initiatives that arose through a partnership between the government and Imbuto Foundation. It will seek to identify budding talents in many fields; from fashion, cinema, music and dance, photography, literature and plastic arts – the list is endless. The fact that the talent search will be a nationwide televised affair, will give the potential talents an avenue to showcase what they have and there is a lot of excitement in the air that television ratings could skyrocket from what promises to be a popular local reality television show. Rwandan music and dance has for years taken the lion’s share of resources allocated by the Ministry of Sports and culture. Other areas have had to struggle to get their voices heard but their persistence is beginning to pay off. The government has realized that there are many hidden talents out there and it was time they were brought to light. Some of the fields that have grown exponentially have been music and plastic arts. Rwandan artistes have managed to break the yoke of isolation and are now comfortably entrenched in the regional music scene. The next frontier is to go global and they can only succeed if the government puts its weight behind them. The same can be said of our local artists. Many art studios and galleries are popping up in Kigali but unfortunately, its only foreigners and a few “cultured” Rwandans who seem to show any interest. But now that “ArtRwanda-Ubuhanzi” has managed to break the glass ceiling, it is up to emerging talents to step on the scene. It could be their moment.
