MBOMBELA – The creations of more than 100 crafters from around Mpumalanga will be on show at the crafters’ showcase which is organised and sponsored by the Innibos National Arts Festival in partnership with the Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation.
Sandra Jacobs, Innibos’ spokesman, said this was the first year that the department and Innibos were supporting an extended project which would showcase the work of crafters from the Jobs Fund and Siyazisiza Trust Craft Development Programme. The crafters hail from Nkangala, Ehlanzeni and Gert Sibande district municipalities and produce jewellery, hand-made wooden toys and creative Christmas decorations. The products are marketed by Isimilo, which focuses on creative Ndebele crafts and Zenta, which sources products made in the province.
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Dedre Groeneveld, marketing consultant for the craft-development programme, said all people needed to work together to get young entrepreneurs on their feet.
“It is in everyone’s best interest that small businesses flourish in the province. The crafters who make these products are young and modern and have a passion for their area. Their products are current and can stand up to anything else on sale at the festival,” Groeneveld said.
She added that the kind of exposure they will get at Innibos is paramount to their success.
“A large representative of the buying power of the region will be at the festival. This is a great opportunity to showcase these fantastic products,” she said.
Jabu Dlamini, head of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) for the department said projects like these were aimed at reducing employment, encouraging economic empowerment and providing people with opportunities to improve their lives and restore their dignity.
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“When one earns one’s own money, there is a sense of pride. We are trying to encourage people to become employers and not employees; to turn talent into passion and through that passion, to make a living,” Dlamini said.
A separate venture, the Lowvelder Recycle Project, where crafters make art from newspaper, will also have a stall at Innibos.
Fundi Khoza, who will represent the project at the festival, said she had learned so much in the two years she had been training. “I have always been an artistic person, I think. This project has given me the opportunity to express my creativity. I now know that I am able to create something that people like and are willing to pay money for,” Khoza said.
