Zimbabwean gospel singer, Sarah Bonne, has unveiled plans to launch a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with a view to empowering women to achieve their dreams in entertainment.
Bonne, in a recent interview, said she was currently working on an art-based foundation which will cater to female musicians, poetesses, choreographers and actresses from age 16 and above.
The NGO, which will be called Artistic Women Foundation (AWF), will provide mentoring, promote sisterhood and women emancipation, according to the singer.
‘AWF will focus primarily on mentoring female artistes in the aspect of registration with the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and protection of their copyrights’, Chronicle quoted Bonne as saying.
‘The foundation seeks to make sure that artists use their art for social change and campaigns, but most importantly that they get funding to further their works’.
Development Diaries understands that Bonne’s motivation for the NGO is driven by the financially constrained childhood she had.
Bonne’s mother, Lindiwe Khumalo, who was a popular Zimbabwean actress and poet, started struggling financially when her soap opera ‘Izolo Yizolo’ stopped airing in 2008.
Bonne wants to use AWF to create a better environment for women with her background to have a self-sustaining career.
AWF, according to her, will also act as a safe space for women from duplicitous ‘sexual predators’, who hide under the guise of ‘giving them recording contracts and jobs’ to unethically and sexually exploit women in the showbiz industry.
‘I want to bring hope to an upcoming artists, those who have given up and those still burning with fresh passion to soldier on amidst the storms of abuse women face in the industry’, Bonne stated.
AWF is targeting women from Bonne’s home town, Bulawayo, but will eventually extend to other provinces in the country.
Bonne won the inaugural Voice to Represent (Voice2Rep) advocacy music competition organised by Accountability Lab, an NGO in Zimbabwe.
Source: Chronicle
Photo source: Sarah Bonne
