400 ARTISTS SIGN UP WITH SWAMA

MBABANE – Barely a week since SWAMA opened its two-week long annual online renewal and registration exercise, 400 artists from all walks of life have signed up with the association.
In an interview, SWAMA Public Relations Officer Bongani DJ Tizalami Dube said a total of 386 artists had sent in their registration details by yesterday.

Details

“The response has been overwhelming. Already, 400 artists have sent their details either via WhatsApp or via email, signalling a slight growth of membership from last year’s figure,” said Dube. Last year, SWAMA had 354 registered members.
Dube said he noticed that a majority of the new members were up-and-coming artists, and a number of established artists were yet to renew their membership.
“While registering with SWAMA is a voluntary exercise, we strongly  encourage artists to make haste and register before Friday, July 31, as all SWAMA programmes would essentially be targeted at benefitting registered members ahead of everyone else,” stated Dube.

SWAMA initiated the renewal and registration exercise last week, and called upon all current members and aspiring ones to send their details by WhatsApp to the number 7656 0110 or by email to swazirhythm1@gmail.com.
Artists were asked to send their full names, stage names, type of art, region they operate from, phone number, and email address.
The exercise ends this coming Friday. Meanwhile, Dube revealed that the new register shall be made available to artists via their platforms in a week’s time after the close of registration for verification purposes. The final register shall be out by end of August.

Promotion

In the past, SWAMA members have enjoyed preferential promotion during SWAMA-organised events, some of which included the Trade Fair gigs, SWAMA festivals, and road shows.
Dube said collective lobbying was one of the benefits of joining a formal association of SWAMA’s calibre. “When we lobby government and other organisations, our members’ interests get to be taken care of, as members are allowed to make their submissions to the Executive anytime in-between the general meetings,” said Dube.

Several public and private organisations in the country also do contact SWAMA for recommendations on artists to use for their various activations like road shows and of late, digital/online campaigns, so keeping an up to date register is essential.

Accountability

Meanwhile, SWAMA is still in the process of soliciting relief funding from government and private organisations, and whenever this materialises, according to Dube, members would benefit.
“These are trying times, and artists are desperate. We still remain hopeful that funding would be secured eventually, and if that happens, our members will benefit.

Obviously, a systematic approach will be used to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability,” added the PRO.
SWAMA is also bound to hold an elective AGM in the next quarter of this year, which marks the beginning of the association’s reporting year, and only registered members according to its constitution would be allowed to participate in the exercise.

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