Gov’t pledges support as NACCAU opens e-commerce platform for Ugandan arts and culture products
The Ministry of Tourism has pledged more support to the arts and culture sector that was hit badly by the Covid pandemic.
The State Minister for Tourism, Martin Mugarra Bahinduka made the pledge on Thursday as he officiated at the opening of the first Uganda arts and cultural crafts expo at the National Theatre which was also the official opening of the e-commerce platform for Uganda arts and culture products.
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“As the ministry, we are running the handicraft and souvenir development project since 2019 where we have supported the sector. It is high time we increased the support to the sector,”Mugarra said.
The junior tourism minister however noted that whereas government pledges support, there is need for more efforts to market the arts and culture products to make them more visible to not only foreigners but also Ugandans.
“As a ministry, we shall ensure we source for more funding from not only government but also from development partners. However, there is need to market these products not to only foreigners but to also the local market. We have a big local market and the people are interested in buying these products,”Mugarra said.
He noted that with the onset of the Covid pandemic that bartered the entire world so hard, it is high time that the tourism sector turns to the domestic market, noting that as the foreign markets slowly return, the local market can serve as the magic bullet for tourism.
The Uganda Tourism Association(UTA) president, Herbert Byaruhanga urged National Arts and Cultural Crafts Association of Uganda (NACCAU) to ensure its members are skilled .
“As the economy recovers from the Covid pandemic, skilling our members should be priority. These people ought to get skills in marketing and other fields,”Byaruhanga said.
He noted that NACCAU should not only look at the local market for the arts and culture products but also exporting them but noted this calls for quality products.
The NACCAU chairperson, Nuwa Wamala Nnyanzi noted there is need for government to support the arts and culture sector which he said was badly hit by the pandemic.
He noted that since the NACCAU members were not working in the lockdown, their ground rent at their premises has since risen up to more than shs300 million but asked government to come to their assistance.
“We also ask for a stimulus budget of about shs500 million to NACCAU members. We also need a budgetary allocation in the Ministry of Tourism budget,” he urged.
According to the NACCAU chairperson, the first Uganda arts and cultural crafts expo will showcase the different products that they offer but also to show how art can be used to preserve culture and heritage.
E-commerce platform
At the same function, an e-commerce platform under the names of Craft Shop Uganda was launched.
The platform will be used for buyers to view and also buy the different Ugandan arts and culture products.
