UMP champions women empowerment in music and arts: Announces 2019 calendar
In a bid to support and promote increased participation and recognition of women in Malawi music, arts and culture, UMP has embarked on a project dubbed “50:50 Initiative for Women Empowerment in Music and Arts”.
According to UMP Projects Director Wisdom Phanga, UMP would like to pioneer a female empowerment campaign in the arts sector, hoping other players will also adopt deliberate steps to ensure that female talent is nurtured and promoted.
“We are also acting on feedback that we have received over the years that urged us to increase the involvement of female talent. We are in our 10th anniversary year and we are happy that as our brand has matured, we have a responsibility to contribute more positive developments to the local arts industry,” Phanga explained.
Phanga added that in the first phase of the Initiative, UMP will implement several activities namely splitting categories in UMP Music Awards by gender in key categories.
Thus, this year onwards, UMP will have:
Artist of the Year (Female) and Artist of the Year (Male), Best Hip-Hop Act (Female) and Best Hip Hop Act (Male), Best DanceHall Act (Female) and Best DanceHall Act (Male), Best R&B Act (Female) and Best R&B Act (Male).
In addition, all UMP related events will strive to 50% female artists on the line up.
Phanga further revealed that Krazy Colors, an all-female band has been selected as ambassador for the Initiative.
The groups’ next performance will be at Rock City on Saturday 16 February where their supreme talents will be on display for those that have never watched them.
UMP will also identify and recruit 9 talented young females to undergo a 2-year sponsored training and mentorship programme in three key sub-sectors of the industry including music production, music video production and graphic designing. There will be three recruits per sub-sector.
Meanwhile, UMP has released the calendar for 2019 Awards events as follows:
Fashion Awards: 31 August, Lilongwe
Music Awards: 9 November, Blantyre
Media Awards: 10 November, Blantyre
Sports Awards: 29 December, Lilongwe
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