THE Bagamoyo Arts and Cultural Institute –better known by its Kiswahili acronym TASUBA—has introduced new subjects on marketing and administration to enable artists who graduate from the institute market their works and negotiate for fair compensation.

Dr Herbert Makoye, TASUBA Principal, said this here on Monday during a two-day working session conducted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the government.

“Artists should never accept to leave for performance without negotiating for payments.  One must decide whether they want to eat their cake or not. Never allow someone to tell you ‘I am going to promote you’. Some are promised accommodation and food but the question is don’t they have a bed at home?” he said.

The call came in the wake of concern raised over meagre payment for artistic and cultural works by some of the promoters, a situation that has seen most artists fail to make a meaningful income.

Meanwhile, the government is currently finalizing the national framework to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in the country. The document, the first of its kind, has been prepared with support from UNESCO.

Contributing during the validation session for the framework, Titus Lulandala, Chairperson of Cultural Officers Association in the country praised the framework, saying it will act as an important policy tool.

“We need to see how local government authorities use the framework as a policy tool to translate their contexts in terms of by-laws,” he said.

Tanzania is a signatory to the UNESCO Convention of 2003 whose goal is to safeguard practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.

The session brought together cultural and art stakeholders from the government, private sector, civil society as well as training institutions in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.