Art alone is not enough

Mackson Gopolang Chirwa from Pretoria, Soshanguve, a photographer, entrepreneur, founder & director of Chilling with the creatives, manager and a part time graphic designer.

Gopolang tells us about the projects he's involved in from Chilling with the creatives, a township market that brings artists in their different forms in one place and they share the love they have for one thing 'art.’ He says, "before I started this movement, I used to attend the Social Market in the Pretoria CBD. That's where I got the inspiration because I could obviously see that there was a gap between urban areas and my township regarding the Arts. The gap was just too much and that led me to taking a step and implementing that idea in my community. The whole aim of it was to create a space for Creatives, a space whereby everyone can come and express themselves. There's plenty of talent in our townships and I believe we all deserve the platform to express ourselves. Chilling with the creatives is for the next generation in line. We're building a culture in which you need to invest value coupled with your talks. Change how you think and be who you envision yourself to be."

He founded a business named after one of his events 'Creatives Cafe', it’s a food business that he started with one of his partners - Thato Michael Sambo - from Chilling with the creatives. When it comes to the Cafe, it’s an idea he's always wanted to persue - having a place whereby artists can meet every day. He believes being an artist is an escape from the real world.

The Cafe was launched this year (2020) in February, Gopolang says that the journey since the launch has been amazing - "the pressure is intense, but the experience is just great. Considering the plans that we have for it, it is all humbling. Here's what we want to do going forward: we want to install a cocktail bar, hubbly bar, game zone for our gamers, book zone for the readers, networking Zone for artists and entrepreneurs and a zone for the various clothing brands (ours included). This is what you find at most markets events, so our main goal is to give people an everyday market and keep them on cloud 9 everyday."

Gopolang and Thato forged another partnership with photography to form 'No concept media', this is one the best emerging Media Productions in Soshanguve. They specialize in photography, videography and illustrations. They even teach photography and pass on their knowledge and skills to the young who are interested in photography.

Gopolang's aspirations is to open a media school in his township, free of charge to help better the lives of the youth in his community. This is to help reduce the rate of illegal dealings in the community and to help them to be innovative and open more businesses. He hopes to achieve this together with his partner Thato.

Through 'No Concept media' Chirwa has partnered with one of the local malls 'Soshanguve Crossing' in one of their projects - "Soshanguve Crossing is a running campaign (Fashion Influencer) as a way of marketing tenants in retail. This partnership comes after we (No Concept Media) were approached to be their Head of Visuals in regard with the campaign - meaning that everything that has to do with the campaign, will be shot by No Concept Media, including Post production (editing)" he said.

Chirwa adds, “one thing I found truly amazing and inspirational in was the fact that they chose to use a media house in Soshanguve, not just a great opportunity for me but for them too because this will make things easier for us when we have to share the content with the audience. Also, a great opportunity presented itself for me as I was named one of their influencers, so my job as an influencer is to help the shoppers via style/fashion, to show them the latest trends and how to coordinate their clothes according to each occasion."

When asked what is different about Chilling with the creatives compared to other markets, his response was: "Chilling with the creatives is more of a home. We personally know each other, so the market runs itself like a chain reaction. Whatever businesses we are involved in, we share it on all our media platforms, we support ideas and we bring them into life. For each event, we give creatives a platform to conceptualize and come up with themes or ideas for the next event and we run with them on our next events. We let everyone engage in what we do and that's what makes it special and this is why we're sure of our following. We instill enterpreneul skills within our Creatives, we also get a chance to have one on one sessions to personally learn our Creatives."

Gopolang believes that the most difficult thing about being a creative that non-artistic people aren't aware of is that one has to work twice as hard more than a non-creative, "most people don't believe in artists and that they can capitalized their ideas. Firstly, you're working to prove them wrong. Secondly you're working to make a living. Lastly, you're working to keep yourself sane, to escape, to have a home. Our Creative spaces are our homes, so that’s where we belong and we have to fight everyday to be in that space."

There are a lot of artists who are still struggling to capitalize their talents and his advice is that, creatives need to invest and acquire more skills especially about business management. he continued, “art alone is not enough and once people understand that maybe they'll explore other avenues that will meet their art halfway.”

Gopolang said that there are three things that creatives should take note of before agreeing to any partnership: make sure that you're not being exploited, make sure that you're still being allowed to be original - Keep your Roots and your authenticity and lastly, your opinion/Ideas matter too - you're a partner, not an employee.

In closing, he was asked where does he see himself in the next 5 years and without any hesitation he replied, “home, I want to retire at 30.”

Follow Gopolang on IG :@being_gopolang

@chilling_with_the_creatives

Editor : Nomvula Kgoale

IG: @NomvulaK_Words

@nomvulakgoale