Ambassador Speeches

Remarks by Ambassador Martinez at the National Arts Council Leaders’ Meeting

Lusaka
February 03, 2006

Ms. Mulenga Kapwepwe, Chairperson, National Arts Council

Ms. Rosanna Price-Nyendwa, Program Director, CHAMP (Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Management Program)

Leaders of the National Arts Council, including provincial representatives

I’m very honored to be here today among the leadership of the arts community in Zambia. I’ve been in Zambia for two months now and I’m really enjoying the exposure I’ve had so far of the full range of Zambian culture – your music, your art, your dance, your drama. I can see already that Zambia is a country with a rich and vibrant cultural heritage, a heritage that is maintained and supported by all of you.
I want to commend all of you for attending this two day workshop, especially those of you who have traveled long distances from your homes and workplaces. You have an important task before you: to discuss and debate the engagement of artists in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and to chart the course of artists’ future involvement in this great struggle. After this initial meeting, nine groups of Zambian artists will undergo peer educator training all over the country, through a workplace training program administered by CHAMP – Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Management Program. As I said, your involvement is crucial: CHAMP needs your input over the next two days to best determine how this training should proceed.

This program, focusing on Zambian artists, is one of many programs across Zambia that has been funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. As you may know, the Emergency Plan is the single largest commitment by a single country against a single disease – ever! It provides large amounts of funding to fifteen “focus countries”, those countries which include more than 50% of HIV/AIDS infected persons throughout the world. In total, the U.S. funds Emergency Plan programs combating the disease in more than 100 countries around the world. Just in the past year, the Emergency Plan has provided $132 million in assistance to Zambia, and in 2006 we will provide almost $150 million in activities designed to fight HIV/AIDS.

Many of you are familiar with some HIV/AIDS programs in this country and you are probably accustomed to seeing funding for “traditional” areas of assistance, such as improving laboratories, building the capacity of medical staff, providing treatment drugs, and establishing centers for Voluntary Counseling and Testing.

Of course these programs are vital to stop the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Zambia today, but there is also a role for new and innovative programs, programs that focus on groups which might have been overlooked before, groups such as Zambian artists. Over a year ago, when we asked the leadership of the National Arts Council if the Emergency Plan could help engage Zambian artists in the fight against HIV, we received an emphatic “yes.” The National Arts Council told us that artists need the same attention that other groups of Zambians – teachers, taxi drivers, police, and miners – have had for years. They told us that although artists may not have a traditional workplace like those of us who wake up each day and go to an office, the artists’ trade may inherently include factors that lead to an increased risk for HIV/AIDS -- factors such as long absences from home, sudden fame and access to large amounts of money, and the adulation of adoring fans. The Council told us that artists need tools to deal with these challenges, and need to raise awareness of their own lifestyles before anyone can ask them to use their special talents and share HIV/AIDS prevention messages.
You and your colleagues are a special community in Zambia. Artists have the power to make us happy with your music, amaze us with your dance, and impress us with fine drama. Artists have the power to influence people, to change the way that people think and act. In my own country, many artists first led the movement to educate people about HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, artists got the message out and began to tell the story of the pain and suffering of HIV/AIDS.

And, like artists around the world, you are role models for the Zambian public. Your fans, especially youth, follow your example. You can make a tremendous difference in the struggle against HIV/AIDS in Zambia today. You can sing or act or write about HIV/AIDS. You can use your art to support and encourage those who are living positively with HIV/AIDS and thereby decrease stigma. You can set a positive example for the young people who look up to you. Artists too need to have the tools to deal with the particular risks of their chosen profession, as well as the special duties that come with fame and influence.

This year at Zambia’s annual Ngoma Awards, the Embassy used Emergency Plan funding to sponsor a new category of award, for the Most Socially Conscious Artist in the categories of drama, song, and visual art. Three recipients received recognition (and a monetary award) for using their artistic talents to promote positive HIV/AIDS prevention messages in Zambia today. The winners of those Ngoma Awards set an example that we can all hope other artists will follow; they showed how artists can use their talents for the good of society. I hope that as a result of this leaders’ meeting, and the follow-on artists training sessions, more and more Zambian artists will choose to follow in the footsteps of those Ngoma Award winners – writing, singing, acting, dancing, painting, or even rapping about the most important issue facing Zambia today.

As I said before, you have an important task in front of you over the next two days. Good luck…and thank you!!