Zimbabwe sent 4 participants to the World Championships of Performing Arts for the first time in our history with guitarist Sylent Nqo getting 3 gold medals and 3 silver medals whilst Award winning beatboxer Probeatz won 7 gold medals and Model Timothy Hogo won one gold medal, one silver and one bronze.
But what is the World Championships of Performing Arts
The World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) is the first and only international competition to find and crown the best aspiring performing artists worldwide. This competitive contest which is held annually in Hollywood, California is often referred to as the “Olympics of the Performing Arts”
Here’s how they got to Hollywood
Team manager Zaza narrates the journey
Every year I take on a new challenge and it is always centred on the promotion of our local artists this year saw me join and help launch the Zimbabwe Championships Of Performing Arts, ZICOPA.
The World championships of Performing Arts were a new concept that Noone had ever heard of. So as the ground work began of introducing who we were and what we stood for, and being completely self-funded shocked many people.
However due to the economic crisis and high fees that the competition required we lost some of our contestants which was very heartbreaking for us. In my case, it was particularly sad, because these were artists I had recruited and knew that the level of talent would blow Hollywood expectations.
Reality set in that with only two months to fundraise, we would most likely have a small team. One of the bright moments though was having the support of the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe His Excellency Mr Harry Thomas Jr who had prior knowledge of the World championships.
Visiting the corporate world was a nightmare, as most companies were taking up financial positions to manage the cash crisis. Meaning there were unable to assist our team. Few individuals like businessman Mr Biggie Chinoperekwei and his wife bought into the vision and gave us financial assistance.
It has been an incredible journey, filled with a mixture of excitement, challenges, heartbreaks, joy and relief. When we launched ZICOPA many people were skeptical and could not fathom that we could actually operate on the global scale we were talking about, let alone take a team to Hollywood to represent the country.
—–Zandile Zaza Ndlovu is a radio and television personality, a filmmaker, and a social entrepreneur.
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