Johannesburg - Veteran actress Connie Chiume, who this year celebrates 46 years of being an actor, is looking forward to teaching her craft to thousands of aspiring actors across the country.
The Black Panther actress will be spending her time teaching and mentoring young people through a series of workshops in provinces such as the Eastern Cape, North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Free State, which she says are underserved provinces when it comes to arts and cultural initiatives. She says she has partnered with the National Arts Council to make this dream a reality.
The initiative, in celebration of some of her biggest milestones, will be run in conjunction with a group of young professionals who are stepping up to help realise her dream to give back to the industry that has kept her in demand for more than four decades.
“I just cannot wait to get out there and offer myself, my journey, and my experiences to the most neglected section of the country’s youth who aspire to be in the entertainment industry. Some of these young people do not see themselves achieving their dreams primarily because the industry is very far from their own reality,” Chiume said.
The latest developments for the former Gomora actress come just after she celebrated yet another milestone in her illustrious career, which spans theatre, TV and film.
She was recently honoured with an international lifetime achievement award at Hollywood’s African Prestigious Awards. Early this year, she also got to rub shoulders with Hollywood’s big guns during the premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Los Angeles.
Also early this year, the former Sgudi’ Snaysi actress was bestowed with another lifetime achievement award at the 16th Royal Soapie Awards held at The Galleria in Joburg.
Now that she has found a bit of an opening in her schedule following the cancellation of Gomora, which comes to an end in October, the veteran actress says she will have enough time to impart her skills to aspiring thespians.
The many aspects the workshops aim to focus on include acting, business, brand management and social media.
With June being Youth Month, Chiume says this is reason enough to hit the ground running as they kick off in the second week of Youth Month, with the first stop being the Eastern Cape.
The Star