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Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
Hailing from one of the country’s oldest suburbs, Matshobana in Bulawayo, is a lover of-all-things art, one Kudakwashe “Kuda” Takundwa.

Most have been following him on various social media platforms where he is usually one of the first to share developments in the arts scene through captivating images and videos. But, little is known of his immense contribution to the city and country’s arts sector at large.

Having learnt at Gampu Primary and Cyrene Boys High School before venturing into the IT sector which he studied, Kuda said he found himself acting by chance.

Narrating his arts journey, he said: “The love of arts has always been a part of me. I wanted to be a journalist and from primary school, I loved dramas and movies, but was afraid to pursue acting.”

Through his love for writing and the arts, Kuda sought out to look for a gig as a scriptwriter. But as fate would have it, he found himself acting in a film, something he never envisioned.

“My first professional encounter with the arts was acting, sometime around 2009. It was a coincidence as I’d hoped to be a scriptwriter. But as I networked with people, I bumped into short film auditions and was selected by the crew which said I would fit in well on one of their roles,” said Kuda.

“From there, I never looked back and did theatre with a local community-based organisation called Young at Heart Foundation before landing short film and film roles in projects among them Ekhaya by Nigel Ndlovu.”

It is a dream of many to be casted for acting roles but Kuda was not thrilled by the mere fact of being an actor as he wanted more. He wanted to see the films he was associated with thrive, but alas, that was not the case as they were poorly marketed due to varying reasons.

This led him to think outside the box, reawakening his other talent in the world of IT.

“The discovery that we were making films that were not being marketed and not available online is one thing that used to bother me. I wanted to see our film industry bloom so much that I decided to set up an online magazine (Urban Culxure) which I’d use to push the local story digitally,” said Kuda.

The coming of Urban Culxure six years ago really changed the game as it contributed immensely to the arts sector by making most of the city’s arts products known, something which made Kuda a very proud individual.

“I formed Urban Culxure (UC), an online magazine in 2014. It was after seeing the gap for the arts in the digital space during my acting stint that I pushed for digital footprints for our arts products. Before that, I wrote for various online publications including ZimLink, Kalabash and Zimbo News Online,” he said.

The content on UC has mainly been on arts, culture and tourism.

But, Kuda is not entirely happy as he feels he has failed to monetise the magazine.

“My biggest failure has been failure to monetise the project and failure to have employment systems. I think this is the challenge of running a startup,” said Kuda.

For its efforts and contributions to the local arts scene, Urban Culxure has won four awards — one from Shoko Festival and three from Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards for being the Outstanding Online Media.

Kuda, however, said he is glad with the growth of UC as it now offers Social Media Management and Public

Relations. Currently, the brand is managing top artistes Thandy Dhlana, Vusa Mkhaya and Iyasa’s digital media.

Looking at these artistes, they have a strong digital presence which is making them stand out.

“Currently, the publication has two staff members but we’re working on bringing something different in the market as we gear up for our seventh anniversary,” he said.

Kuda went on to encourage local artistes to prioritise having a digital footprint.

“It should be easy to find Zimbabwean products online without a hustle. The lack of a dedicated team working behind the scenes on behalf of artistes has compromised most of their brands as they cannot do everything alone.” – @mthabisi_mthire.