1.5.8 National Arts Council of Zimbabwe Act (Chapter 25:07) This legislation is one of the few that directly speaks to the aspect of arts. It was adopted for the ‘establishment of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe to foster, develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts in Zimbabwe; to provide for the structure and functions of the National Arts Council; to provide for a Board to manage and control the affairs of the National Arts Council; to provide for the registration and regulation of arts organisations; among other things. The National Arts Council (NAC) established by the Act is also a cultural institution; a mainstay of arts development and it works in conjunction with the then Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture. It is believed to have lobbied for 75 per cent local content on national airwaves thereby exposing local artists to more play time. On the other hand the campaign was also seen as an avenue through which the state had control over artistic expressions of these musicians whose content was determined in terms of its support for the incumbent political regime. The main contribution of this Act to freedom of artistic expression is perhaps Part III which deals with the functions of the NAC. With only two functions, the more relevant one is to ‘foster, develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts in Zimbabwe by encouraging the teaching and practice of the arts and their presentation, performance, execution and exhibition, to the public' as provided for in Section 15(1)(a). This provision directly impacts on the exercise of the freedom as a right as well as a profession in that artists are taught practical and other matters relating to how art is expressed through ‘presentation, performance, execution and exhibition to the public’. If this objective or function is fully implemented, it would improve the effectiveness in the way artists create and share works of art with the desired audience. 33 | P a g e