A visual arts exhibition opened yesterday at Umubano Hotel in Kigali with a call on governments to support artists.It attracted 11 visual artists from East African member states.Speaking after touring the stands, the Minister for Sports and Culture Protais Mitali called upon governments and other stake holders to strongly support the art work, saying its one way East Africa can communicate its culture to the rest of the world. "We need to support the arts industry because it helps us as a region not only in understanding our history but also it connects culturally as a unified East African entity, which is crucial to economic development.”  He also encouraged the youth to learn from the senior artists so as to discover their talents. "We now talk of unemployment and this is one way we can create employment opportunities for the jobless,” Mitali said.Epa Binamungu, the head of Isôko Arts Rwanda, the Association of Rwandan visual artists said that the second edition of the exhibition, dubbed "Hello East Africa’’ 2013, is a testimonial of the dynamism of artists.  "At a time when the East African Community calls for unity as well as economic, social and political solidarity of member states, artistic creation in the very prolific fields of painting and sculpture speaks volumes.’’  Samuel Githui, an artist from Kenya called it a great opportunity for him to come face to face with his counterparts within the region. "This does not only give us a platform as artists from East Africa to show  the rest of the world what we are capable of, but it is also a platform where the projects of our artistic creations and our need to live have to be transmitted. We want to break the silence of our art,” Githui said.The exhibition is expected to last one week.