adminA new arts extravaganza is here!
The Zimbabwe Arts Festival, which is the brainchild of Rumbi Mudenge of Bumris Entertainment, is set to celebrate all Zimbabwean artistes regardless of genre.
The inaugural edition has been slated for this Friday and Saturday at Alex Sports Club. The event is being headlined by top brass acts that include Ammara Brown, Jah Prayzah, ExQ, Trevor Dongo and Winky D.
However, despite having all these heavyweights on the lineup, there is no buzz about the event on the streets. The marketing side for the festival is not robust, which has proved to be the biggest weakness of local festivals. Look what happened to Shoko Festival 2016/17 or even this year’s Hifa – the numbers were terrible.
The Sunday Mail Society had a chat with Mudenge, who assured us that all is well.
“We have had extensive marketing via social media and live interaction with shopping communities with our banners where we have been doing very well selling tickets. Unfortunately our intended advertising was thwarted by the new developments in the country’s politics.
“We had to tone down marketing as it would be ineffective or cancel the festival completely. We chose to continue as planned despite having little time, two weeks to be precise, for marketing. We are confident, though, that Zimbabweans will come and support our local artistes,” said Mudenge.
She added that they have since regrouped and adverts have started airing on ZTV as well as on a number of radio stations.
The festival is set to host over 200 artistes. But how will they balance the acts to avoid having over dominance of one art form, music?
“We have set the programme in such a way that there is representation of various art forms such as poetry, dance and theatre, just to name a few. The programme does not allow dominance of only music or any other art form.”
The festival has a strong fashion section, which will see 10 budding designers competing and winners scooping cash prizes of up to US$500.
“We felt that the fashion sector is the most marginalised and was affected this year. There were countless reports of local designers not being able to afford fabrics for basic garment-making. This being due to the inability to import fabrics and other requirements.
“We see music, dance, theatre, film, and literature being celebrated and funded in Zimbabwe but we almost never see the fashion industry of late.”
Other acts to look out for at the festival are Jibilka Dance Academy, Afrikera Arts Trust, University of Zimbabwe Theatre Department, Zuvva School of Fashion and Kickboxing Association of Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter