Arts fest preps at advanced stage

Running under the theme “Bulawayo Blooming”, the festival will be held at a number of venues dotted around the city.

The spokesman for the festival, Nkululeko Nkala, said they would have workshops looking at performing arts, literary works, film and the teaching fraternity.

“Top arts personnel will conduct these workshops. Nicholas Moyo, who is the Deputy Director of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and a fellow at the American Kennedy Centre for the Arts, will conduct the arts management workshop, which will be a three-day workshop,” he said.

Nkala said the workshops would run under the topics, Models of Arts Management and How Management will improve the running of the arts.

Artistes will also attend a physical theatre workshop conducted by Lloyd Nyikadzino who has just finished a year’s stint in the United States specialising in physical theatre. The two-day workshop is supported by the American embassy and its aim is to better artists on and off stage.

The artistes will also meet and discuss issues in The Artistes Hotpot workshop designed to bridge the generational gap between young and old artistes. The open discussions will touch on a number of issues that affect all artistes regardless of their genre of interest.

“Some of the topics to be discussed are the status of the artistes, contracts, Hiv/Aids and other sensitive issues in the sector,” Nkala said.

There is also going to be another workshop called the Open dialogue: Cultural Creative Entrepreneurship workshop, which will be conducted by a British facilitator.

The workshop will look at the potential of the arts as a business sector and the opportunities that exist in Zimbabwe, Africa, Europe and the world over.